Foula, George, Dia and John were all born in Greece.

In Greece, there weren't many jobs, which meant a lot of unemployment. Even if you did have a job, there were low wages, making a livelihood difficult. The quality of life you would have would be poor due to the number of money people were receiving. This meant lower living standards than in Canada and a lot of other places in the world. Also, some families had already migrated, which gave more of a reason to leave Greece.  

My grandparents didn't want to live this lifestyle so they emigrated to Canada for better living wages, higher wages, there were also many job opportunities in Canada compared to Greece, and their ethnic community was in Canada. 

John & Dia's Story

John and Dia Mandalas were married in Greece and came independently from Greece in the late ’60s. My grandfather John came to Canada as a skilled worker as a result of a program between Greece and Canada, where Canada was in need of skilled workers. John was a trained tool and die maker and worked making mechanical parts for various machines.

His first job in Canada while he learned the english language was working in a restaurant as a busboy and as a dishwasher. John would attend night school to learn english in order to be able to work in the job that he was trained to do as english was a requirement. His first job in his trade was working for Levi auto parts. Most of his career he worked for Massey Ferguson, which made tractors here in Toronto Canada's west end.

Dia was trained as a seamstress and dressmaker and worked in various factories in Toronto’s garment district. They came to Canada in 1967 and stayed with a distant family for one year before they could move on their own and rent an apartment. By 1975 they bought their first house that they currently still live in, in Toronto's greektown.  

Foula & George's Story

Foula and George met in Toronto on Pape Avenue, their first date was at a square dance in Withrow park. They each emigrated from Greece.

Grandma Foula’s family came in 1959 when she was only 13, her dad was already to be a dishwasher in Canada from 6 months before the rest of her family came. Foula and her family came on a boat named Queen Frederica. She arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on a boat, the boat ride lasted 11 days. Foula and her family then boarded a train in Halifax to Toronto. In Toronto Foula’s uncle was waiting, after arriving in Toronto, they all went on another train to Hamilton, Ontario. 

Foula’s uncle sponsored her and her family which makes her family class. Her and her family stayed in Hamilton for a year and then Foula’s immediate family moved to Toronto for better job opportunities.

Foula’s parents worked as dishwashers as Foula attended school at Pape school then Earl Grey, at school she had some struggles because when she came here she was school ages and she didn’t know english so she got held back and would be made fun of for not knowing english and would be called DP (displaced persons). When Foula turned 16 she got her first job at a factory and then after at 17 met my grandfather.

George came in december 1958 on a boat, he didn’t know what Canadian winters we’re like since he had never been out of the country, he brought a spring jacket because he had never experienced anything like a Canadian winter before, in Greece winter was 13 degrees celsius which is the weather he was expecting when he arrived but instead the temperature was -20 degrees when he arrived.  

George worked there for a year and then came to Toronto and lived in his sisters house. His job for a year was making car mufflers. He then met my grandma and got married, bought a home and settled in Toronto.

They all lived happy, content and satisfied in Toronto and had a beautiful family. They got to love Canada a lot because there were a lot of job opportunities and opportunities for a better life financially than in Greece. They grabbed every opportunity they could get to strive, have a good family and overall succeed. I thank my family for bringing me up good and allowing me to have all these chances to aim for the best in everything in my life.

Characteristics of my culture 

Religion

Religion

Greek Orthodox. The New Testament of The Christian Bible was written in Greek. Greek was also the language used for science, math and philosophy. Greek and Latin are the main sources of scientific vocabulary. 150,000 words in the english language are derived from Greek.  

Language

Greek people speak Greek and it is the world's oldest recorded living language, evidence proves that it is more than 4300 years old. 99% of the population of Greece speaks modern Greek.

Clothing