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Read the Book
| Introduction | Chronology
| Santa Maria
Goretti Parish | Acknowledgements
It is not too difficult to compile a brief outline of Italian
immigration to Canada, and even to Alberta and, specifically,
Edmonton. But these statistics have little meaning for the average
person, other than evoking the response, "Were there really
Italians in Edmonton as early as 1901?"
Immigration figures do not tell about the lives led by the
immigrants. They do not tell of their joys and sufferings, of the
alien land to which they came, and the adjustments they made to
climate, to alien traditions, foods, etc. This is the area to be
explored and fleshed out by the community historian. But you may
wonder, "Why bother writing about the lives of ordinary
people? Isn't history about the great events of human life and the
men who were participants in them?" Because so many of our
forebears and, we ourselves, are ordinary people, working class
and community histories attempt to help us find out about
ourselves, about the role that our forefathers played, and that we
continue to play, in the shaping of the country in which we live.
After all, if it were not for the miners, the railway workers, the
factory workers, etc., our land would not be what it is today.
The negative aspect (but also the challenge) of this kind of
history is that we are dealing with human lives and that these are
too brief. It is virtually too late to get first-hand accounts
from Italians who settled in Edmonton prior to World War 1. It may
be almost too late to record the experience of those who came in
the great wave of immigration just after World War II. Thus,
community historians are involved in a race against time - to
interview and tape the reminiscences of old-timers, to collect old
photographs and documents before children and grandchildren
dispose of them as useless reminders of hard times.
But why bother to do this? The principal values are twofold. On a
personal level, the individual interviewed should be made to feel
that the community as a whole (specifically the Italian community
and, more generally, Edmonton, Alberta, and Canada) values his or
her contribution to the comforts and freedoms that we daily enjoy.
Speaking for the greater community, these bits of personal
remembrance stolen from the oblivion of time will give
Edmontonians, as a whole, a clearer, fuller picture of the making
of their city.
What have we discovered so far? Early in the twentieth century,
Italians came to Edmonton on their way to work in the Coal Branch
and other mines in British Columbia and Alberta. Some settled in
Edmonton working in traditional trades, as carpenters,
bricklayers, bakers, barbers, etc. Many came from rural areas
where they worked as agricultural workers and only intended to
stay long enough so that they could make some money to buy some
land back home. Almost inevitably, the beauty of the country and
the potential for economic growth and development seized their
imaginations and they had their families join them. In the early
days, there were few of them. A newspaper article in 1915, talking
about the setting up of an agricultural Italian colony in Lac La
Biche, mentions that the sponsoring group is La Societa Vittorio
Emanuele III to which the 600 Italians in Edmonton belong. Were
there really so many, so early? Members of the D'Appolonia family,
who were in Edmonton at the time, remember the flood of 1915 which
wiped out much of the Rossdale Flats. They remember the Italian
artisan, a Mr. Zuchett, who did the mosaic work for the Parliament
buildings. Mr. Enrico Butti did much of the electrical work for
the University of Alberta power plants. Mr. Luigi Biamonte
contributed to the cultural life of the city through his various
orchestral ventures. Italian women worked as seamstresses for GWG.
Other men, including Mr. Ralph Albi, Mr. Attilio Gatto, Mr.
Teodoro Cimino, Mr. Eugenio Falcone, Mr. Vittorio Facchin, worked
for the Italian-owned Nu-West Construction Company and then moved
on to Imperial Oil as the oil industry became a big employer of
Italians. Others set up small grocery stores and laid the
foundations for the prosperous community of Italian shopkeepers we
have today. In the process, they changed the eating habits of the
city. We all
remember as schoolchildren when our Canadian friends turned up
their noses at our smelly
sandwiches. Today, what grocery store doesn't have on sale
Italian salami, provolone, etc.?
Thus in finding out about our pasts, we are elucidating that of
our city as a whole. We are clarifying for ourselves and our
children our values, traditions and beliefs. In a materialistic
age, when there is little of permanent value to believe in and
retain, is it not just to celebrate those who came with nothing,
built their lives and accumulated possessions, in the process,
creating a new identity for themselves out of half-remembered
customs from the homeland and the rough-and-ready activities of
the West?
Adriana Albi Davies
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