ISU

There are many different places my relatives have come from in the past but the ones I am choosing to identify with are my mom’s parents. My grandma immigrated from St. Vincent, an island in the Caribbean, whereas my grandpa immigrated from England. I had always known they both immigrated from other countries but I was unaware of what their journeys were like. I researched the countries they immigrated from as well as conducted interviews with them. Overall, had they not come to Canada my life would be very different.

My grandma’s life has changed dramatically since emigrating: “so it was...like a third world country. You know when you see them advertising? That’s what I remember” (Macinnes). She was born on the island of St. Vincent where her family lived in poverty. They had to grow their own food without running water (rain was collected in a tank), hydro, plumbing, or appliances in their house. On weekdays water was used wisely, while on weekends they walked to a river for swimming and bathing. With many extended family members, my grandma lived in a small village made up of only her family. The sacrifice they had to make for their education was to walk an hour to get to school Monday, spend the week with their godmother, then walk back home Friday after school. On the negative side, they walked on unpaved roads, on the positive side they did not have to worry about walking in the snow with St. Vincent’s warm climates.

My great-grandpa built a boat and one of his jobs was to help transport people so he could save up enough money to immigrate. In 1951 he came to Canada and got a job to earn money so he could bring the rest of his family over.

This picture was taken August eighteenth, 1951 and the purpose was for my great-grandpa to bring it over to Canada with him. Unfortunately, he never saw his youngest son again who died from the measles.

In 1954 my great-grandpa earned enough money to bring the rest of his family to Canada. For my grandma, this was a very scary trip starting with a small seaplane to take them from St. Vincent to Barbados. “I remember when they started it up I screamed, I got so scared. The pilot opened the door and looked out to see what was going on and I was just so scared as soon as I heard those engines going,” she recalled from the start of her journey to Canada (Macinnes). Then, they boarded an airplane to take them from Barbados, Montreal, then their new home in Toronto. My grandma still has her plane ticket to Montreal and her Canadian Immigration Identification Card.

The pictures below show my grandma and her siblings before immigrating to Canada in contrast to after immigrating to Canada. You can see the difference in the quality of house and landscaping.

Their family was living happily in Toronto then grandma met my grandpa in 1961, who also has an immigration story.

My grandpa’s dad was born in Scotland then moved to England where my grandpa was born. Their family lived south of London which is where Germany started to bomb. My grandpa, along with many other children, were sent on a train by the government to live in Scotland because their home was no longer safe. My great-grandpa served England in the war for the first two and a half years and he returned home after losing a leg. “He had a pink wooden leg my sister and I used to knock on” my mom remembers about her grandpa (Rea). He received two medals for serving in the war and being a Scots guard.

In 1960 my grandpa wanted to get out of England and travel. He considered many different places but ultimately he decided to come to Canada and traveled here by boat alone. Then, the following year is when met my grandma.

Since immigrating my grandparents have both been back to their birthplaces. My grandma has only gone back to St. Vincent once which was in 1998 with my aunt and her husband who also has family from St. Vincent. She saw her home again, which brought back memories, and some of her cousins. When she returned from her trip she “felt like kissing the ground” she was so happy to return and she never really appreciated what her dad did by bringing them to Canada until then (Macinnes). Likewise, my grandpa has been back to England but he has been back more than once. The first time he went back was 2006 to stay with his cousin for a week. During that week, he saw his old home, school, and many other places from his childhood. In my grandpa's opinion England “hasn’t changed much” and he enjoyed going back (Macinnes).

For me growing up in Canada has been very different than both of my grandparents’ childhoods. Had I grown up in England I still would have had a good quality of life because their country is run similar to Canada. Whereas if I had grown up in St. Vincent my quality of life would have been more on the poorer side. Although St.Vincent looks like a great place to visit it is not necessarily a luxurious place to live, “The people are relaxed and enjoy the stereotypical Caribbean lifestyle, but in order to enjoy this life work is needed.” (safaritheglobe).There are many things taken for granted in Canada that they do not have. In Canada most people do not have to worry about growing all of our own food; having fresh water and using it only when needed; walking long distances to get to school; having a steady job to earn money for your family; keeping family members alive from some diseases. I am very lucky to have been born in Canada because it gives me safety and many opportunities in life.

In conclusion, this assignment educated me on my grandparents’ childhood in their birthplaces, as well as their journey to immigrate to Canada.  Had my grandparents never immigrated to Canada they would have never met and I would not have been born. They came to Canada with a goal: to have a better life. In the end, that goal was achieved.

Works Cited

Macinnes, Neila, et al. Interview. 8 Jan. 2017.

Safari The Globe. 1999, www.safaritheglobe.com/st-vincent-and-the-grenadines/. Accessed Mar. 2014.