Diva Dalfuoco and her two sons in front of their home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Table of Contents
Introduction
On Thursday, October 17th, 2024, I was welcomed into the home of my Nonna, Diva Dalfuoco, in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, for an interview about her immigration to Canada to start a better life for herself. The interview was semi-structured, with pre-determined questions and some follow-up questions. I voice-recorded Diva’s answers to these questions to ensure that her story could be documented with her permission.
The purpose of my assignment was to connect with my Nonna, an Italian Canadian immigrant, to document her immigration journey from Italy to Canada, focusing on capturing her personal experiences and narratives. The purpose of this project is to engage with Italian Canadian immigrants, like my Nonna, to preserve unique stories and challenges these immigrants faced during their immigration process. By sharing her memories and insights, my Nonna has contributed knowledge to help illustrate the broader Italian Canadian immigration experience.
In addition to the oral history, I collected and documented a personal archive of family photos, postcards, and a picture of the boat she came to Canada on. These artifacts represent her life in Italy and her transition to Canada. These artifacts combined with her interview will create a project that preserves and highlights her personal story.
Transcription of Interview:
Date of Interview: Thursday, October 17th, 2024
Name of Interviewee: Diva Dalfuoco
QUESTION 1: What age group/generation are you in?
Answer: Born on November 13th, 1939. Silent Generation. I was born in Italy, and I grew up there. I came to Canada in July 1957 because my husband mailed me to come over here (Canada) because he wanted to marry me. So, I came over here, and we got married in August. We had a pretty good life because we got to work and raise a family. At that time, all the immigrants came over here because they needed work, in Italy, there was not much work. Over here, at that time, there were lots of factories. The people who wanted money came to Canada to make money and stayed with the rooming board. They couldn’t afford to buy a house right away, but as long as they could make money to pay the rooming board, they were happy. After time went on, people made families, and everyone worked. There were no lazy people. The people who came over at that time were not lazy people. I worked all my life in the factory, piecework. I changed more than one job. But, it was hard, but we managed.
QUESTION 2: So, you would say you came to Canada to marry your husband and to find better work?
Answer: Exactly! Yes.
Question 3: What was your first job when you first came to Canada?
Answer: My first job was ugly. I worked at a fish processing company. They brought the fish from Buffalo, and we had to clean the frozen fish and sell the fish. It was hard, and they didn’t pay much. It was hard work, and I was so tired. When the boss gave me the pay for the week, I said to him, ‘I want more money’ because the job was ugly. He told me, ‘I can’t.’ So, I said, ‘ok then, I quit.’ I couldn’t say more because I can’t talk in English. So, the week after I quit, I found a job at the shirt factory where I worked for ten years. At least this job was more clean. It’s true anyway because you can’t speak English, so what can you say? You try to do the best you can, so I worked in the factory. Piece work was hard, though, because you had to push yourself more to make more money.
Question 4: Did you come to Canada alone?
Answer: Yes. I was too young. But I was not scared. Maybe because when we are young, we’re not as scared. I came with the boat, and I go out to New York, and then from New York to Hamilton with the train. It was ok.
Question 5: How old were you when you came to Canada?
Answer: Almost 18. I had the feeling to make a situation that was better than where I came from.
Question 6: How did your family feel about your decision to come to Canada?
Answer: They let me go, they didn’t really care. Well, it’s not that they didn’t care; they just knew there was no future in Italy, so they let me go. I have been here in Canada for about 67 years now.
Question 7: You mentioned how you first arrived in New York on a boat and then went from New York to Hamilton. How long did this journey take?
Answer: From Italy to New York was 8 days, if I remember correctly. From New York to Hamilton was all night.
Question 8: From which part of Italy were you from?
Answer: The region that I am from is Marche. It is a nice place, but at the time there were no jobs and no money.
Question 9: When you lived in Italy, did you mostly farm as a job?
Answer: Yes. There was not much income with that. You could eat because you had lots of produce.
Question 10: What was the journey to Canada like? Did you enjoy the travel to Canada?
Answer: yes, it was pretty good. When you are young, you don’t think too much, you’re not scared. On the boat, there were mostly immigrants from all over, they were not just Italians on the boat. Over here, in Hamilton, there were lots of Italian people. At the time, there were mostly young men and not too many women. The women only came over here if there was a man already in Canada that was telling them to come over.
Question 11: What was your first impression of Canada?
Answer: there was no regret, I was happy. Even if I didn’t know the language. I didn’t have time to go to school to learn English because I had to work. But, I was not complaining.
Question 12: Did you think ‘Wow this is very different than Italy?’
Answer: It was different, yes. But, I managed.
Question 13: Did you encounter any challenges as a new immigrant to Canada?
Answer: Not really, no. Just that I couldn’t speak the language. Even while working at the one job, I didn’t like, all I could say was ‘I quit’. This was the most I can say. You cant complain, you had to do what you had to do.
Question 14: Can you describe what the Italian community in Canada was like when you first arrived?
