Fred do you really think that new immigrants in the early part of the 20th century had “home ownership, education at good institutions, an officer’s career in the military, government work – and so on”? Because my family on both my parents’ sides came as immigrants from the shtetls of Russia. Perhaps, you will be uninterested in our story because we are Jews but it is the story of most immigrant families.
My maternal great grandfather and his brother were born into the poverty of the Russian shtetl. Jews were not allowed to own land or live with Christians – ergo, the shtetl – the Russian version of the ghetto. The word “ghetto”, in fact, originally referred to to the area of Venice in which Jews – and only Jews – lived and worked in Renaissance Italy. But I digress.
So, my great-grandfather and his brother homesteaded on the prairies and spent the first year living in a tent – ever tented in the Canadian winter?
My great-grandfather was a pedlar – he pulled a cart from town to town – no horse – too poor – but he married and though his six children were only able to complete elementary school before they had to go to work in the factories, some of their children were able to attend university on scholarships. Of course, while they were at university they worked as well – waiting tables, as porters on the trains, chambermaiding – whatever would bring in a little money to buy text books.
As for the rest, they worked hard, bought little houses, cherished their children and valued education over anything else. When WWII came around, the men in my family fought bravely – and none of them were officers.
As Jews in the 40s,50s, and 60s, my parents and my aunts and uncles faced quotas in the universities, were refused the right to live in certain neighbourhoods, and were forced to accept the fact that many, many Canadian businesses refused to hire Jews.
But our parents worked hard, made sure their children went to school, had close, warm families – and above all, believed in the value of education. My cousins, my siblings and I are all third generation Canadians. All of us have university educations. And all of us owe the lives we live today, to our great-grandfather; an illiterate pedlar who dreamed of making a better life for his descendants.
Ultimately, everyone wins with these kinds of values. Nobody wins with affirmative action.
