Italian-Canadians internment project gets federal funding.
Senator Consiglio Di Nino makes the announcement Thursday, July 29 at the Columbus Centre of federal government funding for an educational project commemorating the Second World War internment of Italian-Canadians. The centre, through the Community Historical Recognition Program, will receive $916,827 to finance the 22-month initiative.
Staff photo/IRVIN MINTZ
An educational project funded by the federal government commemorating the internment of Italian-Canadians during the Second World War will be permanently housed at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery inside the Columbus Centre.
The $916,827 grant made by the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) will be used to create the Italian Canadians During World War II Project, which will include a permanent exhibit of artifacts, photographs and other materials related to the internment; a wall of commemoration featuring the names of internees; a collection of recorded internment testimonials and an online inventory of materials and resources about the internment for students, researchers and educators.
The project is scheduled for completion by March 2012.
"The issue of internment is something a number of us here today have dealt with for many years," Senator Consiglio Di Nino said during the project's launch Thursday, July 29 at the Columbus Centre near Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue. "The arrests of people of Italian background, most of whom were Canadians, will always be a dark day."
June 10, 1940 marked the day innocent Italian-Canadians were branded enemy aliens by the Canadian government, following Canada's declaration of war on fascist Italy.
Thousands were arrested and boys and men were carted off to the holding ground at the CNE before transferring to internment camps in Petawawa.
"It touches upon pain and shame," Di Nino, past president and chairman of the Columbus Centre, said of the project. "It was a period of time in our country that saw our Italian-Canadian friends as something less than how we saw other Canadians."
Project director Lucy Di Pietro said interviews with 50 to 75 people in Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia who were either interned or affected by the internment will be part of the project.
Those wishing to contribute to the Italian Canadians During World War II Project can contact Di Pietro at 416-789-7011, ext. 320.