The Elk Valley is in the southeastern corner of British
Columbia, an area blessed with natural beauty and rich deposits
of coal. It became a destination for
immigrants at the end
of the 19th century. The region is dotted with small
communities including Fernie,
Michel and
Natal established by
people who arrived in different waves of immigration from
Europe. These included Slavic-speaking people of Russian,
Polish, Ukrainian, Czech and Slovak heritage; Italians; and
Anglo-Europeans from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,
Eastern Canada and the US.
They worked in the mines,
railways, sawmills and other
businesses that supported the mines. A significant number of
immigrants were of Italian descent with many of the earliest
immigrants coming from northern Italy. The last major wave of
Italians into the Elk Valley occurred after World War II into
the 1950s.
The Italian community is the only one which has been
documented and the profiles are based on the Elk Valley Italian
Oral History Project. The
Heritage Community Foundation and the Year of the Coal Miner Consortium would
like to thank project personnel including Leslie Robertson and the Fernie and District Historical Society
(a member of the Year of the Coal Miner Consortium) for permission to reprint this material.
John Kinnear
Watch John Kinnear as he tells the story of coal mining in his
family's history, including its evolution over three
generations, in this video produced by CFCN Television.
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