Answer: It was friendly because everyone needed friends and family. We exchanged information so that we could talk and share a cup of coffee. It was pretty good.
Question 15: Were there a lot of Italians in Hamilton at that time?
Answer: Oh, yes. There were a lot of Italian people, and we tried to help one another to find jobs. We would say ‘ok you can go see this place and maybe you can get a job there.’ When we met new people, we would ask them ‘How do you feel? Are you working? Yes? Well, then you’re good.’ Because even if you didn’t make much money, at least you made money to live. As long as you had a job, you were happy, even if it was not too much. All that mattered was that you could buy your groceries at the end of the week.
Question 16: How did you adjust to life in Canada? Especially since you had a different culture and spoke a different language.
Answer: When you are young, you can adjust easier. You get use to it. For me, I got used to hard work since I was a little girl. So, it wasn’t hard for me. As long as you did your best, it was ok.
Question 17; Did you bring important items with you to Canada?
Answer: Yes, I brought some photographs of the ones I had when I grew up.
Question 18: did you experience challenges giving birth in Canada?
Answer: No. I had two sons. At that time, I had my mother-law in the house so she could baby-sit my kids when I was at work. It was not easy because when I came home I had to cook and clean, but it was ok.
Question 19: Can you describe your experience as a new mother and recent immigrant to Canada?
Answer: I don’t know. We spoke Italian in the home. My two sons spoke Italian too because my English is not good now, but it was worse before. I learned English at the place I used to work. I talked with the other people.
Question 20: Did you exchange letters with relatives in Italy:
Answer: Oh yes. At that time, you couldn’t phone Italy. I had a phone in my house, but they didn’t. The only thing we had was exchanging letters. Receiving letters took at least a week or 10 days to reach Italy, and it took another 10 days to send a letter back. You were lucky if you got a response once a month.
Question 21: Where is home for you, and why?
Answer: By now, I don’t think anymore to stay in Italy. It has been too many years. It’s not that I can’t afford it, but I already have a different way of living. Now, my home is in Canada. I am thinking about visiting Italy, but not living there.
Question 22: Do you think you are Italian just as much as you are Canadian?
Answer: Not really. Sometimes I think I don’t know good Italian and I don’t learn good English, so what kind of language do I speak? Now, I believe I belong in Canada.
Question 23: Looking back on this experience, is there anything you would have done differently?
Answer: Not really, no. I was always happy to come over to Canada. I wanted to work to make a few dollars and raise a family. That’s all I need.
Question 24: Looking back, what was the most difficult part of immigrating?
Answer: Well, mostly leaving my family in Italy and coming over here to Canada. I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t speak the language. You have to be strong to do everything by yourself and find a way to raise your family. It was ok, it was only hard because I worked all the time and there was no time to joke around. Especially when you work piecework like I did, you had no time. But, you get used to caring, cooking, and cleaning for your family and raising your kids.
Question 25; did the experience of giving birth in Canada give you an increased sense of Canadian identity?
Answer: It could be. Yes. It’s possible.
Question 26: What traditions in Italy did you continue in Canada?
Answer: Food, cooking, and the same things I learned when I grew up.
Question 27: Which traditions changed?
Answer: It didn’t change much. In my family, I continued the traditions I learned when I grew up with my family. At the time, I continued taking my kids to church when I had the time. When I wasn’t busy with work, I would go to church and continue this tradition with my kids to receive the sacraments. The only thing that changed was that it was a different country. But still, we had a little garden in the backyard where we put a few tomatoes and salad.
At the end of our interview, Diva shared a postcard she had sent to her family in Italy, featuring the Cristoforo Colombo, the boat she took from Genova to New York.
Diva: “I bought this picture when I was in Genova the day I got on the boat to Canada. See on the back of the postcard I sent this to my mother.”
Photograph from the private collection of Diva Dalfuoco. The photograph is of the “Cristoforo Colombo”, which is the ship she came to Canada on in July 1957.
Analysis:
In this interview, my Nonna Diva shared many meaningful details about her experience coming to Canada alone in 1957 as a young woman. She discussed many themes related to identity, work, language barriers, and family life. One memorable story was about her first job in Canada at a fish processing plant, which she described as “ugly” and poorly paid. This reflects the challenging work conditions many immigrants faced during this time. Like many others, Diva came to Canada looking for better opportunities but often had to accept hard, low-paying jobs because of language barriers. Diva did not speak English during this time; thus, she couldn’t communicate her needs or advocate for better conditions, making it impossible to improve her situation. This highlights how the language barrier limited her ability to seek better conditions in the workplace, a common challenge for many immigrants at the time.
She mentions how after she quit the fish processing job, she worked at a shirt factory. While this new job was an improvement, it was still difficult because it was piecework, meaning she was paid based on the number of pieces she completed. Piecework placed pressure on workers to maintain a high pace just to earn a liveable wage. While she mentions she was happy because she had a job, as it was an improvement compared to what was typical in Italy. However, she acknowledges that her opportunities in Canada could have been better if she spoke English. Unfortunately, she felt as if she didn’t have time to attend school to learn the English language because she was focused on earning a livable wage and raising her children.
