July 1st Canada Day!!! Yahoo.....here's to all my Canadian Bloggers....wishing you and your families a wonderful day!
Hubby and I are off to take in some of the festivities today....the clouds have rolled in. I am trying to be optimistic that the rain will hold off until the parade is over.I've always enjoyed Canada Day. It holds a very special place in my heart for my family. Canada Day July 1st 1953 was the year my parents arrived in Canada. I have always been in awe at how my parents managed to do what they did. How does a family just up and leave everyone and everything they know and decide to immigrate to a new country? That is exactly what they did.
Finding steady employment in England was difficult at the time. My father did everything and anything to put food on the table. He wasn't afraid of hard work. My mom's brother was living and working in Vancouver at the time and convinced my mom that Vancouver was the place to be. So after discussion with my father they sold everything they had...packed up their personal belongings and boarded the ship with 5 children in tow and made the journey to a new country.
After a few days on the ship they made port in Montreal where there they made their way out west via a train. 5 days on the train. Can you imagine caring for 5 children one of them only 3 months old on a train for 5 days. The train made many stops. One such stop was in Winnipeg. There they were to meet a couple who would turn out to be their longest and dearest friends. To the children they became our Aunty and Uncle. The train eventually pulls into the train station in Vancouver. It was Canada Day July st 1953. A day that will always hold special for our family. A day of new beginnings.
I don't know how my parents found the strength to be optimistic with only $35 in my fathers pocket they struggled. Through the kindness of others they managed to find housing and eventually set up home. Although I am sure my parents thought their journey had come to an end. Little did they realize that their journey had only just begun.
Happy Canada Day to you all!
11 comments:
Happy Canada Day to you my dear friend:-) I so enjoyed reading the story of your parents' arrival in Canada...they couldn't have picked a nicer country to settle in! hehe Have a fun day!!! xoxo
Happy Canada Day!!! Don't you just love patriotic holidays?
What a heartwarming story!!
Happy Canada Day!
:)
Hi Mary Anne,
Happy Canada Day from a fellow immigrant (we came in 1961). It is amazing how brave your parents were, coming with five children to a new land.
My grandparents left Scotland in 1912 with 7 children and sailed to Australia to make a new start. I've always thought they were very brave indeed.
regards
jmb
happy canadian day for you too!
We are peruvian tough......
xoxo
Cucarañas
Happy Canada Day! RN, enjoy the festivities. Canada reserves recognition for maintaining its status as a democratic republic.
Great story of your parent's arrival in Canada. No wonder this day is so special to you!
Happy Canada Day!
xo
Happy Canada Day from one of the few left living here who was actually born here - Vancouver General Hospital, Willow Pavilion, 1947.
A very Happy Canada Day Anniversary celebration to you AND to your family as well! It is indeed amazing the things our families did to make a new life for themselves, isn't it?
My maternal grandfather came here in 1881, from Sweden, with his mother and four siblings -the youngest being a baby too. His father had been here almost a year when they arrived in New York City. From there, they took a train to a little town in the mid-eastern section of Pennsylvania. I can't imagine trying to navigate all that distance, under the conditions that existed then, a woman alone with five young children and not knowing a word of English, can you? Three years later, the family -with yet another baby in tow - moved over a weekend, by train, to what is now the ghost town of Peale, PA where they lived for about 10-12 years until their final move -only about a mile or so up the road from Peale to a home my great-grandparents had built which still stands today and is a beautiful old home in this little village too I might add.
Simply amazing the courage and fortitude immigrants have had though, it really is!
Hope you have a little extra celebration in store for your special anniversary today too.
Mary Anne, what a lovely story. It shows what hard work and determination can do. There were so many people who came to Canada in the decade after the war, and they managed to make a good home and a good living here in Canada, and raise their families.
Happy Canada Day!
Cheers,
Josie
oh that is a fabulous story of your heritage!! I loved reading about how your parents left all they knew to embark on a new dream for them and you children. WOW!
That's really amazing, yet I know people did it - time after time after time.. it's always amazing tho - every time I read about a family doing just that.
Thanks for sharing your family's story - and to have it on Canada Day to boot :)
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