I have challenged myself in this article to report in under 800 words on the work that Smitty and I have undertaken since May 16th for our upcoming book, A Story to be Told: fifty years of personal accounts of the Irish immigrant experience in Canada. Eight hundred crafted words will comprise this paper and 800 selected words will document the life of each individual we interview in our book to be published in 2007.

We have been invited into kitchens and served traditional Irish bread. We have met in an Italian café and interviewed in a snug. We have driven hundreds of kilometers. And yet we have at least 200 interviews left before we can fill our envisioned coffee table book with photographs and stories of the people who built this country and raised its citizens that will be heard back to Ireland.

In truth, there will never be enough pages or words to portray the courage, ingenuity, determination and struggles that each of these individuals have shared with us. Who are these people with their stories in our book? They are your neighbours, artists, teachers, labourers, fathers and mothers — each with a story unique and often overwhelmingly beautiful in the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity.

Our interview process is very simple. We respond to each phone call or email, forward the standard questionnaire and then meet at a convenient location, whether the home, office or nearby restaurant. Interviewing often takes an hour and is followed by a brief photographic session and exchange of photos from the time of arrival in Canada. We encourage each person to assist in the selection of the location and/or family members to be included in the photos. It is remarkable to see how little people change over time, even in photos from infanthood to adulthood!

There are threads to the stories that span the 50 years from 1940 to 1999 — whether driven by economic reasons or, occasionally, political ones, there are qualities in these migrating people that resonant loudly — courage, adaptability and perseverance. Loneliness, while many may not speak openly about it, is seen in their eyes as they tell of the first years and of periods of loss or hardship in Canada. Too often we learn that a parent or sibling died within months of the arrival in Canada and as the family in Ireland wanted to spare the new immigrant the heartache or the cost of returning for the funeral, the news went unheard for days or even weeks.

Turns of phrases common in Canada such as “teenager” were unheard of in Ireland. Many children not only worked on the family farm or shop, but completed their formal education at the age 13 and went to work. Today, youth both in Canada and Ireland have the luxury of spending years in mandated schooling and the opportunity to travel before their post secondary education. Certainly working in a family business is not common nor an expectation.

It must be noted that from a historical, if not anthropological, perspective, the history that is unfolding during these interviews not only captures Irish childhoods that are no longer the norm, but that were uniform across the Island. Even the later immigrants throughout the 1980s were raised with minimal exposure to television; many homes remained without telephones and indoor plumbing; and even city schools were one room classrooms lacking electricity, while the same generation in North America was raised in a booming post-war economy.

There have been some stories shared that have left Smitty and I quiet as we drove home from the interview. Stories that we were not prepared emotionally to hear —,the horrors of politics or sadly, of a government state that trusted old familiar systems to raise its children in the care of others to a detriment. Fortunately, a new life in Canada has helped to heal these wounds — their own children, legal measures and most importantly, distance have helped to heal these emotional scars.

Both Smitty and I are forever grateful to each of the individuals who have chosen to participate in our project. And as I draw to a close in under 800 words, the gift that has been given to us through the honesty of each of these people is also in the gift that a photograph shares — a timeless picture, “a thousand (more) words,” the years of experience, the years of building a new life and creating A Story to Be Told.

Please continue to reach us through www.astorytobetold.ca and we look forward to meeting you soon and sharing in your story.

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