S.A. The Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

Today, I will talk about the impact of migration and historical events that my family faced, both of my grandfathers are brothers. My mother and my father are cousins. They grew up in the same house in Afghanistan , which means that they have the same history. Back in the time, both of my grandfathers were rich. They were the most well known and respected people among their relatives. They had lots property in their names. My father used to work for the government. 

In my family, only the elder son was allowed to work. The reason is that my father’s and two uncle’s incomes were enough to feed the family. In my family, man and women had the same rights before marriage such as both were able to go to college. After marriage, both of them were not able to continue their studies in university. The reason was that both of them had new responsibilities. Women must stay at home by taking care of children and man must go out to work. The first war which star in 1070 caused a major change in my country by destroying everything. There was no property left for my family since everything was burnt and nothing was left to us.  My grandfathers refused to move into another country since they did not want to leave their hometown. My father decided to leave my country since he was afraid that something would happen to his children.  

 After, we moved into a city of Pakistan which is called Karachi. We lived there as new immigrants. We didn’t know anything about the city of Karachi such as language, people, culture and etc. We had nothing with us and we started from the beginning. It was a major turn in our lives since our lifestyle changed from being in a rich community into a poor community. For a year, everything in our house was limited. For example, we used to live in one room and we were seven people. It was the hardest time which we ever faced in our lives. The reason was that we did not know anyone who could we ask for a help.  My father and mother were not able to work since the language was new for us. It took time for my family to learn the new language. After one year and a half, my mother found a job as a cleaner in people’s houses. The good impact that war had in my family history was that it gives a chance for my mother to work outside of the house for the first time. The reason was that my mother wanted to help my father by earning money for us. It was easy for my mother to find a job since her job was cleaning houses. On the other hand, it was difficult for my father to find a job. The reason for it was that in Karachi there were limited jobs for man and they must be able to talk the original language which is called Urdu. There was not any public school in Karachi only private and we could not afford to go to it.  

Five years after, we decided again to shift to a new city which is called Rawalpindi. The reason was that there was not enough work for people. My mother got a better offer of a job as a cleaner in another country with a better salary. My mother’s income was not enough to feed my family. As well, we heard that in Pakistan there are more jobs for men and the condition of life is better. After, we choose to shift into Pakistan, where people talk the same language as Karachi. Both countries had the same values with which we were familiar, such the language, cultural tradition and etc. In Pakistan, my father got work as a store keeper. My mother went to her job of cleaning one family’s house who was rich and gave a better salary to my mother. Slowly, the condition of our house was getting better than before. For example, we could afford to get two-bedrooms. As well, my parents were able to pay the fees of our school for all of us. Everything was going well as the way we wanted it to go. Until, one night when a female Prime Minister of Pakistan that was named Benazir Bhutto was killed by someone unknown during her election campaign. On that night, everyone was angry and sad about her death and they started hitting people and destroying store burning everything in the street. For two days, there was a fight going on and no one was able to get out of their houses. Everything was closed such as food stores, school and etc. After her death, the condition of Pakistan changed and was getting worse day by day. It was difficult for my family to stay in Pakistan since it was not safe for us. There were new laws which were created for the immigrants in Pakistan.  

Eventually, parents decide to leave Pakistan. My father wanted to move into a country which would be safe for us for the rest of our lives. My mother’s uncle filed a form for us to come to Canada. Now, I am glad that I am in a safe country where is no war and I do not need to worry about anything. 

K.C “It Wasn’t a Migration, It Was an Invasion”

I’m from the reserve of Kahnawake and a proud Onkwehonwe woman. Our family name “Cross the River” (shortened to Cross) has been around before Samuel De Champlain’s voyage down the Saint Lawrence River. My Father, Michael, was my choice for an interview in March 2018, because he has been lecturing me on our family history – always telling me to remember my roots. To categorize the interview, my father generally talked about three different types of migration within my family’s history that either affected us or we partook in; traditional movements, close family movements and the occurrence of the settlers.

For the Kahnienkehaka, our traditional range before 1492 was in the New York area. My father made a note to mention that we were always a people that stuck close to the rapids because we wanted an advantage. We wanted to be the village where the canoes of other nations or the boats of trader’s ships would dock because they were not capable of crossing the wild rapids. We would then give them shelter and trade with them before they could give away any of the good merchandise to the other rival nations. He also briefly mentioned the trails we used to meet up with neighboring nations for trade. We met up annually and tri-monthly with our allied nations for traditional ceremonies that would take place for trade or renewing wampum treaties. My ancestors were considered semi-sedentary because we migrated every seven to ten years. From the planting and harvesting, the land would lose its fertility so we would move away from the territory before we depleted the earth of its nutrients entirely. We would return once the soil was fresh and able to produce harvests without hurting the land.

