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by Adriana Albi Davies, Ph.D.
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 While the notion of characteristics based on ethnicity is a
problematical one, particularly if it is negative, Italians are a sociable, company-loving
people. With respect to immigrant communities, there is another reason for seeking
the company of compatriots. To be a stranger in a foreign land was a daunting
experience - there was the necessity to earn a living, which was difficult enough, but
there was also the barrier of language. Thus, the ties of kinship and also of community
and region, became very important in immigrant communities across the country. This was
also true in Italy were the unification of Italy was still so recent at the end of the
19th century that, for many, even today, the ties of region are more important than
national ties.
 Thus,
among the first Italian immigrant societies were the fraternal ones,
which were a vehicle for providing mutual support and assistance. This
was not a North American creation. A fascinating book titled Storia sociale del Comune di
Grimaldi (1905-1925) [A Social History of the Comune of Grimaldi] by Raffaele Paolo
Saccomanno, talks about the setting up of the Società Operaia [Workers' Society or trade
union] in Grimaldi in 1905. There are some trenchant statements about "parasitism of
the gentlemen."
 The notion of mutual aid societies, thus, came with the
immigrants and they were formalized. Of course, the informal aid also continued. All of
those who spoke and wrote English willingly helped their compatriots in writing letters
and conducting business. This might take the form of helping illiterate compatriots write
home but, I believe, more frequently it was helping each other to function in an
English-speaking environment. Mr. Enrico Butti, in an oral history interview in the
early 1980s, mentions that he did this as did the consular agents. He states that they
were not paid for by the Italian government but by the immigrants who needed help.
Oral histories (Mr. Butti and Mrs. Mary Biollo Doyle) have
indicated that there was a Societa Vittorio Emanuele III in Edmonton and another
society, the Italian Society, which arose out of the Venice Club/ Mr. Butti
confirmed the existence of the Italian-Canadian Society/Italo-Canadian Society of Edmonton
prior to W.W. II. At that time, they met in the German Hall off 92nd Street; they had
bingos and dances. With the outbreak of the war, the German Hall was closed. They then met
in the room above Domenico Chiarello's store on 97th Street and 106th A Avenue.
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