Vittorio and Antonia Ciampini

On November 2, 1954, we arrived at Halifax Pier 21. I was four years old so I don't remember anything except for the long train ride from Halifax to Montreal where my grandfather came to greet us. We made the trans Atlantic voyage from Italy on board the Homeland as a family with my father Vittorio Ciampini (28 years old), my mother Antonia D'Alesio (26 years old), my sister Domenica (6 years old) and my brother Giacomino (six months old) and myself Francesco (4 years old).

In Italy, my father was a sheep herder without a trade and without much schooling so he decided to come to Canada in search of a better life for his family. He had already worked four years in the coal mines in Belgium before coming to Canada. We were supposed to stay a number of years, work hard, make some money and then go back home to Italy. As destiny would have it, we stayed in Montreal and never went back to Italy, expect as tourists. My sister Rosa was born in 1961 and shortly thereafter my parents became Canadian citizens. We, the children did all our schooling in Canada. Everyone in our family is proud to be Canadian but we are also proud of our Italian heritage. We are grateful to Canada, a land of many lakes and rivers, a land of many freedoms and opportunities and also a land of many languages and cultures.

In September 2004 we returned to Halifax for the first time as a family and visited Pier 21 to commemorate our 50th anniversary in Canada. It was an emotionally charged trip especially for my parents who remember very well the hardships and sacrifices they had to endure, leaving most of their loved ones behind, leaving their familiar surroundings for a place so far away where the language and customs would be foreign to them. Despite their handicaps, my parents were able to adapt quite well. Fifty years later, we are still smiling and sharing tears of joy for all the privileges we have come to know in this peace loving country we call Canada. We, the children are very happy and grateful to have made this return trip to Halifax with our parents. Even though we don't remember what happened fifty years ago, we experienced it through the short stories and the excitement our parents shared with us while visiting the museum. We would not hesitate to recommend a trip to Halifax to all Canadian families.