William Joseph Fox was born in Timmins, Ontario on June 28, 1926. The Great Depression did not affect Bill’s childhood as he lived a comfortable life during those years. Before the war he was very sports oriented and mostly played hockey for teams with players older than him – he was even able to get […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Taylor, Donald
Donald Taylor was born in Montreal, Quebec on September 8, 1918. There were three siblings in the family. During the Great Depression, his parents did not lose their jobs, but they still did not have the money to pay for extras, such as college tuition. Before the war, Donald liked sports very much, especially hockey. As a junior, […]
Burke, Michael
Michael Burke was born on January 5th 1921 in Montreal Quebec. As a kid he went to Westmount Academy, and in 1937 he got a degree at McGill University and then a job at the Bank of Montreal. When the war broke out he enlisted in the RCAF and eventually became a ground crew mechanic […]
Collins, Ann
Ann Collins was born November 27,1925 in Nottingham, England. She was only 13 when WWII broke out; it ended her schooling, and sent her to work, and forced her to endure the Blitz and everything else associated with the war. Ann joined the ATS when she was 17; she expressed that her time in the British […]
Nash, Georgine
Georgine Nash was born in Hungary on June 16,1937. She grew up during the war, and as was the case with most Hungarian Jews, she enjoyed a distance from the terrible conflict, and the from the terrible Shoah that was commencing in the neighbouring countries. Georgine remembers her father being taken away to a labour […]
Engel, Yolanda
Yolanda Engel (nee Lebovics) was born December 11, 1937. She grew up in wartime Hungary, sheltered from events until the German occupation of 1944. Her father had been conscripted into the labour battalions by that time, and the remaining family members were taken into the ghetto. Shortly after that, Yolanda’s mother was taken away to […]
Ger, Sonia
Sonia Ger grew up in Pinsk, Poland. Her family had their own house with a bakery in the front, run by the father and his brother. When the Nazis invaded Poland, they were moved into a ghetto. Sonia’s father opened up another bakery in the ghetto. He made friends with the German soldiers by selling […]
McKee, Fraser
Fraser McKee was born on Feb. 22, 1925 in Toronto, a city where he has lived most of his life. He grew up in the city’s north end, attending UCC and living a fairly good life, even against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Fraser’s father had a significant military pedigree; he was a major […]
McLoughlin, Barbara
Barbara McLoughlin was born July 1, 1920, in Devon, England, and she grew up in and around Teignmouth. Her father immigrated to England from Italy at the turn of the century; he grew up to be a loyal Englishman, serving in the Great War. He married an Englishwoman from Devon – Barbara’s mother – and […]
van Dyk, Jerry
Jerry van Dyk was born Sept. 13, 1933 in the Netherlands, in the northern province of Friesland. Jerry saw the beginning of the German when the planes of the Luftwaffe flew overhead on their way to bomb Rotterdam in 1940, and he witnessed the German occupation of his country from 1940-44. His family lived in […]
Otterman, Bob and Shirley
Robert Otterman was born January 24, 1925, outside Fisherville, Ontario, where he grew up on the family farm. When the war came, Robert recalls that he did not want to be a soldier; his village was largely German-Canadian, and while the locals disliked what Hitler and Nazism represented, they did not want to fight their […]
McKay, Howard
Howard was born in the Scotch settlement of Bradford on July 11, 1923; his English and Scottish ancestors had settled there long before. Growing up on a farm meant that Howard and his family were self sufficient and were able to provide for themselves; slaughtering animals for food was not uncommon on the farm. Howard’s uncle was […]
Beharriel, Gertrude
Gertrude (Bibby) Beharriel was born on April 20, 1920 in the small town of Campbellford, Ontario. She was one of 7 children and was the middle child, with 3 older siblings and 3 younger siblings. During the Great Depression she and her family were hit just like everyone else but, because they had a farm, […]
White, Rod
Rod White was born in Trenton, Ontario in 1925. Rod’s father died when he was only four, and some of his early memories are of his mother struggling to raise her seven children in difficult economic times. Rod was a sickly child, suffering from bouts of tuberculosis and jaundice; combined with wearing glasses from an […]
Linde, Walter
Walter Linde was born April 28, 1928 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Like all young boys in his day, he went into the Hitler Youth. . Walter elected to go with the bicycle brigades – he remembered that the emphasis on propaganda and singing was downplayed, and Walter was happy to do without that. The family left […]
White, Chris