For a closer example of migration in my family, my paternal grandparents were constantly moving between Brooklyn, New Jersey and their hometown, Kahnawake. My grandfather, Johnny Blaze, was an iron worker for a majority of his life time. He worked on the twin towers and the empire state building. My grandmother, Millie, went to Queen of Angels and was working right after graduating high school as a secretary for Atlantic Sugar. At the time, Queen of Angels was a convent; a school where the teachers were nuns and the students were under very strict Catholic rules – the reason why my grandmother is so stern. Both my paternal grandparents grew up in Brooklyn and had their beginning years of marriage living there. My grandmother had stopped working for the sugar company before she was pregnant with my uncle and became a full-fledged house wife once she found out she was pregnant. She’d stay at home like all the other wives and take care of her kids. They got a place in New Jersey when my uncle Ronald was born. My uncle Ronald (first child) went to primary and half of secondary in New Jersey, where he went to school with Bruce Springsteen. After my aunt was born (second child) they started building the house they live in now. This is where my father grew up. They graduated high school at Billings in Chateauguay, right next to Kahnawake

In my father’s opinion, the most impactful migration on our family history is Christopher Columbus “discovering” the Americas. When the settlers came to colonize the Americas, they intended to make the land theirs, and with that came the assimilation and genocide of the land’s Indigenous. In my father words, “it wasn’t a migration, it was an invasion”; the Europeans fully intended to eradicate the Indigenous population if they weren’t compliant. A few examples of how they tended to the eradication of my peoples were residential schools, forced relocations to reserves, and the 60’s scoop. There are not any known people in my family that were a victim of the 60’s scoop, but my great uncles were sent to a residential school. My grandfather grew up in a very religious family and was heavily influenced by the church, hence the two eldest being sent to a residential school. They were sent off at 9 and returned at 12. They grew up hurting. The multi-generational trauma that flows through the generations of the Indigenous is a consequence of one of the most well-known migrations in history.

Being told that my grandparents lived in Brooklyn for more than half their lives was a surprise to me. I was able to learn more about my family than what I would have by asking them at the table for random conversation. Learning the traditional movements and agreement patterns of my people was inspiring. In my opinion, and from the education I’m attaining from both school and my family, the Europeans crossing the oceans and settling themselves on our ancestor’s traditional lands caused a devastating ripple effect in our people’s well-being. With prisons becoming the new residential schools and multiple reserves not being accommodated basic human rights (like clean water), life isn’t too great for the First Peoples in their homes.

 

K. Cross

K.L. Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

Throughout Canadian history, immigration has had a major influence on the increase of the Canadian population. We have people from all over the world migrate into Canada, each with their own different reasons and background stories. My family is a part of those who have immigrated into Canada with their own unique history and experiences. In the following essay, I will be summarizing the journey of both my grandfathers, which led to me being given the opportunity to have grown up in Canada. In order to obtain the information, my parents volunteered to each tell the story, on march 26, of theirs fathers who migrated here.

To begin, I will be speaking about my grandfather from my mom’s side of the family; we normally refer to him as nonno Benito. He was born in Venice, Italy in 1935 and pretty much spent his whole life there, along with his three brothers and one sister. He was a successful gymnast and has won many awards for his performances. Unfortunately at the age of 20 in 1955 he had to put a stop to his gymnastic career. He was commissioned for mandatory military duty and was forced to join the Italian army. He served in places such as Bari and San Marino, just south of Venice. After his military service, he decided to find himself a job as an electrician, but unfortunately at the time, Venice was a city that wasn’t in development so there weren’t many job openings in that domain. Evidently, this forced him to leave Venice and find work elsewhere in order to make a living. He left to work in Switzerland for a one year contract which, luckily, wasn’t too far from home. When the contract was over he came back to Venice to continue searching for a job, but was once again unsuccessful in doing so. He previously had one of his brothers already move to Canada who up to that date had been there for around two years, so he decided to retrace his brothers footsteps in 1962 and joined him in Canada hoping he would find a better job. It took him some time before finally being offered a contract, but at the time, the construction of hydroelectric plants were beginning to bloom in that era. He worked for a couple of weeks in Churchill Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador. He later found work at place Ville-Marie to set up the electrical system of the building and at Concordia University, where he actually worked on building the place. The lifestyle he had in Canada in contrast to the one in Italy was uncomparable. Venice was an old city, which was already at its peak growth. There was no longer any room to build houses, every house was already more or less modernized with the technology they had back then and most importantly, there were no more jobs. Here in Canada, the country was in full development and offered a lot more job opportunities, especially to immigrants, which benefited my grandfather, especially since it was the period where electricity companies started expanding. At the time my grandfather immigrated, Europeans had already been a part of Canada for a long time so their arrival didn’t have much of an impact on their way of life. The only time when tension started growing between the Italians and the Canadians were when they would speak more english while the Canadians would speak more french. This caused Quebec to set up laws in order to ensure that everyone learns how to speak french. Despite his struggles, he would never want to go back to Venice because he found that life there wasn’t as promising and in Canada he had met his wife and started a family, which evidently confirmed that this is his new home.

