The Italians of Thunder Bay (review)

According to Statistics Canada, in 2006 there were over 1.4 million people of Italian ancestry in Canada, making this the sixth most reported origin, other than “Canadian.” Yet, given its size and importance, proportionately few works have been written on this community. In this regard, John Potestio’s book represents a laudable attempt to correct this gap, as well as a valuable register of those communities outside of Toronto and Montreal.

Potestio attempts to distinguish his volume from previous works on this group, by declaring how he is chronicling the “significance of thousands of humble individuals” (4) who have contributed to the development of the formerly neighbouring cities of Fort William and Port Arthur. Potestio describes the development of the Italian communities in Thunder Bay, from the late 19th century to the present day, from the point of view of the everyday lives of the early immigrants, and the community’s organizational leadership. This is done in an attempt to tell what the author describes as “…the real ‘story’ behind the history of an ethnic group” (4). In particular, Postesio chronicles the development of the two major organizations in this region: the Società Italiana di Benevolenza Principe di Piedmonte and the Italian Society of Port Arthur and the people who have contributed to their development. The book is based on more than 100 narrative interviews conducted with the members of these groups, as well as obituaries, newspaper articles and records from the two organizations.

In its subject matter and approach, Potestio’s book is similar to the 1999 work by Antonella Fanella: With Heart and Soul: Calgary’s Italian Community (University of Calgary Press). This earlier book also attempted to chronicle the settlement and lives of Southern Italians in a similar small urban centre, as well as to document and interpret “overlooked historical memories” (vii) from the immigrant’s perspective (2 and 8). In particular, Fanella did an admirable job of explaining and interpreting the nuances of Southern-Italian culture, leaving the reader with a better understanding of the reasons for the self-contained nature of many Italian-Canadian families, and an understanding of why this community has not made a stronger political impact in Canada. Yet, while Fanella’s book makes a good starting point for readers wanting an introduction to the Italian-Canadian experience, or for understanding the type of social and political conditions which affected similar Southern European immigrant groups, Potestio’s work is more localized, in that it focused instead on the influence of historical movements, and upon the particular patterns of identification and settlement of the Italians in his two cities.

Potestio begins his first chapter (9-32) by discussing general insights into ethnicity and identity, in order to comprehend the “cultural baggage” (9) which these immigrants brought to the host country. This chapter also serves to situate the importance and salience of an Italian identity, within the development of a community that has been comprised of long-standing and multiple waves of migration. The author then goes on to describe the various waves of Italian immigration to the region, beginning with the founding of the two communities from 1881 to 1914 (33–58); the communities between the wars (59–90); the communities during World War II (91–118); and the post-war period of growth and consolidation (119–186).

The book then abandons its chronological approach and presents two chapters describing various aspects of the community: The first, Chapter 6, attempts to isolate the key cultural features which proscribe the behaviour of Italian immigrants in the region (187–204). In Chapter 7, Potestio then chronicles the contributions of those individuals who, in the author’s opinion, had greatest prominence in the development of the Thunder Bay Italian community, in five key areas: entrepreneurship; politics; the arts; the professions; and religion (208). This was a daunting task, as the author himself questioned on page 206: “How is the impact of the leader on the community measured...