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Although the Italian Canadians of Thunder Bay
constitute the largest ethnic group, surpassed only by those of
British descent, and although Italians have played a major role
in the development of this northern city since the 1880s, their
historical participation remains generally unknown.
The
aim of this paper is, in part, to remedy this situation by attempting
to bring to life some key experiences of the group's early Canadian
evolution from the 1880s to the 1940s, which forms an essential
chapter in the history of Thunder Bay.
In
1919 Robert F. Foerster, the first American scholar to study the
circumstances which provoked large-scale Italian emigration, asserted
that, "emigration from Italy belongs among the extraordinary movements
of mankind." He felt that this phenomenon was particularly remarkable
both because of its intensity over an extended period of time and
for the impact it had in receiving countries.1
Statistics
reveal that the total emigration from Italy to European and various
transoceanic destinations, from 1876-99, was over five and a half
million. From 1900-15, when emigration was at its peak, over nine
million people left Italy.
In
the post-World War One era, 1919-30, the total surpassed three million.
The political climate of the 1930s and the outbreak of the Second
World War brought the movement to a virtual halt. The next major
wave of Italian emigration would occur in the 1950s and the early
1960s. Elements of the Italian mass emigration began to trickle
into Canada in the 1880s.
Many
of the early immigrants first worked in the United States and later
crossed the border in search of work, particularly in railroad construction.
The following letter, written by the mayor of Port Arthur to the
consul general of Italy in 1884, provides an interesting account
of the experiences of some of the early arrivals to this area: There
was a large number of Italians that arrived here last fall and from
what I could learn they were induced through the persuasion of employment
agents in Buffalo and other points east.
On
their arrival they were [indecipherable] but were provided with
provisions by the town authorities. Some of the party went east
to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway a distance of one hundred
miles from here, the balance left by the Sarnia steamer for Sarnia.
I
have not heard that any of them died from exposure but they must
have suffered considerably. At the time there were [sic] no one
here that could speak their language and consequently could not
make themselves understood.2
The
lack of interpreters for these arrivals is not surprising as the
1881 Census shows that there was no one of Italian origin in Port
Arthur and only one Italian-born person was reported in Fort William.
However, the combination of railway construction, the moving of
grain, the coal and ore docks, saw mills and other related industries
had by 1906 turned the two communities of Port Arthur
and
Fort William into a thriving commercial centre. Eager immigrants,
including Italians, found their way there to take advantage of job
opportunities. Indeed, by 1901, the census reflected the existence
of an Italian presence in the two communities. It reported 70 and
127 persons of Italian origin in Port Arthur and Fort William respectively.
In
1911 the figures had increased to 472 and 710. By 1921 the respective
numbers stood at 698 and 1,342; in 1931, 923 and 1,642. These figures
do not take into account an estimated 1,000 transient Italian workers
that would fluctuate the population of the two cities according
to seasonal and economic shifts in the economy.
With
the Italian immigration of the 1950s and early 1960s, the Thunder
Bay community experienced considerable growth and increased vitality.
By the 1970s it numbered well over 10,000, forming the largest ethnic
community in the city.
Early
Italian neighbourhoods emerged in four areas of Thunder Bay. In
Port Arthur, Italians settled in the area between Pearl and Bay
streets known as Little Italy, while a second concentration emerged
along the Fort William Road in the vicinity of Ontario Street and
First Avenue. In Fort William the main Italian community emerged
in the East End and this area became known as Little Italy. A second
but smaller concentration of Italians settled in the Westfort area.
Two
major early employers of Italians were the Canadian Pacific Railway
and the Canadian Northern Railway. The decade 1902-12 was a formidable
one for the Italian community. Faced with harsh industrial conditions
in the work place, Italian workers found themselves in the vanguard
of militant labour action.
On
a number of occasions they found themselves facing the combined
resources and muscle of railway company private constables, police,
militia and even regular troops. These local confrontations had
an impact on the regional as well as national evolution of industrial
relations.
In
this sense Thunder Bay holds a special place in the history of Italians
in Canada. * * * Few details are known about these early strikes.
