Polish Benefit Society, Sydney, Nova Scotia, circa 1912.
The Maritimes were hardly overwhelmed by immigrants during the post- Confederation era. Instead, the work force was constantly restructured through internal migration, mostly of rural people from marginal farming and fishing areas to burgeoning industrial communities in the northern and eastern portions of the region. While this made for a certain amount of working-class homogeneity, it did not obscure occasional recruitment of specialized workers or active solicitation of general immigration during times of peak demand. The construction and opening of the Sydney steel plant, accompanied by a surge in demand for coal, occasioned a substantive movement of both eastern and southern Europeans into industrial Cape Breton.
The Whitney Pier district of Sydney, close to the heart of the steel plant, soon contained the largest concentration of immigrant workers east of MontrΘal. Hundreds of these "foreigners," restricted to the lowest paying jobs at the plant and ghettoized within the community, created vibrant and distinctive cultures unlike anything experienced in the dominant Anglo- Scottish community. Prominent among the immigrant groups were Poles, Italians, Ukrainians and Russian Jews, all of whom encountered tremendous discrimination. They brought with them long established cultural traits and unique languages; these they retained through their immigrant churches, which emphasized traditional rituals, and their many fraternal national societies, which helped ease the passage into North American society. The Polish Saint Michael's Society, pictured here at one of several annual commemorative occasions, was typical of benefit and fraternal societies that flourished among these immigrant workers. Flags, sashes and other regalia symbolized connections with recently departed homelands, just as a myriad of celebrations provided occasions for family solidarity and socialization. Commemoration of important national occasions also prompted expression of community solidarity and soon became the focus for integration with the rest of the labouring community.
Courtesy: Beaton Institute, University College of Cape Breton (79-1098-407A)
