Italians are influential cultural force

The study of the language is integral to multicultural make-up of all of Canada

Louis Riel appeared onto the political scene of Canada in late 1869, when he established a Métis republic in Manitoba. He was a man of great intuition, but also temperamental, somewhat self-aggrandizing, a Francophone and a Catholic; enough for him to be seen as anathema by the establishment of a country that had recently become a Dominion of His British Majesty.
Riel's attempt to establish a Métis republic in Manitoba was crushed by the Canadian army. Despite being pursued, he managed to escape into Montana, but in 1884 he reappeared in Saskatchewan for a repeat of what had failed in Manitoba. "I am a prophet, infallible pontiff and supreme priest," he said. Maybe he believed that, but that did not prevent the republic of Saskatchewan from ending miserably in June 1885 at Batoche, where the republican rebels were defeated. Riel was captured, tried for high treason and sentenced to death. Many people interceded in his favour, but Prime Minister John A. Macdonald was irremovable. "He'll be hanged," he said, "even if all the dogs of Quebec were to bark for him." Riel was hanged at sunrise on a livid November day of 1885.
"Riel was likely unaware of the importance of what he was doing," says Fulvio Caccia, "but the Canadian identity was born with him. It has never found full expression because this country is still the fruit of a Monarchical pact underwritten by two failed colonial empires, French and British America. That pact endures to date and its premise is the negation of republic. When that premise is voided, Canada will finally acquire a specific identity of its own."
Caccia, author of poetry and essays, is one of the only two Italian-Canadian authors (the other is Nino Ricci) to be presented the prestigious Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary prize. His latest books La Republique Métis and Republic denied - The loss of Canada raised great controversy. But even beyond the theses defended in them, they give a fair indication of the quality level that Italian-Canadians bring to cultural debate in this country.
Caccia continues, "There is a crucial moment in Canadian history, despite the fact that the battle of the Plains of Abraham of 1759 had ensured the British dominance over Canada, the winners offered the vanquished to share the power and its privileges. In addition the vanquished, i.e. the Francophones, were allowed to keep their laws, their language, their religion. That sealed the matter. There has been no real discussion ever since, because the monarchical agreement was never in discussion, not even in recent times, when things might have changed and Canada might have started along the path to becoming a republic. It happened in 1982, when Pierre Trudeau had Queen Elizabeth countersign the Canadian Constitution."
Why should the republic give a specific identity to Canada?
Caccia: "Because with it our social conquests would be the fruit of a debate in the country and not a concession by the ruling élite. Concessions, generosity are typical monarchical dimensions. Only a republic establishes rights and duties, it never resorts to generosity."
Cutting a cultural space for themselves was not easy for Italian-Canadians, especially because calling them "Italian-Canadians" is rather simplistic. Canada is not a homogeneous cultural reality: there is Anglophone Canada, dominant, but also Francophone Quebec, far from negligible. Italians settled in both Anglophone and Francophone Canada, and were differently influenced, because the two Canadas are divided by deep historical and social differences.
Intellectuals perceived these strident differences more than anyone else, but these did not dampen their enthusiasm; on the contrary, they offered a reason for increasing the quality of cultural debate. As a result, Italian presence in this field is very visible. Our language is studied in many high schools; courses and departments of Italian Studies can be found in most major Canadian universities, and famous visiting professors periodically come from Italy to lecture or research (e.g. Umberto Eco); and publishing houses market high quality literary products. Guernica Editions, for instance, bypassing the controversy about which language should an Italian-Canadian author use, publishes in Italian, English and French.
We asked Antonio D'Alfonso, president of Guernica, to tell us which was the most significant contribution Italian-Canadian intellectuals have given to this country. "Their approach to culture," he replied. "Italian culture, because of its specific character and sheer size, is contradictory, provocative, paradoxical, European. We clarified that culture is a synthesis of opposites. That's something. We were listened to because we aren't Italians living in Canada, but Canadians of Italian heritage, people with two souls, or even three if you prefer, therefore we are qualified to explain to Francophones and Anglophones how far the culture of our common land of origin, Europe, has gone. We also explained to pragmatic Anglo-Saxons that culture is not just business, and that quality does not immediately translate into turnover. The accounts of culture are settled with the times of culture, which are slow."
They were settled quite fast at Queen's University in Kingston, where between 1997 and 2000 enrolment in the courses of the Department of Italian Studies increased by 200 percent. "Our investment paid off," says Donato Santeramo, who co-ordinates the courses of Italian at Queen's University, "because it was not your typical initiative. On the one hand, there was great collaboration with other departments, especially those of Spanish, German and French Studies, in the organization of screening of international movies; on the other, we had unusual teaching methods."
Unusual? Santeramo: "For instance, some time ago, a colleague and I went with a group of students to a refuge where for three days speaking English was absolutely forbidden. We watched and discussed movies, cooked, told stories in Italian only. We also frequently resort to Italian experts, such as a teacher of Political Science who led our students in the intricacies of Italian government, or the former director of the Italian Trade Commission in Toronto, who lectured on Italian economy. In short, we try and captivate our students by amusing them, eliciting their curiosity and interests. Italian language and culture cannot be studied on books alone."