On July 2, 1902, a group of Italian and Finnish workers employed
in the freight shed and yards of the Canadian Northern Railway in
Port Arthur asked management for an increase in their wages to twenty-five
cents per hour. The company immediately dismissed them; the rest
of the workers went on a full-scale strike on July 5.3
Two
days later the Canadian Northern Railway responded with two powerful
weapons - imported strike-breakers and armed men. Ironically, a
"gang of Italians," numbering about forty men, was brought from
Montreal to replace the strikers at the dock. At the same time,
the company hired ten special policemen to prevent the strikers
from interfering with the strike-breakers. Presented with this quick
and formidable response, the Italian strikers offered no counter-challenge.4
In
1903 Italian freight handlers employed by the Canadian Northern
Railway were again the chief protagonists in the struggle against
irregular hiring practices at the dock. The company's policy was
to hire men on a daily basis; between the arrival of vessels the
dock workers were expected to remain idle and without pay. When
the workers gathered to protest on May 20, local authorities read
the Riot Act and arrested the leader; a crowd of Italian workers
who had "become quite ugly" were dispersed by the police.5
The
Italians were given their pay and replaced. In these two minor confrontations
the foreigners learned that the company could outmanoeuvre them
by using strike-breakers, special private police forces that could
be established at any time and national laws enforced by local police.
Nevertheless,
within the next nine years the immigrant longshoremen challenged
their employers three more times, with great determination and militancy.
By
1905 both Fort William and Port Arthur had seen considerable economic
development, but for the workers employed at the waterfront conditions
were still miserable. It is not surprising, therefore, that in 1906
the Italian workers staged two strikes, against the Canadian Pacific
and against the Canadian Northern. On September 29 without warning,
ten Italian freight-handlers employed at the Canadian Pacific Railway
freight sheds walked out demanding an increase in pay over the current
rate of 17.5 cents per hour and 20 cents per hour for day and night
work, respectively. They were also entitled to a bonus of 2.5 cents
per hour, provided that they remained until the end of the navigation
season.6
Since
the employers hired their workers on a day-to-day basis, the bonus
system was a scheme for maintaining an abundance of cheap labour
throughout the season. Even though work might be scarce at the waterfront,
any worker who found employment elsewhere forfeited the bonus money
he had accumulated.
In
addition to the wage issue, Italians may also have been striking
in response to rumours reported by the press that the railways planned
to shut out Italians and replace them with "thousands of brawny
English-speaking men and youths" who were expected to arrive, and
by other foreigners of "sturdy races," mainly Finns, Swedes and
other Scandinavians, since they were thought to be order-loving,
permanent settlers who would make ''the best British citizens."7
On
October 2 the strikers declared a general strike and instituted
a blockade of Little Italy, which in essence also cut off entry
to the adjacent Canadian Pacific Railway freight sheds. At one o'clock
the Daily Times-Journal was distributed with the headline, "Shooting
and Rioting Started - New Men Coming to Take the Place of the Strikers
Are Fired on By Italians."
In
what amounted to a small pitched battle, two strikers and one officer
were shot when the company's superintendent arrived from Winnipeg
with a carload of men who were to have replaced the strikers. Approximately
100 Italian strikers armed with guns, clubs and revolvers awaited
the arrival of the strike-breakers.
However,
later the same day, four more carloads of strike-breakers were brought
in by the Canadian Pacific Railway from Winnipeg. Faced with the
railway's reinforced special police force and no shortage of strike-breakers,
the Italians called off the strike on the evening of October 2 by
agreeing to a compromise worked out by the mayor.
The
compromise gave the workers a pay increase of 2.5 cents per hour,
but nothing was done about hiring practices or the notorious practice
of holding back the bonus money until the end of the season. In
Port Arthur, where Italian freight-handlers (many of whom commuted
from Fort William's foreign quarter) working for the Canadian Northern
Railway had walked out in sympathy with their countrymen in Fort
William, the level of violence did not reach the shooting stage.
It
is interesting to note, however, that even the Italians who were
engaged on the town's excavations left work on the appeal of striking
Italians, while the non-ltalian workers remained on the job. This
was surely a magnificent display of both class and group solidarity
within the two Little Italies.
On
October 2 the Canadian Northern Railway imported sixty-four men
from Winnipeg, many of them Italians. These men had not heard of
the strike. When the imported Italian strike-breakers were told
of the situation by their countrymen, they, too, joined the strike.
