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Shaking Your Family Tree

June 24, 1999
	Canada Opens Pier 21 -- Its Ellis Island by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
On Canada Day -- July 1 -- the Pier 21 Society reopens a restored immigration shed on the Halifax, Nova Scotia, waterfront. Pier 21 is where more than 1.5 million immigrants, many of them war brides, refugees and children, first set foot on Canadian soil. Additionally, nearly a half million Canadian troops headed off to World War II from there. Pier 21 opened in 1928 as a complex of buildings connected by an overhead ramp to Halifax's railway station. It contained offices for immigration services, customs, health and welfare, agriculture and the Red Cross. There was also a waiting room, dining room, canteen, nursery, hospital, detention center, kitchen, dormitories and a promenade overlooking the harbor. From 1928 to 1971, this was the main gateway to Canada. The oblong structure symbolized the start of a new life for wartime refugees, children evacuated from Britain during World War II, 50,000 war brides and thousands of postwar arrivals from war-torn and famine-ridden countries. During World War II, Pier 21 also became involved in the control of merchant seamen, reception for prisoners of war, processing of hospitalized servicemen, arrivals of returning servicemen, along with VIPs, such as Winston Churchill. The restored Pier 21 is the result of work by a group of historically minded citizens led by Ruth Goldbloom, the society's president. It is an interactive visitor center commemorating Canada's immigrant population and experience. Through an exclusive and innovative partnership with Pier 21, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television crews are filming immigrants in every part of Canada, telling their stories of coming into Canada. "As a country, we are the sum of our individual experiences and having Canada's national public broadcaster as our exclusive broadcast partner ensures that these stories are heard by the widest possible audience,'' Goldbloom said. It is estimated that one in five Canadians can trace some relationship to Pier 21. The society was created to revitalize Pier 21 as a permanent testament designed to celebrate the profound contributions of immigrant Canadians. It is hoped that Pier 21 will do for Canada what Ellis Island has done of the United States -- be a national and international center whose purpose is to extol the Canadian immigration experience. The restored Pier 21 will be home to a heritage center that re-creates the immigrant experience through innovative exhibits, evocative soundscapes and interactive technology. It will recapture the essential dimensions of that experience as felt by children and adults: the difficult journey from home to the unknown; the anticipation of life in a new land, mingled with fond remembrance of the old; the anxiety and discomfort of arrival; the journey to new beginnings; and the ultimate impact of the new arrivals on the face of Canada. The site will spur development of a historic Canadian immigration data base enabling descendants of Pier 21 immigrants to trace their origins within Canada, while guiding others in tracing their roots. Stories of some of those who came through Pier 21, information about opening day activities, the society's search for certain artifacts or memorabilia for display, as well as a list of ships that arrived and/or departed from Pier 21 can be found at the Pier 21 Society's home page on the Web at: http://www.pier21.ns.ca/. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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