Common menu bar links
Prime Minister Harper Announces New National Museum of Immigration at Historic Pier 21 in Halifax
25 June 2009
Halifax, NS
Good morning ladies and gentlemen.Thank you, Peter (MacKay), for your warm introduction and for the outstanding work you're doing as our Minister of National Defence and regional minister for the province of Nova Scotia. Greetings also to another colleague who had much to do with today's announcement, Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore.
Greetings to the Honourable Mayann Francis, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, and to Premier Darrell Dexter. Congratulations on your recent victory, and best of luck as you undertake these important responsibilities, not just for Nova Scotia, but for all of Canada.
Greetings as well to my esteemed colleague Gerald Keddy, Member of Parliament for South Shore—St. Margaret's, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade; and to my colleagues from the upper house, le sénateur Comeau, Senator Oliver, Senator MacDonald, Senator Green, Senator Dickson.
And greetings to former Premier John Hamm and Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly, and of course through Chairman John Oliver, to all of the board members and staff and management here at Pier 21.
Thank everyone for joining us at today's genuinely historic event. Two years ago the CBC asked Canadians to identify the seven wonders of Canada. This is a tough choice in a land so rich in wonders like the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls and the Old Quebec City. But at the end of the judging, a big shed on the Halifax wharf was designated one of the magnificent seven, and that is, of course, Pier 21.
Pier 21 doesn't have the majesty of the Rockies or the grandeur of the Falls or the beauty of the Old City. But this place is every bit as much a symbol of Canada.
Pier 21 symbolizes who we are: a nation of newcomers, newcomers bonded together by a common quest for freedom, democracy and opportunity.
A million people passed through Pier 21 between 1928 and 1971. If these walls could talk, they would speak volumes. They would speak of the very first chapters in the stories of one in five Canadians alive today. They would tell of long, exhausting journeys, of escape from oppression and suffering, of gratitude for peace and freedom, of loved ones left behind, of joyful family reunions, of lament for distant homelands, and of hope for a better future.
They would also tell us of the tales of the half-million Canadian soldiers who passed through Pier 21 during the Second World War, the men and women who went back overseas to defend the same values that attracted immigrants to Canada.
I'd like to share a few stories of those who crossed the threshold of Canada right here. These memories have been carefully gathered for posterity by the Pier 21 Society.
English war bride Ada Sheila Larry arrived with a baby and a two-year-old in 1946. A year earlier, her wounded Canadian husband – had been sent home. Halfway across the ocean, she writes, "I wondered if my husband still loved me. Now 56 years later after two sons and one daughter, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, my husband says being married to me is like hanging on to a comet! What joy it was to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with some hundred Canadian friends. We have indeed been blessed."
John Martens arrived at Pier 21 from Ukraine in 1948. He had fled his homeland along with his mother and five siblings after his father had died while being transported to a Soviet concentration camp. "We were hoping to someday come to a free country," John writes. From here he settled in Chilliwack, BC, married a Canadian, and his dreams came true. To quote him, "I proudly display my Canadian citizenship papers on the wall at our home. I was unable to get formal education during my years, but all of our five children have obtained university degrees and I am so proud of them."
Holocaust orphan Hélène Mayor, née Herszman, arrived at Pier 21 in 1948. Hélène was a 13-year-old girl with pigtails, carrying all her worldly possessions in a little brown suitcase. Decades later she donated that suitcase to the museum. She writes, "I'm glad it is now in its appropriate resting place along with such others, all having contained the tears and the hopes awaiting us in this new land."
These stories so rich in tears of sorrow for what was left behind are equally rich in tears of joy for the new lives here in Canada. Reading these stories, ladies and gentlemen, reminds us what a fine thing, what an extraordinary privilege it is to be a Canadian. And they remind us how important it is to remember these stories and to pass them on to younger generations so we never forget how truly blessed we are.
So ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce today the designation of Pier 21 as Canada's National Museum of Immigration. This new national museum, which is only the second outside of Ottawa, will serve as a powerful monument to the vital role immigration has played in the building of Canada. To augment the generous contributions of those who have donated to the Pier 21 Foundation Endowment Fund, our government will also provide funding to support the development and operations of the museum.
This place will be in many ways a living museum, an ever-evolving chronicle of the Canadian immigration story. It will tell the story not just of the Europeans who passed through Pier 21, but of those who came later from Asia, Africa and from our own hemisphere, and of those who will come tomorrow, because newcomers will be as much a part of Canada's future as they have been of our past.
We will continue to welcome people seeking sanctuary from violence, oppression and privation, hoping for opportunities to work and prosper, and looking to build families and to set down roots.
Let me just add that many people contributed to making today's announcement possible. I want to recognise the tremendous efforts in particular of the Society's founding president, Jean-Paul Leblanc, and the people who have carried on his work. Many of you, I know, are involved because the Pier 21 immigration story is your own story as well, people like current Pier 21 Foundation chair Ruth Goldbloom. Ruth is, herself, a descendent of Russian immigrants who arrived nearly a century ago. And like Pier 21 Society board member Kristen Tynes, whose loyalist ancestors were among the first African Canadians to settle in Nova Scotia after they arrived in 1783. Your community and your country are grateful for all you have done to convey the significance of this place to your fellow Canadians.
So let me conclude by paying homage to you all and to this special place with the words of the late J.P. Leblanc from his "Ode to Pier 21". And I quote,
"Silent, I am the platform that processed kings, queens, princes and paupers,
intrepid pioneers, detainees, inadmissibles, lost souls, the penniless, the threadbare, refugees from tyranny, oppression and revolutions, and displaced peoples. Each sought land, hope, harmony, liberty; I greeted them all."