Many of those brought in from Winnipeg found themselves destitute
and were taken care of by the Italian community.8
Meanwhile,
in light of the solidarity between the imported Italian strikebreakers
and the strikers, the Canadian Northern Railway was forced to agree
to a settlement similar to that of the Canadian Pacific, namely
an increase of 2.5 cents per hour. The Italians received no sympathy
in the local press
. A
Daily News editorial argued that the major concern: ...is the circumstance
that among the strikers are a majority of foreigners, chiefly Italians,
who are reported to have prepared to meet opposition to their demands
at the point of the knife, the national weapon of the 'dago'....
To strike for more pay is the legitimate prerogative of any man
or body of men.
But
for a community of British citizens to have to submit to the insult
and armed defiance from a disorganized horde of ignorant and low-down
mongrel swash bucklers and peanut vendors is making a demand upon
national pride which has no excuse.
(1 October 1906) All this was the result, the editorial argued,
of a lenient policy which the community had adopted in its dealings
with Italians of a ''baser sort."
The
editor predicted that the Italians were likely to make stabbing
and shooting men in the back a regular feature in industrial bargaining
processes. The railway companies waited until The 1907 shipping
season to shatter the moderate gains that the Italian freight-handlers
had won in the 1906 strikes. First came the news that, as had been
rumoured during the strike, the Canadian Pacific was going to exclude
Italians and Greeks from the freight sheds.
Their
work would be limited to the track lines and construction camps.
They were to be replaced by 200 to 250 Britishers. "Should trouble
arise it is expected that the Briton will be more than a match for
Greek," the Daily News reported on April 30. The Canadian Northern
Railway struck a second blow when it announced that the rate of
pay for the 1907 season would drop 2.5 cents per hour.
On
June 10, 1907, the British workers and other foreigners - Hungarians,
Poles and Finns - who had replaced the Latvians walked out demanding
higher wages. The Canadian Pacific responded by immediately rehiring
the Italian and Greek workers that it had earlier locked out.9
The
division of the working class along ethnic lines was cultivated
and exploited by management. In 1909 a strike at the Canadian Pacific
freight sheds commanded national attention. The conflict lasted
only six days, but before it was over it took on the character of
a miniature insurrection with the residents of Little lately pitted
against the Canadian Pacific's special constables, the local police,
militia and regular troops that were dispatched to the scene from
Winnipeg, on the other. On August 9,1909, 600 freight-handlers,
most of them foreign born, walked out of the Canadian Pacific sheds
demanding higher wages.10
Once
again the Italians and Greeks were perceived as the instigators
and leaders. On August 10, Italians began to patrol Little Italy
armed with sticks, stopping anyone who appeared to be a strikebreaker.
When the railway moved thirty of its imported special constables
into the area, the constables were mistaken for strike-breakers;
a thirty-minute gun battle ensued.11
The
local militia was soon brought into Little Italy. It happened that
a famous Canadian military figure, Colonel S.B. Steele, was visiting
the area; he decided to take personal charge of the troops and requested
seventy-five regulars from Winnipeg. Steele used the military, who
had orders to shoot to kill if necessary, to seal off Little Italy.
In
a search for weapons the police and soldiers ransacked Italian homes
and outbuildings. The search uncovered about thirty revolvers and
rifles. The Canadian Pacific also brought in French-Canadian workers,
but when these men learned of the strike, about 50 of the 100 French
Canadians sacrificed the opportunity for high wages and joined the
strikers.12
Faced
with the formidable power of the company, backed by the local police
and military, the strikers held a "conference of all nations" and
agreed. with a proposal to have the federal Minister of Labour,
Mackenzie King, arbitrate the dispute under terms of the Industrial
Dispute Investigation Act.
