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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: In 1939, after Canada officially entered the Second World War, Pier 21 was administered by the Department of National Defense. 494,874 soldiers left from Halifax to go to Europe during the Second World War. Of these 50,000 died at the battlefront. Throughout the war years thousands of wounded soldiers arrived in Halifax. During this period Pier 21 processed 3,000 British evacuee children. The humanitarian effort was initially well-received, but it came to a halt after the Germans bombed a ship carrying seventy-seven children bound for Canada. After the hostilities ended Pier 21 welcomed 48,000 European war brides and their 22,000 children. However, right after the war a large number of displaced Europeans were denied access to Canadian hospitality. The government feared the influx of new immigrants as over one million Canadians had been employed in war industries and now they needed to be re-absored into the postwar labour force. Also, many Canadians harbored prejudices towards foreigners, in particular those from Asia, but countries such as Italy, were also deemed "non-preferred." However, by 1947 Canada experienced a labour shortage so the doors of immigration were re-opened. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw the most traffic at Pier 21. Many came from the Baltic States and Holland. The Dutch became the 5th largest ethnic group to come through Pier 21 between 1928 and 1971, following the British, Americas, Italians and Germans. For more information visit: www.pier21.ca.... The photo was taken inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum, by the contributor. | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, N.S., Canada | | Date: Current | Notes: Pier 21
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum
Established 1999
Location Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada
Type Immigration Museum and National Historic Site
Website www.pier21.ca/
Pier 21 is a former ocean liner terminal and now an Immigration Museum and National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
It operated as an ocean liner terminal and immigration shed from 1928 to 1971 and became an immigration museum in 1999. Pier 21 is Canada's last remaining ocean immigration shed. The facility is often compared to Ellis Island, although this term is also used to describe the immigration station at Grosse Isle, Quebec.[1]
History
Located in Halifax's South End in the Halifax Ocean Terminals, Pier 21 was used as a passenger terminal for trans-Atlantic ocean liners from 1928 until 1971. It replaced an early immigration facility at Halifax's Pier 2 in the Halifax's North End. Liners docked at a long seawall wharf divided into Piers 20, 21, 22 and 23. The immigration facilities were located at Pier 21, although the term is often used to describe all the Ocean Terminal piers. Pier 21 had a railway booking office and passenger train sidings for special immigrantion trains as well as an overhead walkway to the Halifax, Nova Scotia railway station. The Pier was the primary point of entry for over one million immigrants and refugees from Europe, as well as the departure point for 496000 military personal Canadian troops during World War Two. The facility became known informally as the 'Gateway to Canada.'
From 1971 until the late 1990s, Pier 21 sat as little-used warehouse space, although the former immigration quarters did provide popular studio and workshop space for artists. The ocean liner pier itself became increasingly used as the Halifax Port Authority's cruise ship dock.
In cooperation with the Halifax Port Authority, Pier 21 was re-opened as a museum in 1999 and was added to the List of national historic sites of Canada. The goal of the Museum is to celebrate the Canadian immigration experience by honouring and sharing the stories of Canadian immigrants throughout history. As the nation?s last remaining ocean immigration shed, the Pier 21 Museum tells the stories of the 1.5 million immigrants and Canadian military personnel who passed through its doors between 1928 and 1971 and has sought to broaden its mandate to explore all immigration to Canada.
Museum Collection
Pier 21 currently holds 2,000 stories, 500 oral history interviews, 700 donated books, 300 films and thousands of archival images and scans of immigration and WWII documents. Many of the resources can be found on the website and all can be accessed by contacting Pier 21?s Scotiabank Research Centre.
The Pier 21 story collection has broadened from those who actually passed through Pier 21?s doors, to include stories about immigration from all points of entry from the early beginnings of Canada (including First Nations) and concentrating on all immigration from 1867 to the present. Pier 21 is collecting family histories that go back to 1867 and is eager to begin collecting stories from those that arrived after 1971. These stories will be among the raw materials used to create future exhibits.
An Oral History Coordinator onsite conducts oral history interviews. These are vital to Pier 21?s collection and its ongoing commitment to preserving and sharing stories of all Canadians.
The image collection includes thousands of scanned newspaper clippings, immigration related documents and ship memorabilia, as well as digital photos donated by individual families and many organizations.
Research
The Scotiabank Research Centre houses a large collection of archival information avialbale to the public. Visitors can search for the basic arrival information of anyone arriving through a Canadian port between 1865 and 1935, and the records of individuals coming through Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal or Saint John between 1925 and 1935 can be accessed on microfilm.