On the other hand, my grandfather on my dad’s side, who we refer to as nonno Carmine, has a little bit of a different background. He was born in a small town called Chieti, Italy in the region of Abruzzo, in 1948. He decided to leave in order to have a better life because jobs were rare in Italy whereas in Canada, we were known to have an economic boom with many job opportunities. Inspired by my great-grandfather, who left for Canada a couple years before my grandfather and great-grandmother, to see if Canada would provide a better life for his family, my grandfather left Italy at the age of 9 in the year 1957 with his mom and arrived at a port in Halifax. Canada was known as the promise land for many immigrants at the time which influenced my grandparents on their decision. The arrival of these Italians had a very big impact on the Canadian economy because they were very hard workers and they helped a lot in building new roads, houses and other infrastructure. They also had their own little community around the St-Zotique area in Montreal where most of the Italian immigrants went. If he were ever given the chance to go back and live in Italy, he wouldn’t want to, although he would love to visit, but the living conditions in Italy aren’t as good as those in Canada. 

In conclusion, after sitting down with my parents and discussing my origins with them, I was given the opportunity to retrace my roots and learn my family history. Half my family originally began way back in Italy in the mid 20th, a time when it was hard to find jobs and the other half have lived in Canada for decades. Although, the main reason for our immigration was the lack of job opportunities at the time, my ancestors still had quite an interesting story to tell and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come.

J.L. Migration and Historical Events on my Family

For this essay, I conducted two interviews with my grand-father and my grand-mother, both from my maternal side, and will be giving you a summary on them. This essay will be about how they’ve been affected by migration and historical events through out the years. The interviews were conducted on Monday March 26, 2018.

I will start this summary be giving you the information I got from the interview with my grand-mother from my maternal side of the family. Her family has been located in the area of Quebec City for more than a hundred years but more specifically at Charlesbourg. The family moved to Quebec from France around the years 1850 but she doesn’t know from what region they come from. The father of my maternal grand-mother was working for the government as a health inspector for the migration boats coming from Europe at the port of Halifax, mostly but also at Montreal and Quebec. He was going on the boats with a doctor to ask medical questions and do tests to know if migrants could be bringing any kind of diseases and would then come back to the office and fill up reports for the status of the migrants. He had a great impact on the migrations to Canada but especially for the province of Quebec. He was mostly covering the years after World War II. At the time, Quebec City had a big number of migrations from Ireland, which her dad was supervising all around the province of Quebec. The reason for this big movement of migration from Ireland to Quebec City was the agricultural problems with the potatoes which affected the whole country of Ireland. She explains how Quebec City wasn’t really affected by that migration movement but Montreal was more affected by having a greater number of Irish immigrants. She also says that there were a greater number of French-Canadians in the big area of Quebec but mostly a large number of Anglophones. After the massive wave of migration from Ireland, industry started to grow bigger with the introduction of English industries at Quebec City. She says they helped the economic growth of the province. She gave an example about the industry Anglopol, an English paper industry that gave the opportunity of jobs in the Quebec area although no one in her family worked there. As a woman, she explained how her generation and her mother and grand-mother were living in a world were the women stayed at home taking care of the children while the dad was supporting the family with money. Her mother was different for her generation and used to work at her own hotel at Charlesbourg. Even when younger, before meeting her husband, she left the country with her three sisters to work in the cotton industry for a few years south of the border in the United-States, but then they came back home to Charlesbourg. Finally, my grand-mother also worked outside of the house for the Quebec government.