The
investigating board awarded the strikers an increase of 3 cents
per hour (making their new hourly rate 20.5 cents per hour) and
recommended that the practice of retaining the bonus earned until
the end of the season be abolished.13
At
the beginning of the 1910 shipping season, the management of the
Canadian Pacific took another stab at eliminating the gains made
by the workers during the bloody 1909 struggle. It was announced
that, as in 1907, the Italians and Greeks would no longer be given
employment in the freight sheds. Even the "white
Italians" (from northern Italy) were excluded.14
In
order to guard against possible reprisals by the blackballed workers,
the CPR brought its chief secret agent to the city who boasted of
having organized enough constables capable of being able to "compete
with a company of soldiers, let alone a bunch of foreigners....''15
The
Italians and the Greeks did not initiate any major action. The last
major industrial conflict prior to World War One occurred in the
summer of 1912. The strike was against the Canadian Northern Coal
and Ore Company. The coal handlers (many of whom were from Fort
William's East End) had managed to form the Coal Handlers Union
Local No. 319. Since its inception in 1911 the union had been influenced
by Italians - its first president was an Italian, Mike Pento, and
its first treasurer was Nicola Ciacco.16
When
the company was presented with the union's demands, it responded
by firing the president and the secretary. On July 20, 1912, the
coal handlers set up their picket line at a strategic point in Port
Arthur's Little Italy, commanding the only entrance to the coal
docks.In the evening several men attempted to cross the picket line
to go to work but were turned back by the strikers, who were "flourishing"
a revolver.
A
policeman arrived at the scene to arrest the Italian strikers, but
the policeman was himself disarmed by five or six strikers who drew
revolvers. Learning of this incident, the chief of police, with
a number of officers, went to the scene to arrest the ring leader,
a man known as "Tony the Shoemaker," but the police were met by
strikers armed with clubs and guns. A violent confrontation ensued.
The
police force suffered a number of injuries, and many Italians were
wounded. Two Italian br others, Dominic and Nicola Deprenzo, suffered
the most extensive injuries. Dominic received seven bullet wounds;
Nicola was hit by five bullets and both his hands were "shot off."17
The
local militia moved in, and squads of soldiers and police "ransacked
Italian houses" searching for weapons. The search produced no weapons
and resulted in no arrests.The authorities offered protection to
anyone who wanted to work but none dared.
The
local paper reported that the company was taking no chances: A special
squad of policemen armed with Winchester rifles with sufficient
ammunition to blow the inhabitants of Port Arthur's 'Little Old
Italy' into eternity were soon patrolling the property of the Canadian
Northern and Ore Dock Company. (Daily Times-Journal, 1 August 1912)
Five days later the company accepted most of the workers' demands
and the strike ended.
The
ramifications of the strike however lingered on in the Italian community
and for the two Deprenzo brothers the strike had tragic consequences.
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Both
brothers were brought to trial on October 8, 1912.18
Dominic was charged with attempting to murder the chief of police
and Nicola was charged with assaulting a constable.
To
say the least police evidence against the two brothers was highly
questionable but the defendants did not speak English well and were
less convincing witnesses. The defence fought the case on the grounds
of compassion rather than on the quality ot the evidence given by
the police.
Their
lawyer suggested to the jury that they keep in mind the circumstances
of the Italian immigrants and the important role they were playing
in the Canadian industrial process: He said they were mostly coarse,
rough, uneducated peasants from southern Italy, their only advantage
being their strong frames and tough sinews that made them an invaluable
acquisition to Canada, for performing the rough, dirty work such
as handling coal. They were, he said, the hewers of wood and drawers
of water.
They
were thrifty and saving. Most of them had dependents away back in
Italy and as each pay day came along they sent their savings to
support their loved ones at home. The judge in charge of the case
saw the trial of the Deprenzo brothers as an opportunity to teach
the foreigners, and particularly the Italians, a lesson: The point
he emphasized was that those foreigners must not be led to believe
that they can take the law into their own hands, throwing aside
the measures provided by civilized society for the punishment of
crime.
If
this condition was once allowed civilization would descend to barbarism
and anybody having a grievance would be inclined to take the law
in his own hands and resort to violence and outrage to avenge his
wrongs. The law would be overthrown and the courts of Justice would
he a hollow mockery.
The
point that must be brought home to these people was that violence
in any form will not be tolerated in this country regardless of
any custom or usages prevailing in Russia, Finland, Italy or whatever
country the foreign element comes from. The jury recommended that
the charge of attempted murder be dropped but found the Deprenzo
brothers guilty of resisting arrest and of unlawful wounding.
Judge
Middleton sentenced both brothers to a ten-year prison term at Stoney
Mountain Penitentiary. The sentence caused a great deal of grief
among the workers particularly since it was common knowledge that
in fact it was "Tony the Shoemaker" who hit the chief of police
over the head with a pick handle. He fled the scene and was spirited
into the United States allegedly by the local "Black Handers."
