Pier 21

Pier 21

Pier 21 in Halifax was the first taste of Canada for as many as 1.5 million ship- borne immigrants.

Published: The Globe and Mail, March 5, 1988 FOCUS
BY DEBORAH JONES, HALIFAX

TODAY THE melancholy hush of Pier 21 defies the imagination to picture the nearly two million immigrants, soldiers and grim prisoners of war who trudged through here on their way in or out of Canada.

In its heyday, this sprawling complex was a major Canadian gateway. Pier 21 was the first taste of Canada for as many as 1.5 million ship- borne immigrants, some of whom were detained within its maze of rooms. During the Second World War it was the departure point for 360,000 troops sailing overseas; royalty, survivors of shipwrecks and prisoners also landed here.

Now nearly deserted, Pier 21 is slowly disintegrating on the stark Port of Halifax waterfront. The fears and hopes of those who passed through leached away long ago, leaving only imaginary stains of habitation on the grimy institutional-yellow walls.

Ellis Island, the celebrated portal to the United States in New York harbor, was turned into a museum as part of the $252-million Statue of Liberty facelift organized by Chrysler chief Lee Iacocca for the 1986 Constitution bicentennial. But its Canadian counterpart "has fallen on hard times," said Harry Traynor, a Halifax resident who yearns to restore some dignity to the place.

To commemorate Pier 21's sixtieth anniversary on Tuesday, more than 20 representatives of various nationalities and users of the pier will re- enact the arrival of immigrants and soldiers returning from the war. After sailing across Halifax Harbor and docking at the pier, they will be led into the complex by a piper and greeted by a band, dignitaries and representatives of those who used to work there.

Mr. Traynor, chairman of the city-sponsored committee organizing the ceremony, hopes that will be just a beginning. He has grand dreams for the place: In his imagination he sees beyond the shabby institutional complex to a lively future, complete with a museum and roof-garden restaurants.

As a federal employee in Ottawa in the seventies, Mr. Traynor tried to persuade the Liberal government of the day to commemorate the pier and its history. Now retired and living in Halifax, he is still pursuing his cause, intent on prompting Canadians to remember Pier 21. "We want people to realize the history here, the nostalgia," he said.

The campaign appears to be timely. With a widespread public backlash against refugee claimants and two Government refugee and immigration bills in process, Pier 21 is a reminder of the country's immigrant origins.

"We're all immigrants, aren't we, layer upon layer of us," Mr. Traynor pointed out. "Some form of restoration would make it a mecca . . . Americans by the millions want to go and see the Statue of Liberty because that's the first thing their ancestors saw. Why not let Canadians see where Grandfather Joe, for example, landed?"

Pier 21, built to replace an immigration centre destroyed in the 1917 Halifax explosion, first opened its doors on March 8, 1928, to a group of 51 immigrants arriving on the Nieuw Amsterdam. To service the pier, a CN railway station and hotel were eventually constructed nearby, and both remain in use. Business slowed as airplanes took over from ships, however, and Pier 21 closed as an immigration centre in 1971.

It is now operated by Ports Canada, and a nautical school uses some of its maze of rooms and hallways. Below the second-story office complex there is still a working pier and storage facilities for, among other things, automobiles.

William Marks began his career in immigration in 1954, as a mail boy at Pier 21. Now regional director for the immigration department, he recalls the days when as many as 400 arrivals detained for medical or other reasons lived in its dormitories, some for as long as six months. "There was a regular hum of activity here. Now it's only used for loading flour," he said.

His footsteps echoing through the empty rooms during a recent tour of Pier 21, Mr. Marks pointed to a stage in the former recreation room, where immigrants staged plays. Nearby was a restaurant. The hallways, he recalled, were always full of people - staff, volunteer workers and immigrants, whose children used to run through them. "Sometimes 1,200 people would disembark."

As many as three ocean liners could dock at once at the seawall including and adjacent to Pier 21, which at 2,007 feet (611.7 metres) is one of the longest in the world. Most people arriving would be processed through immigration and board trains to other points in Canada within a day at most, officials said.

Immigrants with visa or medical problems would be detained at the pier, and sometimes deported. For them, Pier 21 represented a frightening barrier to life in a new country. "People would be apprehensive. We would often have to talk to them through interpreters," Mr. Marks said.

On arriving, all immigrants would be examined by the staff of doctors and nurses, processed by immigration officials and helped by a plethora of workers and volunteers from various agencies.

At that time the pier was a frenzy of activity. Now, it is empty.

Although port officials may find other uses and tenants for the pier in time, Mr. Traynor would like it to become more than an interesting relic of Canada's multiculturalism. He and others hope to generate enough interest in the pier to persuade politicians to act. "It's for people to decide," he said.

Copyright Deborah Jones 1988

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Millions passed through Canadian gateway

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