The second interview that I conducted was with my grand-father from my maternal side of the family. My grand-father was born at Sillery and lived most of his life there. His family came from the north of France, more specifically from the city of Pottier around more than a 100 years ago, or around 5 generations. The family wasn’t really affected by World War II, one was supposed to go to war but became a priest so was not obligated to go. They were a family of five boys and three girls. He explained to me during the interview how they had a maximum of food they could purchase during World War II and how they had to turn off the light at night to not be seen by the planes because the Quebec airport was right up the hill. He had a similar story as my grand-mother with the wave of migration from Ireland but explained to me how the population of Ireland was present in the community of Sillery. He told me how they use to play hockey with them and showed them the culture of Quebec. The children played hockey with them and even learned the french language. Compare to the Irish children, the parents and grand-parents didn’t try to be included in the french community because they only spoke English and weren’t really interested in learning french like the children. My grand-father told me the Irish community represented at least ten percent of the population of Sillery. My grand-father feels like his generation was very under the radar but still made great changes for my generation and the future generation.

In conclusion, both interviews were very interesting to learn how both of my grand-parents and the generations before lived and how historical events affected their daily life. Both of them lived in the same period of time and the same historical events and both are still married to each other for more than 50 years.

E.F.P Migrations and historical events

During the late 1800s, Europe was in an economical crisis after the depression, 9 million people moved to America (www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965) most of them settle in the Unites States, Canada and part of south America. The most popular destination was of course the United States and Canada. After a long discussion with my mother on March 21, I found out that great grandfather was from Germany. He worked for a company that was doing trading with the Caribbean and used his job as an opportunity to migrate to Haiti permanently when the first world war was about to start. The Germans that left to established themselves in Haiti got married to Haitian women to be granted citizenship and being able to own land, around two hundred stayed after the war in Mole Saint-Nicolas on the north-west of the island. Between 1890-1915 the German presence was strong on the island and the political instability of the country led to an American occupation in 1915. The United States did not want the country to be used as a Trojan horse by the German Empire. When the United States declared war on Germany, Haiti severed his political ties with Germany.  

 My great grandfather died when my grandfather was 10 years old in 1938. My grandfather went to live in the south of the country in a city called Jacmel where he met my grandmother. They had 12 children and needed a bigger place to live, better schools and more job opportunity so they moved to the capital in Port-au-Prince. From the early 1900s to the early 2000s all the migrations of my family were due to instability in the country and lack of opportunity in certain regions of the new country. 

 My mother’s generation lived in Port-au-Prince for a few decades, all her brothers and sisters were born between 1955 and 1967. Eight of the twelve pillars of my family left the country to go to the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic and France, two of them changed country because their husbands were from Canada and the others because the schools in the other countries were better and they had a chance at a better life. The desire of my family to leave the country is also a result of the “Duvalier Dynasty”. The country was controlled by dictator father and son from 1957 to 1986, the state in which the country was left made life difficult, the economy is still recovering from all his previous corrupt leaders and natural disasters. People with the means tend to leave and come back only for vacation or family events. 

 The last important migration for my family happened in 2010 after the earthquake that killed according to CNN around 300,000 people and put around 1.5 million people on the streets. A lot of people were leaving the country most of the administrative buildings were destroyed, the government in place was not able to help, the population had to rely on humanitarian help to build temporary shelters, all the country’s infrastructures and services were comprised including the airport, phone services, any means of communication except for the radio and hospitals could not function. The first few days after the earthquake my family slept on the street and spent the days there, after a week they started spending the days inside but still slept in the street. After 2 weeks my father decided that me and my brother would leave the country and move to Canada because we had family there, my mom’s sister lived in Montreal. The airport was used only for humanitarian planes during that time, so we drove to the Dominican Republic and took a plane from there. My father didn’t want to leave because of his job and my mother didn’t want to leave him alone so my brother and I have been living with our aunt since and my parents come to visit once or twice a year. 

 With this research and my personal experience, I think migration to other countries often happen, because people are looking to leave a country in crisis or just for an opportunity to have a better life. A lot of countries in the world have been hurt because of colonization, the postcolonial period is very determinant in a country’s future and not all of them are able to succeed. Migration was once a tool to exchange culture and knowledge but today it’s used as a way to escape a broken place that is very difficult to fix. 

AB Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

For my first interview, I interviewed my paternal grandmother in March 2018.

Our family origins date way back to the times of my great great grandparents in Egypt. They lived in Cairo, where they enjoyed a very happy, luxurious and peaceful life. They resided under the regime of King Farouk, who treated his people very well. During those times, the people lived in happiness and freedom. Yet, when my grandmother was 18, life in Egypt experienced a drastic change. President Nasser took over King Farouk and the Regime changed to a socialist authoritarian one. European Egyptians, such as the French, Italians, or Greeks, were no longer allowed to live their life freely unless you were a Muslim Egyptian. The Arabic language was enforced and everyone was obliged to learn and study it. Anyone who didn’t meet those standards were persecuted and forced to leave their country and homeland. Any money or belongings they had in the bank, or any sort of account under the government, was taken by Naasar. The beautiful and peaceful life my family once lived was over. They were no longer able to enjoy the luxurious vacations like they previously did, for if they were to leave the country, they were not allowed to return. My great grandfather, who was a prominent eye surgeon well known all over the world, decided it was time to leave Egypt as it was not possible to live a normal life there anymore and he was longer allowed to practice. The overall living situation was extremely difficult to a point where Nasser’s people would come in the middle of the night to people’s homes and force them to leave. My family took the rest of their belongings  ;(as many of which had been taken away) and moved to France, where one of my grandmother’s aunts lived.