Additionally, my Nonna shares that she doesn’t feel like she belongs to either Italy or Canada as her true “home.” She explained that her Italian wasn’t perfect anymore, but her English wasn’t great either. As a result, she feels caught between the two languages, unable to fully express herself in either one. This reminds me of one of our course readings, “Two-Way Culture Shock” by Bapsi Sidhwa (2019), where the author discusses the cultural adjustments, they had to face when moving between different countries. The author states that no culture is straightforward, and immigrants often experience a blend of confusing and beautiful experiences (Sidhwa, 2019). This reflects the emotional complexity of belonging, which resonates with my Nonna’s situation as she struggles with having a full identity in both countries. She has adapted to life in Canada which has automatically erased some of her cultural behaviours, even if subconsciously. While she has still carried on many Italian traditions, she still doesn’t believe that she fully belongs to that culture. It can be confusing when they travel to different places because they have to adjust their behaviour which is different from their culture (Sidhwa, 2019). This parallel illustrates how migration can create a unique sense of alienation and connection simultaneously. Another topic discussed in class from the reading “The Italian Immigrant Experience” by Robert F. Harney (1988). Harney discusses how many Italians from the North and South left their country to seek better work opportunities (Harney, 1988). Immigrants tended to adapt to the culture of their new environments in search of work opportunities (Harney, 1988). Italians sought work and a better life while also contributing their trades wherever they settled (Harney, 1988). However, as these immigrants adapted their skills to meet the needs of their new environment, their original identities became intertwined with the broader American experience. The language my Nonna speaks demonstrates this intertwining of identities. While she states she spoke Italian at home with her two Canadian-born children, she mentions how she incorporated English into her daily life the more she learned it. This bilingual experience leads to a unique identity where the immigrant language and the new language coexist.
Reflection:
Due to the interview with my Nonna Diva, I have increased my understanding of my Italian heritage and its influence on my identity. This interview has made me more aware of the cultural traditions passed down through generations and the new Canadian traditions we have recently implemented in our lives. Hearing my Nonna’s perspectives also made me realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to live in Canada while also being able to enjoy my Italian culture. It feels like my Nonna made significant sacrifices to build a better life for her family while also striving to preserve our culture over the years. Before we even began the interview, she prepared a plate of penne pasta with homemade tomato sauce for us. Afterward, we enjoyed an espresso and some sponge cake together before starting to record our conversation. This is one of the ways she works to keep our Italian heritage alive by sharing food and making traditional dishes.
Conducting this interview gave me a deeper connection to my Nonna’s history, which I see as a form of personal growth. It helped me understand the hardships immigrants faced during that time and made me appreciate how fortunate I am now compared to what my Nonna experienced at my age. I have gained more knowledge of the cultural practices that shaped my Nonna’s life. On a professional level, this interview has taught me how to improve my communication and interview skills by learning how to ask meaningful questions that encouraged Nonna to share quality information.
Before interviewing my Nonna, I believed I already knew her immigration story well. However, she shared new details I had not heard before. For example, I didn’t realize she had struggled at her first job in Canada, unable to communicate her concerns to her boss because she didn’t speak the language. While I knew language barriers were a common challenge for immigrants, I hadn’t fully considered how deeply it can affect someone’s life satisfaction by disrupting essential parts of daily life.
Moving forward, I feel more inspired to continue interviewing family members and documenting our cultural traditions to preserve these stories. This includes recording our cultural recipes and the steps on how to make traditional foods. Additionally, this experience has encouraged me to further explore my Italian culture, language, and history to strengthen my connection to my roots.
Gallery:
Photographs from the private collection of Diva Dalfuoco.
Bibliography
All photographs attached are from the private collections of Diva Dalfuoco and have been approved for sharing.
Dalfuoco, D. (2024). Photograph of family gathering [Photograph]. Personal collection of Diva Dalfuoco.
Dalfuoco, M. (2024, October 19th). “HUMA*3800 and the Italian Heritage Project: From Italy to Canada: Diva’s Journey of Immigration” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-wessltNZA&t=10s
Harney, Robert F. “Italian Immigration and the Frontier of Western Civilization.” The Italian Immigration Experience, 1988, pp. 1-24.
Sidhwa, B. (2019). Two-way culture shock. In Landscapes of writings: Collected essays by Bapsi Sidhwa (pp. 61-64).
How to cite this page:
Dalfuoco, Mia. “From Italy to Canada: Diva Dalfuoco’s Journey of Immigration” In Italian Communities in Canada; Heritage, Cultural and Ethnographic Studies, suprv. Teresa Russo. University of Guelph, 3rd November 2023, Guelph (https://www.italianheritage.ca/wp-admin/post.php?post=11219&action=edit). Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS), Sandra Parmegianni.