Mario Bellina

Alumni Type: Immigrant
Country of Origin: Italy
Ship Name: Saturnia
Port of Entry: Halifax
Date of Arrival: June 7, 1957
Age on Arrival: 19

My father came to Canada as a 19- year from a town in Italy called Venzone

He had papers that he would have a job with the CN railway. He did not know how to speak English.

He noticed that his friends had an ID tag that said Bassano, Alberta and his did not. He saw a person sleeping on a bench in Halifax and noticed his ID tag said Bassano, Alberta, so he switched it with his so he could stay with his friends. He ended up in Bassano working on the railroad as a worker and also cut hair on the side.

One day a Poole Construction truck came by and said they needed a few men to work and my dad jumped in the truck because it was .50 more an hour.

Long story short my father ended up working for Poole/PCL construction for 43-years and went all the way up the ladder from a labourer to carpenter, to job site superintendent. He built some of the most iconic buildings in Edmonton.