Although they weren’t being persecuted there, it wasn’t easy. They experienced a complete different mentality from what they were used to. Even if my family spoke French, they were still looked down upon because they were not Parisians. They only stayed for three months before moving to Israel for another three months. Life there was difficult there too because of the language. No one in my family spoke Hebrew, which is the main language in Israel. After their short stay, they made their final move to Canada. Upon arrival, life wasn’t too hard to adapt to as it was in Israel, because they spoke the language. At this time, my grandmother who was now 21 and she enrolled in McGill University to study economics. Life finally started to calm down. It wasn’t easy at first because of the mentality of course, but it all smoothed over with time. Soon after, she met my grandfather, who she knew from back in Egypt, got married and had my father. They both continued living in Canada till today!

For my second interview, I interviewed my paternal grandfather at the same time as my interview with my grandmother.

Everyone on my paternal grandfather’s side came from Syria. Although, they decided to move into Egypt in the late 1800’s, for in Syria they had started drafting people into the Army, and my family did not wish to have any blood on their hands. They moved to Cairo where they lived in a suburb called Heliopolis. However, in 1948 (my grandfather was not born yet), the Egyptians went to war with Israel because Israel was in the process of becoming a state. This had a great impact on the Jews situated in Egypt and many of them were thrown from balconies and tortured.

Prior to Naasar becoming president in 1952, life was good under King Farouk. Although once Nasser came in, some of my grandfather’s uncles started leaving. My family had a factory in Egypt, which was taken by Nasser. The situation was quickly becoming more difficult and harder to bear, so they left and came to Canada. Adapting there was not easy and took a lot of time. Finding a job was also very hard because people only wanted you if you had Canadian experience. Eventually my grandfather opened his own company and started working. He then met my grandmother and lives here till today.

EF The Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

The Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

On March 22 2018, I interviewed my father. He shared a lot of information with me about my family’s migrations and their impact. The only thing I knew about this subject was that my family is in France and that my parents, my sister and I moved to Canada in 2009. Perhaps, my father told me that the most important migration that my family made was around 1872. The paternal side of my family was located in Alsace, in France. In 1870, the Prussian war began and Alsace became German. My great-great-great-grandparents stayed in Alsace for a few years after its colonization, in Colmar more precisely. They had 4 children at the time. When their 5th child was born, he got a German certificate, entirely written in German. In fact, every French person who stayed in Alsace after it became German has been deprived of French nationality and became German. His parents then really realized that they had lost their French nationality. They then decided to move back in France. They lost their German nationality and re-obtained the French one. They arrived in Burgundy, in France.

My Father also explained to me the migrations that the most recent generations of the paternal side of my family have made. He is talking about his parents, so my paternal grandfather and grandmother. They both grew up during World War II. No migrations were made during the war but it, of course, affected my family. Before the war, my great-grandfather was working for Schneider, a French steel company. During the war, the company was forced to work for the Germans. My great-grandfather was then obligated to produce weapons, locomotives and equipment for the Germans. He and all his colleagues resisted as well as they could. If they were not producing the material asked, they would have been killed. The only option that they had to resist against the Germans was to work as slow as possible. It is therefore what they did. The impact that it had on my family is the stress provided by the involuntary contribution to the German side of the war.

My grandfather, who was around 8 years old during World War II, did not have a lot of respite. In 1956, he was obligated to participate in the Algerian War because of the compulsory military service, leaving behind his wife, his work and his family. He stayed in Algeria for 3 years and could come back to France because his dad was sick. This is the impact that the European colonization had on my family. The post-war years in France were dark. It is at that moment that the United States appeared with the American dream. My grandfather was working for an American engineering company around Paris. They offered him to go work to the United States. Therefore, my paternal grandparents, my father and his sisters left for New York. They lived there 8 years.

In 2009, my parents, my sister and I moved to Montreal from France. It is one of last migrations that my family has made. The reason for this migration was that both of my parents were invited here in Montreal, for their work. Even if it is a really great reason in comparison to what forced my family to migrate previously, we left all our lives behind us. In 2014, we then went to Brussels, in order to be closer to our family. Perhaps, the quality of life is not as great as it is in Montreal so we came back to Montreal!

