IMMIGRATION CANADA STYLE

July 21

Hey there Campers;

Today started off overcast but not wet. We drove to Halifax. We took the Hilton to the Freightliner dealer to see why it made the made the missing noise on Thursday. It has not made the noise since. But who wants to be in Timbuktu when something goes wrong. Not us. Hey Lord we are taking the helicopter you sent!!! While the repair shop examines we will continue on to tour the city.

We crossed the McDonald Bridge. It remains us of a miniature Golden Gate Bridge. But there is a difference. It is only $1 dollar to cross.

We arrived in Downtown Halifax. Of course we found the local information center.

We decided to start touring the Immigration of Canada Museum on Pier 21. We had a guide tour of a volunteer whose family came to Canada through this system. Most people came by boats. Over 100 ships from over nations delivered people here.

 

Facts

• Halifax has the 2nd largest natural harbor. It is 62 feet deep. Sydney, Australia is #1. 
•  500,000 Canadians went oversea to WW II. 10% never came back.
• The Canadians trained in England.
• There were 50,000 war marriages. There was a problem in that most women did not have passports to come to Canada. If they were English they just allowed the  solider to come back to England and get their brides since Canada and England are one

• Most of the soldiers were from fishing villages and farms
•  Most of the war brides were from cities. It was a adjustment for all.
• Portuguese culture has been in Canada over 500 years.

Pier 21 was very similar to Ellis island. Love ones were left behind. Some knew they may never see home or family again. But they knew they had to make a change.

Can you imagine leaving all you know for unknown and no job? Many have.

Faces of Immigration

There were many people who helped out the new immigrants. Local churches would come serve meals, give the family breaks by helping out with the kids. Translate, assist with travel plans or just to sit and listen. For most immigrants it made a difference in their transition.

 

Goody bags were given to each person. Europeans had a problem with the goody bag. It had Corn flakes in it. They thought "Who do they think we ARE".  Corn was only feed to animals in their country. This had to be translated and understood to let them know it was not and offence. Kids were given banana and oranges. They did not know how to peel them since they had never seen them before.

 

There was a film about Immigration in Canada. It talks about how immigration is handled to and where people come from.

There was a train car that had individual stories of why and who they came to Canada. They told stories about their train rides to over provinces that would and could take more immigrants.

Canada has a immigration office overseas because people were coming over with no papers. Once they got there they did not have money to go back. So Canada would let them stay. Well. Not anymore.

We left the museum to walk down the wharf.

We toured a Boat Shop of old boats.

Ok. So I saw this food shack on the wharf and had to stop and ask what kind of food was this. OMG. Talk about heart attack on a plate. This is French fries and cheese with gravy. There is something just wrong about that.

 Call me crazy but the food here is just expensive. $8.26 for a Veggie Warp. Really??? This is higher than Venice Beach.

 

We stopped and took a rest to people watch. I have seen more people of color in this city than anywhere since we left New York City. It is definitely metro. I saw a young lady with her son and husband. She was black, he was white and they had a cute little curly head boy. She came near me and we got to talking. She lives in Montreal. She is of Jamaican descent. She stated there are many mixed and people of color in Canada in the areas closer to the States.

 I did like that they had the recycle down pat.

This is the water taxi between Halifax and Dartmouth which is just across the bay.

 

 We round the corner and what do we see. Ice Cream.  Soooo. I look at Ice Cream Man to see what he is going to do. I am shocked. He said no I have not had dinner yet!  Is he sick? Has he had a heat stroke? We actually pass the stand.

 We continue to walk while looking for a place to stop and have dinner. You know it must snow pretty bad when the buildings are connecting by a Pedways. These pics are taken from the Pedway.

 
 

We stopped and have dinner at this restaurant. Be assured we did not have the lobster. They did have good veggie burgers. Thank God it is not a Boca Burger. Sorry all you Boca Burger lovers.

 

We ended our walk back on the wharf. Lorenzo aid he remembers this tugboat from the kids series.

This reminds us of home in the bay area fog.

 

We head back to the Hilton. When we got there Lo talked to the repair guy. All I can say is Caching $$$ caching $$$. We order a part that is coming from Indiana, USA. It should be put on when it gets here Wed. This still works in our schedule since we were going to be here several days.

Question of the Day

 Halifax sit on what Basin of water?

Well, until the next time Campers......

Lo & Bren