Italian Canadians take commemorative train ride from Vancouver to Halifax

A cross-country train ride from Vancouver to Halifax celebrated the vibrant tapestry of Italian culture in Canada.

The “Italian Journey Across Canada,” part of the 50th anniversary festivities of the National Congress of Italian Canadians (NCIC), recognized the contribution made by Italians in Canada.

The train, which left Vancouver on June 10, stopped in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal before ending at Halifax’s Pier 21 – where so many Italians arrived in the 1950s.

“I’m proud to be Italian,” said passenger Maria Bitetto from Montreal. “And I find the older we get, we want to touch our roots… the emotion, the pleasure, and all the stories we hear about Pier 21.”

The journey was about showcasing just how intertwined Italian culture is within the Canadian landscape. Before even leaving the station, the adventure began at a youth shelter in B.C.

“In Vancouver, we reached out to what they call the Covenant House. They feed homeless teenagers,” said NCIC president Roberto Colavecchio. “We were fortunate enough to reach out to this group because we want to instill the Italian tradition. Our Italian tradition is once you’re sitting around that table, there’s always an extra chair, there’s always an extra plate. We’re always ready for anybody else that wants to come and join and make sure that everybody is good. Whether it be during the holidays, whether it be somebody who needs a little pick-me-up, or a friend that just pops in at the last minute, that’s what we wanted to start our trip with.”

“That’s what we wanted to instill the Italian tradition of giving, of being receptive to everybody, and just enjoying life.”

A week later, the participants were all the way across the country – with new experiences under their belts.

“Halifax was the place where a lot of people came, a lot of culture, people that they have so much to tell us about their trip,” said Giovanna Giordano, the director general of Casa D’Iitalia in Montreal. “And when they came to Montreal after, they came straight to Casa d’Italia. So for me, it’s a moment very emotional, and I want to live it with them.”

The train ride was indeed full of emotions – not just for the passengers, but for all the communities it stopped at along the way.

“We got all the communities come to the station we were in, right?” said Luciano Bentenuto, the director of corporate security and intelligence at VIA Rail Canada.

“There was one story in Winnipeg where this elder gentleman sitting down and he goes, ‘vieni qua’ (come here), you know? ‘My legs don’t work, but I want to hug you,’ you know? And I go, ‘well, here’s a hug.’ And then I give him my police pin, and he started crying, and of course, he got me too, right? And he goes ‘I’m glad you didn’t forget about us out west, because we did the trip,’il tragitto,’ you know. So I think it was nice to see that they really appreciated us coming back to them, because they left a long time ago Halifax.”

“People coming up, multi-generations, wanting to share, wanting to say, ‘hey, my father was there, my mother was there, I was there as a six-year-old, coming in the ‘60s and before,’ and those stories are really important,” added Tania Meloni, vice president of the Italian Canadian Cultural Association of Nova Scotia. “We want to be able to catch them and share and connect that whole Italian community past, present, and hopefully into the future.”

“I was born here in Canada. My parents did the sacrifice of coming over and it’s not to retell the immigration story. But when you go out and see and listen, it becomes very humbling, it becomes grounding,” added Colavecchio.