These
strikes suggest that the Italian immigrants' militancy and willingness
to risk their lives in armed confrontations were an essential factor
in their partial success. Management's first response to a strike
was almost instinctively to turn to local or imported recruits to
break it. The only effective means that the Italians and other foreigners
had to keep alive the possibility of winning concessions was to
introduce physical force to prevent others from taking their jobs.
During
this turbulent decade of Canadian history 1902-12 the Italians of
Fort William and Port Arthur who were at the forefront of violent
strikes had little or no previous experience in industrial conflict.
But with steady determination they faced practically all of the
strike-breaking schemes ever devised.
Paradoxically
for a short time they also became a strike-breaking tool in 1907.
After British and other foreign workers had accepted Canadian Pacific's
policy of excluding Italian labour without challenge the Italians
returned to work for the railway when those employees struck for
higher wages. It should be made clear however that the Italians
made their greatest impact in Thunder Bay as effective strikers
- not as strike-breakers.
The
high degree of militancy that the Italians displayed in their new
proletarian roles in Thunder Bay was not a trait that originated
exclusively in the new industrial milieu. Neither was this militancy
an automatic application of the "revoltist traditions" that were
deeply rooted in their agrarian background.19
The
militancy of the Italian immigrants was shaped by their semi-feudal
European past combined with the harsh industrial present that seemed
to lock them into perpetual industrial serfdom thus undermining
the success of their mission to America. To quote Eric T. Hobsbawm,
"But it must never be forgotten that the bulk of industrial workers
in all countries began like Americans as first-generation immigrants
from pre-industrial societies even if they never actually moved
from the place in which they had been born. And like all first-generation
immigrants they looked backwards as much as forwards."20
During
this very volatile decade the Italians managed to stabilize their
community by establishing three important institutions. The first
created in 1909 in Fort William's East End was the Societa Italiana
di Benevolenza - Principe di Piemonte (today generally known as
the Da Vinci Centre). Also in the East End in 1912 the Italian community
built St. Joseph's Church (later renamed St. Dominic's in 1916).
During
the same year the Italians of Port Arthur built St. Anthony's at
the corner of Banning and Dufferin streets. In 1929 they then established
the Societa Italiana di Mutuo Soccorso a mutual benefit society
(today generally known as the Italian Centennial Hall). The outbreak
of World War One halted these waves of labour-capital confrontations.
By
this time the Italian community was well established. Having played
a leading role in the shaping of Canadian industrial relations it
had integrated itself in the process of nation building in an active
and primary way. During the 1920s and 1930s the residents of the
Italian community were almost fanatically concerned with presenting
a good image to the community at large.
They
felt a need to win honour for the patria (native land) and by doing
so win respect and acceptance in Canada. It was thought that by
maintaining high standards of morality these two goals would be
achieved. An analysis of the benevolent society Principe di Piemonte
from its inception in 1909 to 1949 clearly shows that the promotion
of the respectability of the entire Italian community remained a
constant priority.
Over
the years the Principe di Piemonte fostered a sense of pride in
the Italian heritage and enforced a strict code of conduct for its
members. The society emerged as an agent of social control within
the Italian community. A similar orientation was followed by the
Italian Mutual Aid Society of Port Arthur.
During
the 1 930s, international events and, in particular, events in fascist
Italy, were also demanding the attention of Thunder Bay's two Little
Italies. Usually the name of Mussolini provided Italians with a
sense of glory and pride, many of whom were feeling the gloom of
the economic stress of the depression. Also, because Italian communities
in Canada generally equated fascism with patriotism and because
they were cut off from the mainstream of Anglo-Canadian society
by the language barrier and discrimination, many Italian immigrants
welcomed the opportunity to identify with a dynamic leader who was
at the forefront of international events.
