Giuseppe Valentino Magnoli Journey to Canada- An Interpretation of his personal experiences through his eyes, mind and soul.
Guiseppe Valentino Magnoli was born on March 14, 1938 in San Giorgio Morgeto, Reggio, Calabria, Italy. Giuseppe was born the son of Filippo Magnoli and Francesca Varone Magnoli. They had four children Girolimo, the eldest, then Giuseppe, Angela and Amedeo the youngest. Growing up as a child Giuseppe was a free spirit and vocal. Born during wartime food was scarce and life was a hardship yet under these conditions life was considered normal simply because they knew no different. “Everyone was content and lived everyday to survive and support the family any way we could.”
My father was always away for long periods of time, working in Northern Italy, then he would come back to see the next child he fathered. His responsibility was to his family and he would do what he had to do regardless of the situation.
My Mother stressed that her children would be educated and it was important all would go to school and learn a trade. Unfortunately my Grandmother wanted the children to help on the farm by following the sheep, cows and horses, to collect the manure and bring it to the farm. As for my Mothers’ wishes we all went to school up to Grade 5 and also to the Master who taught cabinet making. For myself my interests were the theatre and acting as I enjoyed school plays as well as took part in the community theatre.
Raised in a Roman Catholic family the Church offered opportunity. As an Alter boy, I served the masses for funerals, marriages and blessing of the home. If it was what up to me I would of included the occasional exorcism because in the end the priest would pay us a pittance for our participation.
During Easter if I carried the cross, I would get 30 Lira and I would take the money, no matter how much, to my Mother. Money was tight but what did I understand about finances. When you were hungry and there was no money, you made due with what was available.
On occasion I would go to the local general store owned by Domenico Bernardo. I would order two (2) formagginos, chocolato costing approximately 15 Lira each because my eldest brother when he would complain that his stomach hurt, my Mother would always give his some formaggio(cheese). Therefore I would go to the store and buy mine on credit, the only way I could afford these luxuries. Unfortunately, all good things came to an end when my Mother found out. She immediately asked my sister Angela, to cut me from any credit.
When I went back to the store and found out I wasn’t allowed to get credit, I was furious at my sister because she was the one they told me came to tell them that the credit purchase had to stop. I gave her a beating for intervening, and told her that “I was the Man of the house”. Like I said before, we didn’t understand finances, and I didn’t realize how poor we actually were. We simply couldn’t afford these luxuries, punto basta!!
My Father who was born in 1896, left Italy in 1949 for Canada. He first had traveled to Australia as a young man and later served in the Italian Military. We basically grew up without the guidance of a Father because he was always away. As a result my Mother was responsible to raise four children alone on the funds that would come in which would barely sustain us.
My Mother made our clothes out of bed sheets and at times I was embarrassed to walk in public. The house that we lived in was a single room with no plumbing, no proper kitchen, no running water. There was one bed which six people shared. Our toilet was a hole in the ground and to flush we had to walk to the Piazza, the main square which contained the main fountain for our water needs. Here we would scoop water in our containers and carry them back home to send our waste products away. This wasn’t the most sanitary of conditions but again what did we know? In these times we were lucky to have at least one meal a day, hunger was a common theme.
In 1952 my Father sponsored my older brother to come to Canada when he was sixteen years old. At this age he was old enough to start working, there was no chance of going to college or continuing an education. It was simple, go to work to help the family because there was no other choice.
In 1954 my Father sponsored me to come to Canada via ship. I was so excited but first we had to go to Cinque-Fronde to get a passport through an agency then travel to Rome to get medical clearance. Once this was done I could get a visa to immigrate to Canada.
I left San Giorgio, my home town April 19, 1954 with my friends Mario and George Carere, not knowing it then; they would eventually become my brothers-in-law as it is their sister that eventually tames the beast that I would become.