Santeramo also adds that the investment would not have paid off if university top brass had not supported it in every aspect. "They are fascinated by Italian culture," says Santeramo.
Olga Zorzi Pugliese directed the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto for five years. Her mandate expired last June 30. Her place was taken by Prof. Domenico Petropaolo, who acknowledges her merits in consolidating the number of students enrolled (1,500 per year) and the fame of the Department, the most important of its kind outside Italy. Here, too, investments paid off. Why was that? "Because we renovated and improved our programs," she responds. "For instance we established a Bachelor of Arts in Italian-Canadian Studies, previously non-existent, and we also introduced unusual courses, e.g. one on Italians in Asia from Marco Polo to Matteo Ricci, which was highly successful."
How do you explain this success? Olga Zorzi Pugliese: "With the presence in our university of many students of Asian origins. They come because they are attracted to Italian culture. We give it to them, but also make them understand that it never had borders, with Italian visits to the Far East being a constant ever since the Middle Ages and Marco Polo."
The Department of Italian Studies of the University of Toronto welcomes famous visiting professors coming from Italy ("and this, too, gave us prestige"), but its communication strategy went in two directions. They organized high-profile congresses, such as the recent Rinascimento e Rinascimenti that took place in Toronto and Naples, and collaborated with foreign universities, mostly Italian ones. "We have a special relation with Siena," says Olga Zorzi Pugliese, "involving students and professors in a massive way. Siena is our summer campus, no less. But our collaboration with that university is not limited to the Department of Italian Studies. It extends to the entire University of Toronto. This means that there is a constant, not just in summer, exchange of professors and students of the various Faculties."
The same holds for Alberto Di Giovanni, president of Centro Scuola e Cultura, a large organization managing the curricular courses of Italian administered in 92 Ontario high schools to over 30,000 students. Di Giovanni leads no fewer than 500 students every year on study trips to Italy recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Education towards the Canadian high school diploma. However, Centro Scuola e Cultura does not only deal with teaching the language.
"We have many parallel activities, and I consider them as tools for popularizing Italian," says Di Giovanni. "First and foremost, we have three choirs, and then schools of dance and music. We taught to some real talents: e.g. tenor Joey Niceforo and soprano Giovanna Carini. We have an art gallery, a library, we run professional update courses for teachers of Italian and some publications. We also promote sports; 3,000 kids take part in our selections for the Youth Games, and the best go to Italy for the finals."
This looks like a massive investment on youth. Di Giovanni: "Whomever else should we invest on? You see, we who came here with the great immigration between the Fifties and the Seventies have done what we could. What we could prove, and it was a lot, we did prove. Our grandchildren are the protagonists of the future, and they are discovering the charm of Italy. They are not alone, however. Did you know that many students of Italian in the high schools belong to other ethnic groups? They're Chinese, Hispanics, Russians, etc. They study Italian because our community is strong and authoritative, and learning our language and our culture can be useful."
"Italian-Canadians have also developed a robust entrepreneurial culture," says Angelo Infusino, director of the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) of Toronto. "I cannot explain otherwise the enveloping strategy they enacted. The first generation went mostly in the construction industry, and also in food import and restaurants. Its success is under our eyes. Second- and third-generation Italian-Canadians diversified. Some carried on the family business, while others found their place at intermediate levels in practically every economic activity. For the moment they bide their time."
What are they waiting for? Infusino: "They're learning the ropes, establishing their bases. Within a few years, these young Canadians of Italian heritage will lead the biggest companies in Canada."
Such a big company is the one created from scratch by Franco Lofranco, just over 30: his Stream Intelligent Networks Corp. soon became a leader in the sector of digital communications over optical networks. He recently sold a majority share of the company and is busy pursuing other entrepreneurial projects in the same field. A little under 40 is lawyer Louie Genova, who chairs CIAO, an organization of Italian-Canadian lawyers that not only counsels their clients, but also collaborates with Canadian institutions in updating Canadian Law.
Rudy Buttignol, creative head of TVOntario, is definitely not a senior citizen. He was the one who managed to access the archives of Moscow's space programme upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He bought and broadcast clips never seen before. He also did more. "I was told that I could get a contract with the astronauts who would man the Mir orbiting station; from up there they could have shot whatever I wanted. I accepted, and from the Mir I received live images of the 1991 Gulf War. Those images were seen all over the world."
Nowadays Toronto is a large Italian enclave in Canada; some 500,000 Italian-Canadians live here. But it's not the only one; almost 300,000 live in Montreal, and some 100,000 in Vancouver. There are big figures, much higher than those included in the Consular registries, and one can find Italians everywhere in this country.
Our report tackled this unusual phenomenon, unknown to many people in Italy. Many questions got clear answers from history and current news. One was left unanswered: are Canada's "founding peoples" only the British and the French? The answer can be found in the awareness displayed by Italian-Canadians in living in Canada. All of them - those who left Italy because of their needs, those who were born here, and those who departed again for putting their abilities to the test -live this country as protagonists.

Publication Date: 2003-02-02
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2314