In
the wake of the Ethiopian campaign of 1935-36, Italian-born priests
and Italian consuls successfully appealed to women to donate their
gold wedding rings to help the cause of Italy. In Thunder Bay Cavaliere
Emilio Marino, the Italian consular agent, spearheaded a drive to
collect gold items from the Italian women of the community and many
responded with such donations. Because support for the fascist regime
in Canada's Italian communities stemmed largely from sentiments
of patriotism and was not based on ideological tenets, many of the
women who had donated gold items for the Italian Red Cross felt
that they had been betrayed by Mussolini when Italy joined Nazi
Germany in the war against the Allies on June 10, 1940.21
The
outbreak of the Second World War placed the Italians of Thunder
Bay in a most difficult position. Even prior to the outbreak of
hostilities, on January 5, 1939, a member of the Principe di Piemonte
expressed the anxiety felt by many Italians when he voiced his opinion
at a society meeting that in light of world events they all should
demonstrate to Canada that they were ignorant of what was happening
overseas in order to avoid being disliked.22
John
Defeo, a second-generation Italian Canadian, recalls that in 1940
a fellow worker accused him of being a fascist since he belonged
to the Principe di Piemonte - a charge that was greatly resented.
Defeo was restrained by a CPR constable from attacking his co-worker,
"because I would have put a hammer through his
[co-worker's] head. That really burned me up!"23
Interested
in preserving the image of respectability and good Canadian citizenship
which had been nurtured since the 1920s, the Principe di Piemonte
pledged, three days after German troops had invaded Poland, on September
4, 1939, that Little Italy was, without reservation, going to be
loyal to Canada.
On
that date a motion was passed that a message be sent to the mayor
of Fort William, the premier of Ontario, the prime minister and
the local press informing them that upon examination of the critical
world events, the Italians were all prepared to help Canada and
the British Empire. In his study of the Port Arthur Italian Mutual
Aid Society, John Potestio is struck by the rapidity with which
that society also affirmed its loyalty to Canada.
This
pledge came on September 6, 1939, at a special meeting of the society
when the following resolution was adopted unanimously: Resolved
that the members of the Italian Mutual Benefit Society of Port Arthur,
be loyal to the British Empire, and abide by the laws of our Canadian
Government, and pledge ourselves to be loyal British subjects. We
sincerely hope that the good relations between our native land and
our adopted country will forever remain. Be it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Right Honourable
W.L. Mackenzie King, Honourable C.D. Howe and to the Mayor and Council
of the City of Port Arthur.24
Throughout
the duration of the war, the Principe di Piemonte demonstrated the
loyalty of Little Italy to Canada by raising funds to purchase government
war bonds and by providing moral support for local Italians who
were serving in the Canadian armed forces.
A
serious effort to raise funds was started on July 3, 1940, when
the society decided to hold weekly dances with the proceeds used
to purchase war saving stamps. "Victory Dances," as these social
events became known, primarily involved the younger members of the
society who had been raised or born in Fort William. By the end
of December 1944, the Principe de Piemonte had purchased $2,604
worth of war bonds and certificates and more were purchased in 1945.
In
addition, loyalty to Canada was also expressed by periodic contributions
to the Canadian Red Cross and to the fund to help the victims of
the London bombings. Similar action was also taken by the Italian
Mutual Benefit Society. For example, in 1940 the society entered
a float in a Victory Loan Parade and was involved in raising funds
for the war effort, the purchasing of Victory Bonds and other related
activities. For members serving in the military, the society exempted
them from monthly dues payment.
Then
in April l 943 the society decided to forward a one-dollar gift
to each Italian of Fort William who was in the services and five
dollars to the Italian-Canadian soldiers who were members of the
society. These gestures were intended to show respect to the young
people of Little Italy who were called upon to fight for Canada.25
These
various initiatives taken by the Principe di Piemonte were designed
to prove to the community that the Italians were loyal Canadians
after all. Their lingering Italian patriotism had not impeded their
obligations to Canada. The authorities, for their part, limited
their surveillance of Italians to the taking of finger prints of
Italian males and seizing the records of the Italian consular agent,
Emilio Marino.26
The
Italians received the assurance of Mayor Ross of Fort William that
they were well protected by the local and federal authorities. In
terms of adjustment, the tense war years were a period of accelerated
change of perceptions in Little Italy. Having fully supported Canada
at war, the Italian immigrants had consciously severed their Italian
citizenship.