Life was different for my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother was not working and had to follow her husband. She moved with him to New York, but had not a lot to do there. However, my mother is a doctor and had the same job opportunity as my father. She was invited by L’Université de Montréal to work in Montreal. Therefore she got a job and it favoured her integration in this new city.

On March 23 2018, I interviewed my mother. On both sides of her family there was not a lot of migration. In fact, the maternal side of my family stays in Burgundy. My mother mentioned that neither her mother nor her father’s family ever left the region but have once moved from one village to another. Her maternal grandfather had a wine-growing holding. After World War II, the region had a thriving wine industry. My great-grandfather was working in the grape vines. The expansion of the wine industry made the family sedentary. The first important migration that occurred in the maternal side of my family was when my mother moved to Montreal, in 2009.

Even if the different wars and historical events did not make this side of my family move, it surely had a lot of impact. Both World War I and II affected my mother’s family. Her great-grandfather was in fighting in the war trenches from 1914 to 1918. Before he was send to war, he just had a son, my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather did not see his dad for the first four years of his life. When his dad came back after the war, he did not recognize him and was scared of him for a few months. During World War II, my grandfather and my grandmother were children. They were really affected by that time because there was not a lot of money or a lot to eat. During the war, my grandfather lived in Le Creusot, a city that was bombed a lot. On day, there was a bombardment and the house next to their house was completely destroyed. My great-grandmother was injured. She was pregnant and alone. She had to bandage herself before walking alone to the hospital. After this event, the entire family decided to leave the town and move to the countryside.

My mother also told me how life was different for women in her generation and in my grandmother’s generation. Women from my grandmother’s generation had less liberty. The women’s right to vote was recent. Only a few women were going to the university. My maternal grandmother was one of them. However, in May 1968, there was a students’ revolt, in which both of my grandparents participated. It allowed women to be freer and to have a bigger place in society. After that, more women went to university, in France. Nevertheless, it stayed an unequal society. For my mother’s generation, women were going to university as much as men do. They could have a diploma and a job.

 

S.M-The Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family

On March 24^th, 2018, I went over to my grandparent’s house to interview them about how migration and historical events have changed the course of my family history and the impact it had on them. I decided to interview my grandmother and my grandfather from my mother’s side. Since my grandparents speak Italian and only the slightest bit of French, I had to do the interview in Italian with the help of my mother who was able to translate a few phrases for me.

My grandparents were born in Cosenza, a city in the Calabria region of Southern Italy. My grandfather is 95 years old and my grandmother is 84 years old. Before my grandfather ever met my grandmother, he was serving in World War II at the age of 18. He told me he used to work on the farm with his parents and grandparents, and they got very little pay and struggled financially. World War II was obviously very hard for him to go through. They were always in hiding, it was cold and rainy, and they barely had any food. He also almost got shot in the head, but the bullet just skimmed his skull. After the War had ended, my grandfather decided he wanted to move to Canada to find work. He knew that raising a family in Canada with my grandmother was the best option financially and politically. Compared to the region in Italy he was from, Canada was more developed, and he knew for sure he would get a stable job if he lived there. Also because of the War, my grandfather thought it would be much safer to raise children in Canada. From the year 1950 to 1960, a lot of Italians immigrated to Halifax. So, in 1954 my grandfather decided to leave his parents and sisters and move to Canada for work by himself. He expected that coming to Canada would be a lot of work, and it was. The cold and the new language was difficult for him at 23 years old. At the time, he and my grandmother wrote to each other as she was still living in Italy. From Italy to Halifax, the ship ride took about 10 days. On the way, my grandfather made some friends who were also in the same position as him. Most of the time, the ship only served them bread and water. Once they docked in Halifax, he took the train to Thunder Bay, Ontario, which was a 3-day train ride. Once he arrived in Thunder Bay, he met up with his brother and wife with kids who were already living there. He instantly found a job as a lumberjack, which paid really well so he was able to buy his own house.

