Italian Immigration to Canada

When my grandparents immigrated to the US in the early 1900’s, they left there eldest son Giovanni in the care of his grandparents in Toritto, Bari.  I was told that it was always foreseen that he would join his parents later.  That never happened, and Uncle Giovanni and his family did not immigrate to the US until after WWII.  Because of the immigration quotas, they spent a number of years in Canada.  My dad, at the time, was a newsreel photographer for WPIX in NY and documented several visits to Canada by my mom’s family.

You can see more on Italian Immigration to Canada here:

Library and Archives of Canada

Italian Canadians

Pier 21

Plans

To set some context, my oldest uncle Giovanni was left in Italy when my mom’s parents came to the US around 1914, with my oldest aunt.  According to my oldest cousin, the reason was because they were hoping they would come back.  They didn’t.  My uncle eventually got married and raised family there.  I highlight some of this on this post Stories From Prewar Bari.   

My grand parents eventually had seven more children, to make a total of nine.  As his entire immediate family lived in the US my uncle and aunt decided to move to the US.  Because of the quotas in place at the time, they first moved to Canada, as many other Italian families did post war.

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My Uncle Moves to Canada

When my aunt and uncle decided to move to the US, there were a lot of things to be done.  They had seven children at the time and in order to get entry into the US and Canada everyone had to be 100% healthy.  As it turned out, one of my cousins had a liver disease and would not be allowed entry.  As a result, the family missed the opportunity to travel together.

My cousin said that a “businessman” from Canada came and he was recruiting people to work in Canada.  However, you had to pay him $1500.  My uncle’s friends and the town helped him to raise the money.  ( I can only guess that they knew that his whole family lived in the US ).  So it was decided that he would go to Canada alone on a freighter.  It wound up being a forty day trip, as according to my cousin, the freighter was making stops along the way.  When it finally got to Canada, his visa had expired and he was detained for many days while the Canadian officials sorted it out with Italian officials.

In the end, he was allowed to stay, and was employed at a mushroom farm.  ( Where the businessman set it up ).  I believe the movie with the pump is on the farm and that is my uncle pumping the water.

My Cousin Moves to Canada

When my oldest cousin turned eighteen, she decided to come to Canada to be with her dad.  She was allowed to do this because as an adult, she would be able to work and support herself.  She said that she lived in a boarding house near the farm.  She had a small room downstairs and my uncle had a room upstairs.  She said that it was pretty bad and that the men would drink a lot and she was always afraid.

Eventually, my oldest aunt and her husband came to visit and my uncle said “you can’t stay here, come with us”!  

My Cousin Moves to USA

When my cousin got to the US, she lived with my grandparents and was able to work.  She worked in a blouse factory where my aunt worked in Queens NY.  This was around 1950.  She said she made $25 a week and would keep $5 and send the rest to Italy for the family to live on.  I’m just guessing that $80 a month went a long way in Italy at the time, but my aunt had six children.

When my cousin met her husband, she had to return to Canada to get married.  My same uncle took her back with her fiancé and they were married there.  By that time the rest of my uncle’s family had arrived.  She did have to wait seven months for all the paperwork to clear, and she could come back to the US.

My uncle and his family had to spend close to five years in Canada before finally settling in the US.

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