Pier 21?s most important project is collecting the personal recollections of immigrants whether they arrived in the busy post-war years or yesterday.
Education
Pier 21's Manulife Education Program offers a fun, active, educational visit in the Global Classroom. The various services include French and English tours and workshops for education groups, resources and information for educators and students, family fun days, March Break camps, summer camps, multicultural fairs, and public lectures.
Volunteers
Over 100 people from across Canada are Pier 21 volunteers and work in the Scotiabank Research Centre, at the Pier 21 Museum Gift Shop, at special events and in administration.
Other Services
Pier 21 also hosts a Caf?, Museum Gift Shop, and the 5000 square foot Ralph and Rose Chiodo Harbourside Gallery. Pier 21 also provides rental facilities, hosting over 200 events each year. The museum's location has attracted conferences and corporate events. US President, George W. Bush gave a speech at Pier 21 during his first official visit to Canada in December, 2004.
Awards
In 2007, Pier 21 was chosen as one of the "Seven Wonders of Canada" in a television competition run by the CBC.
| Contributed by: Courtesy of Wikipedia
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: ca. 1960s | Notes: A plaque inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum, where the photo is displayed, reads: "Between 1942 and 1948 some 48,000 women, accompanied by 22,000 children, mostly from Great Britain, landed here at Pier 21 as wives of Canadian servicemen stationed abroad during the Second World War. the high number of these wartime romances prompted the federal government to provide the new spouses with transportation to Canada and information bout their adopted country. Across Canada, war bride clubs helped the women adapt to new customs and surroundings. In the succeeding generation, the war brides collectively strengthened many Canadians' emotional links with Britain."
| Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: ca. 1960s | | Notes: A plaque inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum, where the photo is displayed, reads: "In the decade immediately following the Second World War, Canada received about one and a quarter million immigrants from Europe. The newcomers consisted of dependents of returning Canadian servicemen and people dislocated by the conflict and its aftermath in their homelands. Most of them arrived by sea, with Halifax serving as the major port of entry. Here, at Pier 21, reception facilities served the immigrants as the first point of contact with their new country. The successful integration of these new Canadians was at once a cause and a consequence of Canada's postwar prosperity." | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: A plaque inside the Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum reads: "In the decade immediately following the Second War War, Canada received about one and a quarter million immigrants from Europe. The newcomers consisted of dependents of returning Canadian servicemen and people dislocated by the conflict and its aftermath in their homelands. Most of them arrived by sea, with Halifax serving as the major port of entry. Here, at Pier 21, reception facilities served the immigrants as the first point of contact with their new country. The successful integration of these new Canadians was at once a cause and a consequence of Canada's postwar prosperity." | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: A plaque inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum reads: "This site [Pier 21] witnessed the arrival of approximately one million immigrants, who have enriched the cultural mosaic of Canada. Opened in 1928, Pier 21 served as one of Canada's principal reception centres for immigrants until it closed in 1971. It typifies the large, self-contained immigration facilities that the Canadian government had begun to establish at major ports near the turn of the 20th century. The staff at Pier 21 handled large volumes of immigrants rapidly, checking their citizenship and medical condition, and providing quarantine, detention, customs and social services." | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: A plaque inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum reads: "Between 1942 and 1948 some 48,000 women, accompanied by 22,000 children, mostly from Great Britain, landed here at Pier 21 as wives of Canadian servicemen stationed abroad during the Second World War. The high number of these wartime romances prompted the federal government to provide the new spouses with transportation to Canada and information about their adopted country. Across Canada, war bride clubs helped the women adapt to new customs and surroundings. In the succeeding generation, the war brides collectively strengthened many Canadians' emotional links with Britain." | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: The photo was taken inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum, by the contributor. | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | | Date: 2008 | | Notes: The photo was taken inside Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum, by the contributor. | Contributed by: Sue Alfieri
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Pier 21, Halifax, N.S., Canada | | Date: 1963 | | Notes: The photo was taken at Pier 21 by photographer, Ken Elliot, in 1963. The photo is part of the Ken Elliot Collection of the Pier 21 Society. Permission to use the photo (Image # 12 Customs Officer) was granted by Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum. For further information and free viewing of the entire Ken Elliot Collection visit: www.pier21.ca. | Contributed by: Courtesy of the Ken Elliot Collection of the Pier 21 Society
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