Personal Interview of Ettore Fiore on Construction in Toronto
(19 February 2019)
“When I first came to Canada, I did not speak any English. I was 26 years old. Construction was the first and only job that was offered to me. I took it and immediately started working on high rise buildings downtown. Eventually, we started on the CN Tower and Metro Convention Centre. I worked alongside hundreds of Italian men.
“I had never worked a day of construction in my life. In Italy I worked as a cook on a ship. I was not used to the awful weather conditions Canada had to offer. I got injured on the job more times than I can count. It was very tough at first, but I had to do it for my family. All of the Italians were doing it for their families. Family was what I had, and all I wanted.” – Ettore Fiore
How to cite this research
Lamanna, Victoria. “Personal Interview of Ettore Fiore on Construction in Toronto.” On Archival Research of Italian-Canadian Immigration and Culture, super. T. Russo, Issue 3: Oral Histories: Traditional and Poetic Forms, University of Guelph, December 2021, Guelph. Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS), Sandra Parmegiani and Nivashinee Ponambalum.