For
their offspring, their involvement in the war effort had even more
dramatic results as one participant articulates: Well, of course,
we were all foreigners. We were born in this country but we were
all foreigners. On the job where I worked on the railroad I was
always referred to as a foreigner, you accepted this, there was
nothing else about it. The first time I was regarded as a Canadian
was when I came back from the Navy, then I wasn't a foreigner anymore,
it seems.27
*
* * Clearly the Italians played a major role in the early development
of Thunder Bay, particularly in industrial relations and industrial
development. Even within the Italian community, this aspect of history
has largely been forgotten. There was a great deal of reluctance
to discuss these events by those pioneers who lived through the
traumatic period of 1902-12. Past militant action against the establishment
was not conducive to the ongoing quest to win acceptance and respectability
within the host country.
As
a result, Italian feats during the famous strikes and subsequent
confrontations did not become part of community folklore. However,
the degree of militancy and its intensity over a ten-year period
depicts an immigrant community that was largely active and not reactive
in the course of events.
For
this reason Thunder Bay's two Little Italies emerge as extraordinary
agents of change within the context of Canadian industrial relations.
Also it is apparent that the Italian benevolent and mutual aid societies
played a positive and central role in the evolution of the community.
Through these institutions the immigrants and their offspring were
able to cultivate the reestablishment of important and intricate
social relations.
In
this manner the negative consequences of having been uprooted were
greatly cushioned. Furthermore, through these institutions Italians
were able to maintain emotional ties with their native land and
its culture as well as reassure their adopted country of their loyalty
during the dark days of World War Two. By the end of the war the
Italian community of Thunder Bay had established a niche for itself
within the framework of Canadian society.
NOTES
1.
Robert F. Foerster, The Italian Emigration of Our Times, Harvard
Economic Studies XX (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1919 ),
p. 3.
2.
Letter from Thomas Marks, mayor of Port Arthur, to consul general
of Italy, 5 August 1884, Thomas Marks Letter Books, 1884, p. 776,
Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society.
3.
Fort William, Daily Times-Journal, 5 July 1902. A more detailed
account of these early labour strikes is found in Antonio Pucci,
"Canadian Industrialization Versus the Italian Contadini in a Decade
of Brutality," Little Italies in North America, eds. Robert F. Hurney
and J.V. Scarpaci (Toronto, 1981), pp. 183-207.
4.
Daily Times-Journal, 7-8 July 1902.
5.
Ibid., 20 May 1903.
6.
Ibid., l, 3 October 1906.
7.
Daily News (Port Arthur), 2 October 1906.
8.
Ibid., 1, 2 October 1906.
9.
"Greeks and Italians Seem to Have Broken the Freight Handlers Strike"
was the heading on the startling newspaper report, Daily Times-Journal,
11 June 1907.
10.
Daily Times Journal, 9 August 1909.
11.
Labour Gazette 10 (September l909): 344.
12.
Daily Times-Journal, 14 August 1909.
13.
Labour Gazette 10 (September 1909): 341-47.
14.
Daily News, 8, 14 April 1910.
15.
Daily Times-Journal, 13 April 1910.
16.
Coal
Handlers Union Local No. 319, Minute Book, 18 March 1911, Thunder
Bay Historical Museum Society Archives.
17.
Daily News, 30 July 1912.
18.
The following account of the trial is based on the Daily News's
account of the proceedings, 9 October 1912.
19.
Daniel L. Horowitz, The Italian Labor Movement (Cambridge, Mass.,
1963), pp. 23, 327. Horowitz points out that in many pre-industrial
societies, protest against oppressive conditions is usually unorganized,
giving rise to "revoltist traditions." In rural Italy, both in the
south and in the north-central region, "revoltist traditions" were
particularly entrenched.
20.
Eric J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of
Social Movement in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries (New York,
1955), p.108.
21.
Taped interviews with Julia Marchiori, Rachela Cimone and Filomena
Truisi.
22.
Minutes of Principe di Piemonte, 5 January 1939.
23.
Interview with J. Defeo, Tape no. 8, Lakehead University Archives
186a.
24.
John Potestio, The History of the Italian Mutual Aid Society (1929-1984)
(Thunder Bay: Lehto Printers, 1985), p.45.
25.
Minutes of Principe di Piemonte, 28 December 1944, 4 April 1945;
9 October l940, 27 May l941; 28 January l942; 19 April 1943; 11
March 1942.
26.
Taped interview with Tony Fogolin
27.
Interview with J. Defeo, Tape no. 8, Lakehead University Archives
186a.
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