In all my wanderings in museums and theatres and cemeteries, I have been left pondering the strength of the human spirit. It is sometimes rather astounding to hear the stories of what people have seen and endured. One of those places where the stories abound is at Pier 21. Our tour guide was quite a guy - obviously a story teller, and when he told us stories about the people on his tours, he wore his heart on his sleeve. For example, he told us that one day in the past couple of weeks, he was speaking about the war years, when boatloads of children who were being evacuated from England arrived at the dock. One of the women who was on his tour that day said that that was actually how she had arrived in Canada. He suggested to her that she go to the research room on the first floor, and let them know the date and the name of the ship she had arrived on, and she might be able to find the names of others who had arrived with her. In doing that research, she discovered that she had actually arrived with a brother and a sister. This was the first time she was aware that she had siblings - she was 70 years old at the time of the discovery! Very touching.
Another of the stories he told was from this ship - the Walnut. This was a ship that was designed to hold about 45 people. He had just told us that the bigger ships took about 5 - 8 days to cross the Atlantic - this little ship took 3 - 5 months to cross (can't remember the specific details). When it arrived with the refugees from the Balkans in 1948, there were 347 people on board!! Since they were refugees, many of those arriving didn't have the proper documents. While that could often result in someone being sent back, because of the dire situation they had left behind, as well as their sheer tenacity in surviving the voyage, Canada allowed all of them to stay. He said that this is one of the stories Canada can be proud of. One day he was speaking about how amazing this story was, when a women in the back row of the group starting crying. She had actually been on that boat - she was 18 at the time. He was deeply touched at meeting someone who had actually been there. She said that every person on that ship survived the voyage - absolutely amazing. All firm in their belief that they were sailing to a better a life.
Pier 21 was in operation from 1928 to 1971. In its busiest years, the receiving room would be packed with people sitting on rows of chairs. Their names would be called, and one by one they would go forward to be interviewed by the immigration officers - they could then be detained until they found work or until their health issues were resolved, or they could be sent back to their country of origin, or they could be free to leave. Incredibly nerve wracking!
Some of these trunks were donated back to Pier 21 once it was established as a museum. However, our guide told us that some of them were just left behind once a person left to start their new life in Canada. When they left their country of origin, many of these people had very, very little to bring with them, but rather than appearing to have nothing, they would bring their next-to-empty trunk to make it look like they were better off than they were. So then, when they left the building they would leave their trunk as one of the tangible ways of knowing they were about to embark on a whole new journey.
Imagine setting out like that - leaving everything that was most familiar to you because it just didn't feel safe to stay where you were. In the film that Canadian Immigration has put together about modern day immigration, the stories were just as touching as those from the past. One was a young man from the Phillipines who left because he was gay and could be subject to the death penalty if he was discovered to be in a relationship with a man. Here in Canada he was now married to a Canadian man and was profoundly thankful to be able to love the person of his choice. Another story was from an older woman from Russia who said that she left because she did not want to live in a country where she had to tell her children to "shut up" - that she wanted to be able to encourage them to speak their own truth and not be silenced by the rules of the government of the day. Here in Canada she had been able to attend university with her daughter, and no one here had ever told her that she was too old to learn and that she should just be staying at home in her senior years - she was fiesty and funny and I was very glad to hear her story! It made me think of those very surprising instances where I hear people speaking about how Canada should not be welcoming so many refugees into our country. I wish they could see this film and how incredibly touching it is to know that our country has become a safe haven to people from all kinds of very difficult living situations.
In the interest of lightening the tone, and following along the line of surprising connections and stories, here is a story from one of the nights that Colleen, Julie and I went to The Old Triangle - a Celtic pub in downtown Halifax. It was a great evening, with good food and lots of laughs, and a two-man band playing some Irish tunes.
The man in the ball cap is Robert, who was sitting at the table right next to ours. At one point he got up and started "jigging" all around the bar. It was great fun to watch him having so much fun - he later told us he lives to dance - a man after my own heart! When he sat down the band introduced him as Robert - from Saskatchewan! So, of course, I told him I was also from Saskatchewan. When he asked what I was doing here, I told him I was a United Church minister, and that I was on a 3 month sabbatical. He asked me if I knew Brenda Curtis - hilarious!! Brenda and I were classmates at the Center for Christian Studies. He then said - "so, you're diaconal too?!?" Who knew? People in my own congregation have no idea that I am diaconal, and yet here I was in a pub in Halifax talking with a man about diaconal ministry! Life has a way of connecting us all to one another in surprising places, in surprising ways. May we be open to the mystery of connection with strangers and with refugees and with friends!
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