At this time, my grandmother was getting ready to move to Thunder Bay to marry my grandfather, which was the only reason why she moved there. Before moving, she used to work on the farm with her parents. Her parents made little money as well, but more than my grandfather’s. The War also affected her as there was no food and she was constantly in hiding. My grandmother’s sister had moved to Argentina with her husband and child before my grandmother had moved. My grandmother thought Canada would be like Italy. My grandmother’s parents and older brother stayed in Italy. On December 10, 1958, my grandmother hopped on the ship to Halifax, and then the train to Thunder Bay to meet my grandfather. Three days later they got married. During their stay in Thunder Bay, my grandmother didn’t work because my grandfather had a good job as a lumberjack and she was trying to get pregnant. Three years passed, and my grandparents decided to move to Montreal because they heard there were better job opportunities and they knew it would be warmer down in Montreal. As for my great aunt in Argentina, she and her family decided to move to Toronto because they couldn’t find good jobs to support their families, even though she loved the weather in Argentina. Once my grandparents moved to Montreal, my grandmother and grandfather had both found jobs at a factory where they made hats and buttons. Later on, they started their family in Montreal.

If it hadn’t been for the War and poverty, my grandparents would’ve stayed in Italy. Some days they wish they were back in Italy because it’s too cold here and they miss being around their people, but they know it’s for the better if they lived here. They knew that the future of their children would be better here financially. Even though it was a culture shock and they had to move a couple times until they found the best place to live, they managed to settle here in Montreal. My grandfather had learned French and English, but my grandmother had not. My aunt asked them if they wanted to move back to Thunder Bay because living was better there, but my grandparents were so tired of moving all the time, so they decided to just stay in Montreal. I definitely learned a lot about my grandparents’ immigration to Canada. Before this interview, I knew some information on how they got here, but I never knew the full story. I never realized that my grandfather was poor back in Italy, I just knew they didn’t have much money. My grandparents don’t regret their decisions because so many Italians had immigrated here with them, especially in Montreal. I really enjoyed interviewing my grandparents because I get to keep the interview forever and maybe show it to my kids in the future.

sbbm -My family’s migration and historical events

For this essay, I interviewed my paternal Uncle Mr. Henry and maternal aunt Mrs.  Vivian on March 25^th 2018. Human migration is mostly understood as people moving from one place to another with the intention to settle permanently or at times temporarily. This essay seeks to discuss the impact of migration and historical events on my family. My uncle migrated from the North West Region of Cameroon called Bamenda and commonly referred to as the “Grass fields”. The Bamenda people are part of a larger cultural area known collectively as part of the North West region. For so many years now, my family has been living in the Littoral and south west region of Cameroon where I was born, but originally, they migrated from the North West region due to lack of adequate food supply and in search of jobs and a better living standard. Geographically, the region known as the Bamenda Grass fields is occupied with Savannah and interspersed with forests in the valleys. The Germans named it the grass fields as opposed to the forest region. It is characterised with high altitudes and grassy nature except for the forest galleries, the area is full of beautiful grassy scenarios.

My uncle and aunt told me colonial rule by the Europeans, affected the migration of my family immensely. The Bamenda people to which my family is a part of, were termed “Graffie” as far back as 1884 – 1916 during the German colonization which means people from the Bamenda Grass fields. This name Graffie is snipping in the sense that, it refers to people from the Bamenda Grass fields who are more backwards as compared to the more “civilized” coastal people in the Littoral Region. When the Germans discovered the fertile soils at the foot of Mount Cameroon in the South West Region in the 1880s, they took advantage of it and created mines, and this area became a beehive of plantations of various types such as palm plantations, bananas, pepper, cocoa, and rubber. This led to a great influx of migrants of the Grass fielders including my family from the north to the coastal regions.

My uncle also told me that, besides the creation of plantations, the colonial policy to construct roads which linked the hinterlands and the coastal region brought in many migrants as clerical officers of which my grand dad was one of them, there also auxiliary services like drivers, gardeners, housemaids, cooks and messengers. The coastal region has a plantation complex as well as industries which acted as a cynosure that attracted the population. The grass fields on the other hand, lacked any meaningful industries of any kind and so the ecology cannot harnessed its growing entrepreneurial population and this coloured the grass fielders’ lives with constant mobility. My grand dad was one of the first migrants who took up a job as an office clerk and after settling down, he brought his entire family to the coast and had them take advantage of the opportunities the coast offered.

The effects of the continuous increase of the Bamenda migrants in the south west plantations soon turned dramatic and sour. Crucial to the souring of relations was the ethnicity and politics of identity and belonging which the government of Cameroon was playing in the 1990s. While on migration, the grass fielders held very strongly to their identity by forming cultural associations and interestingly intermarried with people from other indigenous groups. They also held annual cultural meetings, print almanacs and appear in their traditional regalia. Some opened beer parlours and gave ethnic labels as tag names which all denote a struggle to hold onto their identity.