I could not hold back my excitement on this voyage sponsored by my Father. It cost roughly 150,000 Lira at the time. Each Canadian $ was approximately 600L/C$. It wasn’t cheap especially when you had no money. But before we could get to the ship we took a 10 hour train ride to Naples so we could leave from this port. We would depart April 21, 1954 on the Tuscan III Nea Hellas for Halifax, Canada, arriving May 2, 1954.
It was the most memorable time of my life, an experience embedded forever in my mind, body and soul. There was so much food as I ate to my hearts content, others like my friend George Carere got so sea sick he had to be moved to the upper deck.
I also experienced my first kiss meeting a young girl whom we shared the time of our lives. It was my version of the Titanic; the only difference is that this boat made it to Halifax. As we disembarked, I simply started to cry. I was overwhelmed because I didn’t want this voyage to end. It was more than I could have ever dreamed of, as if it was heaven on earth. It was a combination of being homesick; the fear of the unknown and having to leave Grace, the Maltese girl that I shared eleven wonderful days with.
Once I composed myself we were directed onto a train headed for Toronto. It took two nights and one day before arriving at Union Station. The conditions on the train were somewhat unsanitary as some would urinate in a corner without consideration of others. My Father, brother and Uncle were at the station upon my arrival, from there we headed to 313 Markham Street, where my Father rented a flat on the third floor.
After the second day in Toronto, I cried again like a baby, I wanted to go back home. There were twelve people in the house with one bathroom, no kitchen as we used an electrical element with two burners at the top of the stairs. Dishes were washed in the bathtub and a fridge or cooler didn’t exist. The little window was our cooler in the winter and food would freeze, in the summer if it wasn’t eaten fast enough, it would spoil.
My brother would take me shopping to Lombarardis’ grocery store. The shopping consisted of $0.25 cents for salami, $0.25 cents brick cheese, One package of coffee, two packages of pasta, two cans of tomato sauce, one package of amereto cookies, two cans of beans and some potatoes. Bread was bought everyday. After work the menu consisted of pasta and Patati (potatoes) and the next day we would eat patati (potatoes) and pasta to change the menu. Sundays were special as my Father would make ragu with pasta buying the $0.17 cent a pound meat, yummy! On Wednesdays we made fried liver to make sandwiches.
My first job was in a machine shop, it lasted two months as I didn’t enjoy the work. It was far away and I had to take two streetcars and a bus to get there and back. On the second day I took the wrong streetcar because I didn’t speak English or could read the signs. I ended up in a place dissected by so many roads; it was the intersection of Roncesvales and Queen. I got off the Dundas car and was lost and kept asking people in my broken English how I could get “college n baturs’. Finally a man who spoke Italian put me on the Queen car, paid my fair and told the driver to drop me off at College and Bathurst. I stood by his side not moving an inch until the driver instructed me with ‘sign language to go north and walk that way’. I arrived home three hours late and at the corner of College and Bathurst was my uncle Giuseppe, my name sake waiting patiently.
The next job I found was washing dishes for $40 a week consisting of 90 hours, 7 days a week. It was at The Bagel restaurant at College and Spadina, where I fell in love with the food. When I arrived in Canada I weighed 90lbs and was 4ft 2 inches tall and of course good looking. In one year I grew 1ft 3inches and gained 40pounds, I could only attribute it to the fine Jewish cuisine. I worked there till 1957 on and off. I also worked as an usher in a movie theatre, different factories, a belt factory and others along Spadina but never liked the factory work.