Chris White, along with Canadian Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke and Shelley Hamilton, is delving into his Black, Native and Nova Scotian roots to create songs and poems that address and celebrate this largely unacknowledged aspect of Canadian history and culture. Together, they have performed and recorded this material in Halifax and Toronto, and have […]
Rees, Frank
Frank Rees is from Toronto. He grew up in the city’s east end, against the backdrop of the Great Depression. He attended Danforth Tech and served in the reserve army during the early part of the war. When the time came for him to join up, Frank chose the RCAF – he remembers that it […]
Kies, Suzy
Suzy is an Urban Indigenous woman of Abenaki and Montagnais-Naskape ancestry. Suzy has worked with the Indigenous community in Simcoe County for 16 years, advocating for the rights of Indigenous children and youth to have the same education and employment opportunities as their non-Indigenous peers. She was the 2016 Recipient of the Ontario Minister for […]
Kretschmer, Lindsay
Lindsay is the Current Executive Director of the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC). Her family comes from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She has worked in the non-profit sector for nearly 20 years, most recently as the Executive Director of the Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy; she started her community service work as […]
Anderson-Gardner, Victoria
Victoria Anderson-Gardner is a queer Indigenous filmmaker and activist. She comes from the Ojibway lands of Eagle Lake First Nation but is based out of Toronto, Ontario. She currently is completing her thesis at Ryerson University for her BFA in Film Production with the School of Image Arts. Recent projects she has worked on include […]
Marchand-Lafortune, D.M.
Diem Marchand-Lafortune is a powerful Plains Cree Horizon-Dancer and Jewish Renaissance woman who describes herself as “Crewish”. Years of work on legal issues related to forced relinquishments of newborns and their disappearance into the system via an inhumane adoption industry came to fruition with the release of Senator Eggleton’s report: This Shame is Ours Canada. She […]
Etherington, Michael
Michael Etherington has family roots and heritage from James Bay; he is a proud representative of the Omushkego-Cree. Michael’s late great-aunt was the oldest residential school attendee in Canada at 111 years of age, attending St. Anne’s in Fort Albany, Ont.; in 2008 she was one of four invited attendees to hear Stephen Harper’s formal […]
Shawnee
Shawnee Lynn Talbot uses her songs to advocate for queer, Indigenous, youth, and mental health issues. She is an Indigenous Canadian singer who identifies as Two Spirit, meaning that she is fluid with her gender and sexuality. Two Spirit people were once celebrated in Indigenous communities before European settlers colonized North America. Since the Indigenous […]
Laureen Blu Waters
Laureen (Blu) Waters is a member of the Metis Nation of Ontario. Her family is from Big River Saskatchewan, Star Blanket Reserve and Bra’dor Lake, Eskasoni First Nations, Cape Breton Nova Scotia. Blu grew up with her grandmother and learned about traditional medicines performing extractions, healing, and taking of care of the sick. At 10 […]
Wheatley, Kim
Kim Wheatley is an Ojibwe Anishinaabe Grandmother from Shawanaga First Nation Reserve who carries the spirit name Head or Leader of the Fireflower and who is Turtle Clan. She has appeared on TV, radio and in many news articles connected to her passion for Indigenous Knowledge sharing. Kim has worked with over 34 First Nation […]
Cash, Norm
Norman Cash was born January 1, 1920 in Russia, in the city of Odessa. When he was one year old his family made the decision to emigrate as the anti-Semitic violence associated with the pogroms was intensifying in the wake of the Great War, where Norm’s father had been a veteran. The family settled in […]
Gallant, Alyre
Alyre Gallant was born December 23, 1923, in Piusville, Prince Edward Island. He grew up during the time of the Depression, and when his father died when he was quite young, Alyre left school and began working on the family farm. And that was the theme for the rest of the decade and into the […]
Swirski, Walter
Walter Swirski was born in Poland on May 7, 1922. His family lived in a small village, where they were prosperous farmers; Walter’s father owned a share in a flour mill, and had been an officer in the Soviet-Polish war. Walter had one brother and was going to school when the Second World War broke […]
White, Don
Don White was born in Oshawa, Ontario on August 9, 1924. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending school in Oshawa and then enlisting after Grade 12. He had joined the militia at the age of 16, and at 18 he joined the regular forces, and was quickly sent out to […]
Olley, George
George Olley was born May 10, 1925 in London, Ontario. George’s parents divorced when he and his sister were quite young, and for a time George and Rose lived with their father, but work and family proved a difficult combination, and George ended up in an orphanage from age 9-14. He went to school during […]