ENG 3U Block C Blog: Kaitlyn's ISU

My grandparents have immigrated from Ireland and Switzerland, but I have chosen to research how and why my grandparents from my mom's side immigrated to Canada from Switzerland where they both were born. Although both my grandparents have passed away, and information will be harder to find and I will not get to hear personal stories from them, I still chose to focus on my mom’s side because I am more familiar with this side of my family. I will be getting the majority of my information from my mom and great uncle. Overall, the information I have come across has shown me that my life would not be very much different than what it is like now, but something that would be different is myself as a person, because of the different environment I would have been raised in.

Throughout many conversations with my mom, I discovered that both my grandparents had prearranged work waiting for them in Canada. Arriving in Canada at the age of 24, in 1963, my grandma began working as a nanny for one year for a family in Toronto, who had found her in an advertisement for women wanting to be nannies overseas. My grandpa, on the other hand, came to Canada in 1957 to work for Bolliger Landscape, after finishing a stonemason apprenticeship in Switzerland. He was hired to the Caledon-based company prior to arriving in Canada and bought a house in Belfountain in 1959. Although my grandma had planned to stay for one year, she met my grandpa while he was working down the road from the family my grandma was working for and decided to stay. They got married on April 28, 1965, and moved into my grandpa’s house in Belfountain. My mom was born on October 25, 1965, and my uncle was born on April 25, 1969. I'm not sure when, but my grandpa started a stonemason business of his own, which eventually turned into a very successful perennial business, employing many. My grandma and my mom and uncle all worked for my grandpa, my dad also worked/ lived with my grandparents in the spring of 1989. They also hired high school and university students, some of the neighboring people, and many other people. They were both very passionate about the business, which was thriving right until they passed away. I find it very impressive that my grandparents successfully started, and kept a business going just years after emigrating to a different country with no intentions of even staying in my grandma’s case.

Because I cannot ask my grandparents themselves, I asked my great uncle what he thinks my grandparents reasons were for coming to Canada and what their lives would be like if they hadn’t taken jobs in Canada and his response for my grandma’s reasoning was very surprising to me; “ For Grossvati it was easier to become his own boss and landowner. But I also think he would not have any trouble finding a job as a gardener/ landscaper in Switzerland. In Grossvati’s’ case also Canada offered more freedom and opportunity to excel in his field of work. I think [grossi] came to Canada out of sheer adventure. She wanted to see the world just like I did.” (Zwingli). (Grossi is short for Grosssmütti which is swiss for grandmother and Grossvati is grandfather). This surprised me because I have always thought that my grandma had come to Canada because it was a better country and it offered things like better health care and jobs, but instead she came here because she wanted to see new places and have new experiences. I find this interesting that she came here by choice and did not leave her country of origin seeking a better, freer life. Both of my grandparents had come to Canada in hopes to gain new experiences and ended up with not only that, but also a family and a thriving family owned perennial business.

I have come to learn many things about how and why my family came to Canada, and the reasons behind their choices. Although living in Switzerland would not be very hard and would be relatively the same for me as a teenager except for the amount of land available to me, I am very grateful that they did immigrate here and started my family which ultimately made me the person I am today.