Pier 21 and the brave who checked in there
Today, it operates as a national museum of immigration, but in its heyday, Halifax’s Pier 21 was Canada’s ocean gateway, welcoming more than a million new immigrants and refugees to our shores. (For my American readers, Pier 21 was our Ellis Island from 1928 to 1971.) While I’ve walked through the museum’s collections and exhibits, I, like one in five Canadians, also share a personal connection to Pier 21. In October 1941, my grandfather , along with his fellow Royal Canadian Air Force servicemen, other military personnel and plenty of frozen mutton, shipped out of Halifax on the HMT Mataroa to support our allies. Years later, my British grandmother was one of nearly 50,000 war brides who sailed to Canada for fresh starts with colonial hubbies they met during the Second World War. I believe Mom-mom arrived on Cunard’s RMS Mauretania , before she passed through the doors of Pier 21’s immigration shed. Pier 21 marked a transition point for so many. I can only i...