The Immigrant Experience Revealed: Around the Table

Round table with members of the London Italian-Canadian community, as they share their experience of immigration with students and faculty

Names of the panel: Pasquale Palumbo, Claude Pensa, Santa Valerio, Damjana Bratuž, Adelina Bozek, Armando Giorgini.

It was a pleasant surprise to meet again Claude Pensa, with whom we shared an event at the Univesity President’s house, in 1993, when some official photos were taken:

In attendance: Franca Giacomelli-Suri, Vice-Consul of Italy

Organizers: Professors Cristina Caracchini, Maria Laura Mosco, Luca Pocci

My Panel Contribution

My name is Damjana Bratuž: it does not sound Italian. But when you followed the recent Olympic Games you may have noticed that the names of most of the medalists who represented Italy did not sound Italian either: Carolina Kostner, Christof Innerhofer, Armin Zöggeler (and in Biathlon: Hofer, Oberhofer, Wierer, Windisch). That's because they all came from the Northern region of Süd Tyrol ( in Italian Alto Adige), which before WWI had belonged to the Austrian Empire. My name is Slovenian, from the Eastern Italian region, which for many centuries had also been part of that Empire.

Indeed, one of the reasons why after my arrival in 1967 I chose to remain in Canada was because it reminded me of the 'mosaic' of nationalities that had existed in Europe under the Hapsburg rule. Today we speak of multiculturalism.

More on WHY I remained here [cont.]