Maltese emigration to Canada to be documented in two-volume history

For the first time, the history of Maltese emigration to Canada is to be documented in a two-volume book by Professor John P. Portelli, an emigrant himself, who is currently in Malta visiting his family. Talking to The Sunday Times last week, he expressed his hopes and ambitions for this work, as well as how it relates to his life in general.

Born in Mosta, Professor Portelli, who is the son of Dr and Mrs Paul Portelli of Dingli, attended St Aloysius College, and in 1972 obtained a BA in Philosophy from the University of Malta. He was the first philosophy instructor at Stella Maris College, Gzira, since Philosophy A- level had just been introduced in the Maltese education system.

Having won a scholarship at McGill University, in Montreal, he left the country to read an MA in philosophy. He returned to Malta to take up a position at the University of Malta but after five months, he decided to return to Canada with his Maltese wife Anna Maria, née Taliana, to further his career.

While teaching at McGill he was then given the opportunity to teach at a community college (CEGEP) in Montreal, in the province of Quebec where he was part of an active retirement programme for people aged 50-84 and another programme intended for blue collar workers wishing to finish their education.

In 1985 he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship and went to Dalhousie in Halifax, having been offered a research position. He also produced four books between 1985 and 1999, and a number of his academic articles were also published.

During his period in Halifax, he greatly missed the presence of a Maltese community, together with its culture and people. "There were few Maltese families in Halifax... we visited each other and so on... but it was nothing compared to Montreal or Toronto". Nonetheless, in 1996, having been assigned to a summer school in Toronto, he was given the opportunity to attend Maltese clubs and churches situated there and to socialise with people of Maltese origin.

Having heard the experiences of the Maltese emigrants, he was inspired to put them in writing, since there was little to be found on the history of Maltese emigration to Canada.

Presently a lecturer with the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto, Professor Portelli expects to complete the first volume of his history of Maltese emigration this year. Although a publisher has not been found yet, volume one is intended to be released at the end of the year, covering the period from 1831 to 1948, a time of great waves of migration to Canada.

A portion of the volume will be dedicated to the Catholic Church and its close connection with the Maltese in Canada. This chapter will also include the earliest original documents of the Maltese emigrants expressing the desire for a Maltese priest to be sent to Toronto and for a church to be built for them there.

Professor Portelli has carried out research in many archives to obtain information on the Maltese priests who lived in Canada from 1909 to 1929. These include Fr Fortunato Mizzi, the first Maltese priest ever to move to Canada.

He will also be considering Maltese businesses and professionals from 1831 to 1948. So far he has interviewed over 60 people who emigrated to Canada and established themselves there.

Although the majority believe that most emigrants were working class, hoping to work for a few years and then return, Professor Portelli claims that many, of all ages and status, emigrated to Canada (including the illiterate), went on to establish themselves in businesses, proving that there was a great deal of upward mobility.

Professor Portelli also hopes to capture the experiences of common, hardworking, courageous Maltese people who settled in Canada. He even studied the history of the Maltese living in other provinces outside Toronto and its province Ontario, which is where most Maltese emigrants live.

The second volume of the book will deal with the period from 1948 to the present. This volume is still being researched, to capture experiences of the emigrants of more recent years and he hopes it will be published in two or three years' time.

Most of the information required for the book is being obtained by interviews, as well as leads to people and archives obtained by word of mouth. So far he has interviewed over 100 people, mostly aged 60 to 80, who were children when they migrated to Canada.

Professor Portelli's main aim is to produce a popular book which can be read easily by various people. He claims that many "do not have some sense of the story of the Maltese in Canada. Though some articles have been written by other people, like George Bonavia, they do not have the full experience."

He hopes to have produced a book which discusses fully and formally the history at least up to 1948, also with the expectation that it "will help with issues of identity", especially since Malta has always had a special place in his heart.