In 1957 I just didn’t want to work anymore and constantly fought with my Father. He called me useless, good for nothing and that I would never amount to anything. One day in 1957 with 10 cents in my pocket I walked downtown to Dundas and Victoria St., where they were building the first parking garage with an elevator. I saw a guy doing some plumbing job and caulking some joints, I said, “I would like to do that” then he told me to go to Local 46 and let them know I wanted to become a plumber. He gave me directions and I walked to Jarvis. They told me to go to the Ministry of Labour at Front and Simcoe. I walked some more so I could register. They asked me how much schooling I had. I told them in the best English I could that I went to school in Italy till Grade 5 which was the equivalent of Grade 8 in Canada. The man in charge said if I go to school he would sign me up as an apprentice so I agreed and he registered me. My name was with the Union and then I returned to the person who showed me the way. The boss wouldn’t hire me because he wanted someone with experience. At this point I walked back to the union and told them the guy didn’t hire me. Two days later the Union got me a job with a company called Peacock plumbing and Heating where I started my apprenticeship. I started working at a rate of $0.63/hour as a first year helper. 
In September, of my first year the Plumbers went on strike. Meanwhile I found another job with Rothmans Cigarettes, the new factory in Toronto. I started at $2.30/hour and my Father was happy because he thought I could pay him back the money I owed him. Shortly after I started, I was fired because I smashed a lift truck into a transport truck. My Father was furious, I thought he wanted to kill me. Regardless I never told him the reason and I will wait till I get to heaven to do so. 
The plumbers settled their dispute so I ended going back to the trade with a raise to $0.68/hour. As I worked I also went to trade school for basic and advanced classes barely passing but able to graduate in 1962, acquiring my plumbers license. The company I worked for went bankrupt so then I went to work for Steen Mechanical for two years as an apprentice.
In 1963 I started working for B.A. Robinson and went to work in Windsor at the Chrysler plant. At this point I just bought my second Convertible and fourth vehicle of my youth. To this day I still don’t know how I managed to afford or pay for the cars I bought but seemed to manage. I was terrible with finances.
During this year I also met the love of my life, Tina, who happened to be the sister of George and Mario Carere the two friends I came to Canada on the ship with. Within two months after being engaged, as there wasn’t the chance to date, we were married. Soon after the honeymoon when we got back there was no work, and to add pain to our new marriage, my car, my wife though was paid for wasn’t. My wife ended up paying for the car as she worked. 
One night I asked her to stay home and not work anymore. The next evening she surprised me and told me that she was pregnant and ten months later she delivered my first child, a son who I named proudly after my Father. Soon I started working and things got better fast as I eventually became a foreman and was happy.
We rented a flat at St. Clair and Dufferin for $80/month. I never wanted to own a house, it was my wife who finally found our home and insisted that if we moved it would be in our own home. It was a friend of my brother who took my wife to look at properties. I wasn’t happy and when my wife came home she fell in love with the property for its’ potential and sweet talked me into buying. They negotiated the price from $22,000 to $20,900. I pulled my hair out now as I had two mortgages and little down, in my mind I could only think “how I am going to afford this?”
Fortunately the work was good the job was steady. Food was always on the table as a reminder of the fact that we came from nothing. Today we have plenty and continue to instill in our children the traditions and customs we grew up with.
In 1967 we had our second child born on January 16, 1967, who we promptly named after my Mother. Franca quickly became the sunshine of my life.
In 1969 we built an addition to our existing property, fulfilling the vision my wife had when we purchased it. My mother-in-law lived with us all along and she was a wonderful companion and influence on all my children. The phone never stopped ringing as our home was considered the center of the Universe even after her death.
In 1970 we had our third child and our miracle baby who we promptly named Maria Victoria (Vicky). She was born three months premature and at that time her chances of survival were rare. But with the grace of God she has grown into a beautiful woman and maintains her own family.
Life is great and my family is my pride and joy.
Today I am retired as a plumber who served fifty years for Local 46.
My children have all married and I have three wonderful in-laws and six grandchildren that make me the luckiest man on earth. Who would have ever thought that my life would unfold the way it has. I call Canada my home and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have raised my family while earning an honest living.
“Nu patri campa cento figlie ma cento figlie non campanu nu patri”
(A father can raise one hundred children but one hundred children can’t raise a father)
Written by
Philip Jan Magnoli-My Friends call me Don Filippo -The FX Specialist – www.donfilippo.ca
I think I love you!