While some grass field migrants worked and returned to their area of origin, others like my grand dad, preferred to retire and stayed on the coastal region permanently. Reasons for such choices could be found in the fact that they preferred the fertile soils, modernity than their “backward villages” and also gave him the opportunity to raise his family in a more stable and promising place with a bright future guaranteed for his kids (going to good schools and having good jobs afterwards).This drove most workers to find accommodation in the nearby villages and towns which were however near to the plantations. The Bamenda migrant population was soon joined by friends, relatives and in-laws and this mainly because of the fertile land which they were given by the host to cultivate. The lands which were initially bought at a giveaway prices soon became commercialised and so the settler population mostly The Bamenda Migrants became so aggressive in getting the land.

The resulting effect of all theses was obvious. The host population started envying the Bamenda migrants due to the entrepreneurial nature of the settlers and also because the settlers had no respect for the local authorities and laws of the host. They were also envied because of their steady seduction of local women and their unwillingness to meaningfully carryout any investment in the host community. The general perception of the Bamenda migrant was that they were only interested in the exploitation and domination of the local population, while continuing to be loyal to their own ethnic group. This was evidenced by their frequent desire either to return home at the end of their working life or to be buried in the land of their ancestors or formed ethnic associations in which they practiced their culture. This was how my granddad migrated with the family to the South West Region where my siblings and I were born and raised till date.

Migration all over the world is not a new phenomenon. Its spans the entire life of humanity. Many factors have been responsible for the movement of people from one region to another including my family. The colonial migrations were more dictated by the colonial policies which included among others, the opening of plantations which provided job opportunities to many migrants, as well as the construction of new roads and bridges to ease transportation. This also led to the opening of new schools which improved educational standards.

M.T. The Impact of Migration and Historical Events on my Family.

Immigration has an impact on everyone’s family. Similar to many others in Canada my family came from Europe. I will be focusing on the maternal side of my family, specifically my grandmother and mother. I conducted both the interviews on March 24, 2018.

For my grandmother, who was born in Italy in 1936 life was very different. She was born into a world war and a time when Benito Mussolini had a huge political impact. When my grandmother was a child education was not a priority, she got a basic grade school education and left after this to help out in the family. Even the basic education she got was influenced by Mussolini and his views, aimed towards idolizing him and seeing him as a positive figure.

After leaving school, from a very young age my grandmother began doing very hard work to help support the family, doing farm work with livestock and agricultural activities. She also baked bread and other specialties to sell in the market to make money. Her role as a girl compared to her numerous brothers was to mainly help with the family while the men were to go out and work. They were also a very strict catholic family who stressed the importance of marrying a hardworking man. Marriage was not arranged but there was a factor of a recommended man where parents would be pushy. After she married at the age of 18 she soon had three children while my grandfather left for Canada to work in the abundance of construction work. After he had been working here for three years my grandmother travelled by boat to join him, this is when her life began in Canada despite her not wanting to leave everything she knew and loved in Italy. For a few years she lived in a small shack like home and did what she could do to help make money to save for a nicer home. Eventually, they saved up and bought a triplex in the Plateau where she currently is today. She is proud of what she has accomplished and the six kids she raised. My grandmother became a Canadian citizen in 1983 and came here for a better future. Although our family lives here, our same traditional and humble culture that my grandmother carried over on the boat is a very significant part of our lives today.

My mother who was born in Canada, the youngest of six children, is an example of a second-generation Italian. Her first language being Italian, she learnt English and French in school growing up, along with everything else concerning Canadian culture. Growing up my mother was raised in a traditional strict Italian household, the biggest difference from the way she was raised compared to my grandmother was that education was more important. The role of my mother growing up was not as stressful compared to her older siblings who were expected to help out more financially. My mother was still brought up in a catholic household who would go to church most Sundays. Compared to the previous generation where woman was often expected to stay home and take care of the family, now there was a sort of acceptance or pride that came with finding a career and being self-sufficient. Although, family is still everything and that is imbedded in my mother’s head to this day. As far as marriage goes, it was very similar to traditional ways in Italy where a husband would never be forced but always recommended by the judgement of how hard they work to see if the man can support a family. My mother feels happy she comes from a background where the simple things make her happy, materialism is not something important to her and family is everything. She is also proud to keep passing on her roots through the generations in Canada.

Historical events have played a part in me being born in Canada today but for the most part it is a consequence of my grandparents seeking a better life. Looking back at the way things were generations ago and in the present day it is nice to see that in some ways we have evolved, especially in the social role of woman, but at the same time never lost touch with our family’s roots and what is important. I have my family’s past to thank for being where I am today with all the opportunities I am blessed with because of the sacrifices they have made. I am happy to live in a country, especially a city where there is so much cultural diversity and share my background with others.