This month marks 90 years since my mother and her family immigrated to Canada.
According to the account my mother and her brother Erhardt wrote (in the early 1980's), which was later published in the Alberta history book, South Edmonton Saga, they left their farm in Kremnanke, Ukraine on November 13, 1928, and boarded a train for Moscow. At Riga, they boarded a ship for Southampton, and from there took another ship to Canada.
Here is a picture of the family as they looked at that time.
They arrived in St. John, New Brunswick on December 8, 1928 and boarded a train that crossed Canada, arriving in Edmonton on December 13, 1928.
My mother, bottom left, was 9. Her sister Lydia, 11. Her older brother Erhardt, 14. Her younger brother, Ted, was 4.
In January the older three started attending Mill Creek School, where they all learned to read and write English.
The family considered themselves very fortunate, as on January 1, 1929, less than a month after they immigrated to Canada, the Russian government prohibited further emigration from Russia.
They left so much sadness behind, but coming to a new (colder) country with a strange language was a challenge, too.
I remember my grandfather telling us that they traveled from Saint John to Winnipeg by train, the train was so crowded with immigrants that some had to be in animal cars.
(Thinking about that now, I wonder:
Why didn't I ask him for details like, Was it cold in the animal cars? It was, after all, winter...) In Winnipeg a large number of immigrants got off - those who had been sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee. So the last few days on the train, finally sitting in passenger cars, were more comfortable. My grandmother got everyone cleaned up before arriving in Edmonton, where they had friends.
I remember her telling me that when they got off the train, everything was
so different... When she couldn't understand anyone speaking English... she just wanted to turn around and go back.
But we didn't have any money, she commented - then added:
Thank God we didn't have any money!
All these years later, as I look at these pictures, other questions come to mind: They are all dressed so nicely... Did my grandmother sew all the clothing they wore or was it made by a tailor? Did she even have a sewing machine back then? I'll probably never know.
Stories eventually filtered back to them about those who hadn't been able to get leave Russia - friends, neighbors and relatives. At least one of my grandfather's sisters ended up in Siberia with her family. Others were killed. Several of my grandfather's brothers ended up immigrating to South America, which is why we have relatives there.
It's hard to imagine what life must have been like in those dark days in Eastern Europe (1928-9). Thankfully, they had managed to get out and come to Canada!
