Hon . Franck Iacobucci

INTRODUCTION

When Corrado Paina asked me to offer some remarks , in the occasion of the ICCO Bsuiness Excelence Awards , we both thought it appropriate for me to share some reflections on Italian Canadians especially since we are celebrating the sesquicentennial of Canada . Now I am not 150 years old but I am over one half that age and have witnessed great changes for Italian Canadians – much for the better . I thought I ’ d give a brief overview of the settling in Canada of Italians interspersed with personal experiences of my family and myself . My personal experiences are not meant to be unique but simply to

illustrate the events that occurred and the transformation that has taken place . Now for a little history . Italians were among the earliest Europeans to have visited and settled in what is now Canada . Not counting Columbus , the earliest Italian contact with North America was Giovanni Caboto ( John Cabot ), an Italian navigator from Venice , who in 1497 explored the coasts of Newfoundland on behalf of England and King Henry VII . In 1524 , Giovanni de Verrazzano charted the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland , on behalf of France .

Also under the patronage of the Kings of Portugal and Spain , the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci is another early Italian explorer after whom America is named . Why so many Italians ? They were great navigators in those times whose skills were practised on the Mediterranean Sea . But Italy unlike England , France , Spain and Portugal was not a colonizer nation mainly so it seems because it was not on the Atlantic Coasts .

Other early Italians in Canada included those serving as mercenaries in the military of New France , or later in the British army during the war of 1812 . Some of these latter mercenaries elected to stay , accepting lots granted by Britain in Quebec ’ s Eastern townships and Southern Ontario . Montreal was home to one of the country ’ s earliest Italian colonies . In the early to mid-19th Century , there were a significant number of Italians living in the city , many working in the

hotel trade and others as street musicians . Overall , however , the numbers of Italian-Canadians remained very small — it is estimated that , by 1881 , there were approximately 2000 people of Italian origin living in Canada .

Immigration from Italy to Canada gradually accelerated in the late 19th Century , as large numbers of Italian peasants began emigrating to Canada , the United States , South America and Western Europe . By the turn of the century , the number of people of Italian origin living in Canada had grown to almost 11,000 . .

Between 1900 and the outbreak of World War I , almost 120,000 Italians entered Canada . Remarkably , about

80 % of them were young males , most of whom went to work in seasonal and heavy labour jobs in mines , lumbercamps , building projects and especially the railways . Included in this group were one of my paternal aunts and her husband who went to Vancouver in I believe 1912 .

In Canada , a major part of these workers were absorbed into the two principal railroad companies , the Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk . These men came predominantly from Italy ’ s rural South , especially the regions of Calabria , Abruzzo and Sicily , beginning a trend that would continue with successive waves of Italian immigration to Canada . Friuli also joined the Southern regions as a major source of Italian emigration from Italy . As most of you know , factors inducing emigration from these regions included overpopulation , the fragmentation of peasant farms , poverty , poor health and education and political dissatisfaction .

The largest center of Italian immigration in Canada remained Montreal , where the 1911 census recorded over 7000 people of Italian origin . Toronto followed , with over 4600 . In Toronto , the College Street Colony emerged as Toronto ’ s major Little Italy , bounded by Manning Ave in the East , Crawford in the West , College in the North , and Dundas in the South . While some of these urban immigrants worked as tradesmen , artisans or merchants , most were working physically demanding , dirty and dangerous jobs . The most common occupations were construction , excavation , brick and cement work . In addition to Montreal and Toronto , significant numbers of Italians went to northern Ontario during this period .

Hundreds went to the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William ( now amalgamated as the city of Thunder Bay ), filling jobs in freight yards , grain elevators , and coal docks . Between

1906 and 1909 , Italian labourers in the twin cities were involved in numerous large-scale strikes in protest of the poor pay , long hours and dangerous working conditions to which they were subjected . Many of these immigrants were more properly labelled ‘ sojourners ’ than immigrants , as they did not anticipate settling in North America permanently . As the Canadian Superintendent of Immigration observed in 1910 “ They [ Italians ] are usually looking for work as railway navies and are to a great extent birds of passage and have no desire to make Canada a permanent home Gradually , increasing numbers made the transition from sojourner to permanent settler . Like many immigrant communities before and after them and like many other countries , the Italians were victims of widespread prejudice and discrimination . In the popular consciousness of the time , immigrant — and specifically Italian — quarters were usually associated with dirt , diseases , overcrowding , ignorance , immorality and vice . In 1911 Toronto ’ s medical officer of Health , writing in the Globe , suggested Italian neighbourhoods represented a threat to the rest of the city , noting the “ congested districts of unsanitary , overcrowded dwelling which are a menace to public health , affording hotbeds for germination of disease , vice and crime ”. The Port Arthur Daily News had described the Italian working-class as “ a horde of ignorant and low-down mongrel swashbucklers and peanut vendors ”. This sentiment found expression among Anglo- Saxons across the political spectrum : even Canadian socialist icon J . S . Woodsworth warned in his book Strangers Within Our Gates that “ we must see to it that the civilization and ideals of South-eastern Europe are not transplanted to and perpetuated on our virgin soil ”.

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4 29 giugno 2017 Panorama