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Around the world - Pre 1969 or Italy, Click here

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: 1957
Notes: Contributor at age 5 in Montreal.On Raoul street today called Rousselot. Street had not been asphalted yet.
Contributed by: Franco Biello

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La Louviere, Belgium
Date: 1949
Notes: My brother and I spent the first years of our lives in Belgium. My father who was born in Potenza, Basilicata, found a job in the coal mines there.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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La Louviere, Belgium
Date: 1949
Notes: A picture of this contributor.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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La Louviere, Belgium
Date: 1949
Notes: My brother and I are in the picture. My father got a job in Belgium working in the coal mines. That's why we are there.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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La Louviere, Belgium
Date: 1949
Notes: Gemma Forliano (the contributor) had just won a beauty pageant when this picture was taken. She is seen here with her "boyfriend", Daniel. Gemma was in Belgium at the time because her father, Domenico, who was from Potenza, Basilicata, had come here to find work. Her father, Domenico, worked in the coal mines for 5 years before immigrating to Montreal, Canada.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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La Louviere, Belgium
Date: 1950
Notes: This picture (of me) was taken in the mining town of La Louviere, Belgium where my father was working in the coal mines. In the late 1940s my father could not find a well-paying job in his home town of Potenza, Basilicata. So, like many others from my town, he went to work in Belgium. After a year of working as a coal miner he had saved enough money to send for his family. My mother, my brother and I spent some time in Belgium. My father did not like working in the coal mines -- he lost a lot of weight, and almost died in an explosion. After a few years he had had enough! He decided to return to Italy, but when he did return, he was unable to find a good job there, so he decided to immigrate to Canada. In 1952 he left for Montreal, Quebec. It did not take him long to find a job when he got here. In a year he was able to save enough money to send for his family. In 1953 my mother, my brother and I arrived in Montreal, Quebec. For the next fifty years my father worked as a blue collar worker, bought a duplex and prospered.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: 1953
Notes: Gemma and Gerry can be seen on "Westhill Street" in this picture. In 1953 Westhill, now a busy street, was still undeveloped. Many Italians had plots of land in the area where they grew their own vegetables.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: 1950s
Notes: Picture of the contributor.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: 1956
Notes: In the 1950s Montreal's N.D.G. still had a lot of empty lots. Here I am in one of them.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: 1956
Notes: Picture of the contributor.
Contributed by: Gemma Forliano

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