Zoom interview with Steven Schwinghamer, co-author of Pier 21: A History (University of Press, 2020)

April 1, 2021

Welcome to this instalment of “Witness to Yesterday” the podcast of the Champlain Society. My name is Greg Marchildon and today, we are going to talk to Steven Schwinghamer about his book on Pier 21, the main gateway for immigrants to between 1928 and 1971.

Steve is an historian based at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is responsible for historical research in the Exhibitions, Research and Collections department of the Museum. Steve is also a member of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University.

Steve, thank you so much for joining us today.

• First, since not enough such as myself have never had an opportunity the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, give us a quick verbal tour as a way of introducing us to your book.

• Okay, Steve, today you are our witness to yesterday. Take us back and describe what the typical immigrant would go through after arriving by ship at Pier 21.

• I realize that you are responsible for researching the history of Pier 21 but what motivated you (and Jan) to put it all together in a book?

• I was impressed with the sheer depth of your research. Can you give us some insight into some of the more interesting or unique primary sources you relied upon?

1 • Immigrants were arriving in Halifax in large numbers before Pier 21 existed. Why was the pier and associated buildings built and what did they replace?

• The 1920s were not great times for Nova Scotia. As you describe it, Maritime Rights advocates tried to address this problem in part through lobbying for new transportation infrastructure. To what extent was the building of Pier 21 seen as part of the agenda embraced by the Martime Rights movement?

• Shortly after Pier 21 was constructed, the enveloped the country and the flow of immigrants to Canada slowed considerably. Restrictive immigration policies meant that only 16,000 immigrants entered Canada on average during the 1930s (as you point out, the annual average during the 1920s had been 126,000 per year). How did work continue or not continue at Pier 21 during this period.

• Can you tell us the many ways in which Pier 21 was transformed (in terms of its purpose and the people it served) during the Second World War (merchant sailors, troop deployment, evacuated children, internees, prisoners of war, returning soldiers, war brides, etc.)?

• A couple of years ago, I visit Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow, Poland. To my great surprise, the state treasures from that Castle were sent for safekeeping in Canada through Pier 21. Tell us about that.

• Pier 21's busiest days as an immigration shed came just after the Second World War, especially with the arrival in Canada of refugees and displaced persons. Can you expand a little bit on this movement? (Polish veterans)

2 • Can you describe for us the activity at Pier 2 following the Second World War when a million immigrants came to Canada in the first postwar decade alone? How did this nature of this immigration change in the by the 1960s?

• Why did Pier 21 go into decline and finally close down in 1971?

Steve, thank you so much for joining us today.

My guest today was Steve Schwinghamer. He is the co-author (with Jan Raska) of Pier 21: A History published by the University of Ottawa Press in 2020 as part of that press’s Mercury Series.

You’ve been listening to Witness to Yesterday. Please visit our website at www.champlainsociety.ca where you can become a subscribing member and help support the preservation and publication of documentary history in Canada. If you like what you’ve heard, let your friends know by forwarding this podcast through the social media of your choice.

This podcast is made possible by the members of the Champlain Society who work hard to bring to life original documents in Canadian history. We want to thank the Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation, the LR Wilson Institute of History at McMaster University, and a consortium of Canadian Scholarly Book publishers that includes the University of Toronto Press, The University of British Columbia Press, and the University of Ottawa Press.

My name is Greg Marchildon. This interview was recorded on April 1, 2021. It was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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