A new children’s book on the most famous immigration facility in Canada highlights the story of many newcomers, including Markham’s Elisa Kleinas-Bellissimo.
“The pier was very, very busy when we arrived, people scattering going place to place,” Mrs. Kleinas- Bellissimo, 64, said.
Her story was among many captured by Anne Renaud in her new book Pier 21: Stories from Near and Far.
When Mrs. Kleinas-Bellissimo was 9, her mother and two brothers left Italy for Halifax in 1953. The move affected her mom the most.
“She had to leave her mother and two sisters and one of them was very ill. She knew she wouldn’t see her sister again,” Mrs. Kleinas-Bellissimo recalled.
It took the family two days on a crowded train to arrive in Toronto from Halifax.
“When we landed in Toronto, it was a beautiful day, we loved it, it was wonderful.”
Her father had already been in Canada for four years, working and saving money to buy a house.
“Here, we had a fridge, a stove and a washing machine — well, it was an old-fashioned ringer washer but, still, in Italy we did not have any of those things,” said Mrs.Kleinas-Bellissimo, who is now a grandmother of three.
For author Renaud, inspiration for the book is exploring topics she believes have historical and educational value.
“I want the book to serve as a vehicle for voices of the past; if it is not committed to paper, the experiences disappear,” she said.
Ms Renaud wanted Pier 21’s story to be told by the people whose first taste of Canada was there.
“Elisa’s story was very representative of what a lot of immigrants went through, in terms of having a father come to Canada first to work in order to earn enough money and then bring the rest of the family over.”
She found Ms Kleinas-Bellissimo — or, rather, Ms Kleinas-Bellissimo found her — after posting a notice on a Pier 21 website asking for people’s experiences.
“When I saw Anne’s notice, everything just came back to me,” said Ms Kleinas-Bellissimo, who has lived in Markham for 16 years. “I started thinking about my parents ... it was just overwhelming.”
In the book, Elisa revealed the toilet in her family’s ship cabin amazed her.
She had never seen an indoor toilet and bathtub and was even scared by the toilet’s flushing noise.
The 24-page book, written for ages nine to 12, retails for $14 and is available at www.amazon.ca
“I bought one for every one of my grandchildren,” Mrs. Kleinas-Bellissimo said.
This is Ms Renaud’s third non-fiction book for children. The others, A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival and Island of Hope and Sorrow: The Story of Grosse Ile, are also available through amazon.ca for $4 and $5, respectively.