The discussion centred around Mr. Falcone's emigration experience, community activities and philosophy of life.
Began with outlining the Italian honorary consular officials in Edmonton beginning during the period of W.W. II: Victor Losa, the jeweler; Luigi and Salvatore Biamonte; Angelo Biasutto; and, finally, Peter
Caffaro.
His Father was the first to emigrate: in June, 1946 went to work in Czechoslovakia and in 1949 was to go to the U.S.A. but, instead, his brother went; in 1951, he came to Canada to Toronto, where he worked as a bricklayer; he was paid less by the Italian padrone and decided to come to Edmonton
Because his Father had been away throughout the war period and, then, in Czechoslovakia before coming to Canada, the family was not a cohesive unit; he did not know his Father; his Father initially intended only to make money in Canada and return to Italy to live but, in 1952, he sponsored one son and in September, 1959, Tony came; the intent was to re-unify the family
Tony was a trained teacher (graduated in 1953 from the equivalent of Normal School) who could not obtain work in Italy (taught for a year-and-a-half as a substitute teacher); wrote civil service exams to become a courtroom clerk in the Justice Department; he was ranked 550th out of 11,000 individuals who sat the exam; after an oral interview, he was ranked 2,500th and this would have meant a 3-5 year wait to get a job; that's why he came to Canada; also served in the Italian Army and was attached to NATO doing security checks
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