GIOVANNI LIA

“What’s the world’s greatest lie?” The boy asked, completely surprised. “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.” 

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

THE JOURNEY
While working at the Kukatush forestry camp west of Timmins in the mid fifties, Giovanni Lia and his friend looked forward to their impromptu excursions into town. A periodic whiff of conviviality served as welcome relief from the remote and isolating bush camp environs.

How a boy from a tiny Italian village known for mulberry trees and baroque statues surfaced in the frosty backwoods of northern Ontario can partially be pinned on fate. Fortuitous conversations, timely leads and simply ‘being in the right place at the right time’ played their part. But faced with adversity from birth, Giovanni was compelled to learn early on that dwelling on misfortune and following fate’s call is a fool’s quest. By the time Giovanni found himself con- templating his next move at the corner of Pine Street and Third Avenue, he had left a long trail hitherto uncharted.

Born in 1925 in the small town of San Pietro di Morubio near Verona Italy, Giovanni entered a world beset by hardship. At three days old he lost his mother due to complications related to childbirth. A year later his aunt and caretaker passed away. By the time Giovanni was 18 years old, he had survived family tragedies, the severe economic conditions of the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, the fall out from Italy’s dangerous and disastrous political and military alliance with Nazi Germany, and the devastation of the Second World War.

In 1949, with Italy’s political structure and economy all but destroyed, Giovanni resolved to leave his family, home and country in search of a ‘better life’. Giovanni’s first stop found him working in a coal mine in France. Two years later, Giovanni received a letter from the Canadian Consulate informing him that he would be arriving in Halifax on January 11th, 1952 on board the ship Columbia. After the Second World War, the widespread shortage of labour caused by a booming economy, made Canada highly receptive to immigration. During this period thousands of Italians, including Giovanni, immigrated under the auspices of the Canadian government.

From Halifax, Giovanni moved onto Montreal where within three days of his arrival he found work at a forestry camp in Northern Quebec. Three months later Giovanni boarded a train to Coppercliff, near Sudbury Ontario to work at the Inco Mine. Following a lay off at the mine, Giovanni secured employment at the Kakatush forestry camp near Timmins, initially as a forestry worker and later as a chef. Cold winters, the north’s quintessential aversion, didn’t prevent Giovanni from routinely lounging in -20 degree temperatures clad only in a white t-shirt and a chef ’s apron.

THE ARRIVAL
On occasion, while at Kukatush, Giovanni traveled to Sudbury to meet up with old friends. On a visit in 1955, Giovanni met a new, special friend who would become the love of his life, Giulia. In an attempt to be nearer to Giulia, Giovanni applied for a mining job in Sudbury but was rejected due to his “small” stature and his “inability to speak English.” Sudbury’s rejection turned out to be Timmins’ gain. Giovanni applied for a job at the Hollinger Gold Mine. Within days Giovanni received notice that he passed his physical exam and that he was ‘to start work on Monday’.

Giovanni’s new job helped to accelerate and advance his relationship with his Sudbury heart-throb. Giovanni and Giulia married in the fall of 1956 and moved to Timmins shortly thereafter.

THE SETTLEMENT
The promise of work is the only demand Giovanni placed on his new hometown; anything else on offer was considered ‘icing on the cake’. But it wasn’t long before Giovanni and Giulia began reaping the town’s fringe benefits. In 1957 Giovanni and Giulia bought a home on Pine Street South in the Italian neighbourhood of Moneta where they continue to live to this day.

When Giovanni first left home to work in France, he sent much of his income back to his family in Italy. Although separated from family, Giovanni carried the sense and significance of ‘family’ with him. Giovanni and Giulia had no family or relatives in Timmins, but in 1958 they started their own family and the first of their three sons was born. Today, a wall-to-wall four generation gallery of his family, what Giovanni deems “the greatest gift Timmins has given me”, is displayed proudly in Giovanni and Giulia’s living room.

Food, wine and music are arguably among the most recognizable roots of Italian culture. Giovanni reflects on the success with which he and Giulia, along with their friends, were able to weave these customs into their social lives: “We’d go dancing with five couples on Saturday nights at the Empire Hotel, the Pavilion and the Moose Hall. We also played games together- we used to rotate houses. . . It was like Italy, we played bestia, briscola and scala quaranta (Italian card games) and there would always be something to eat (‘il dolce’) on the table. We even made our own bocce (Italian lawn bowling) court between the houses. We always had to take a rest after playing bocce.” 

Giovanni experienced a setback in 1965 when he suffered a serious back injury requiring major surgery. Giovanni’s relentless and resilient disposition however helped him recover and return to work within months. After thirteen years with the Hollinger Mine, Giovanni moved on to work at the Empire Hotel for four years, followed, in turn, by 10 years of employment with Timmins Automotive where he retired at age 65.

While sharing an old photo of a lively sunlit game of bocce with friends, Giulia commented that she and Giovanni were “the only ones left” from the photo. The candor of the remark was equaled by the gratitude embodying its delivery. In fact, Giovanni and Giulia’s entire storied account of building a life’s dream in a faraway land is punctuated by an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards their adopted home community.

Giovanni’s visits to Timmins with his ‘paisano’ in 1955 helped to find him work. Giovanni’s stopover in Timmins has persuaded him to unequivocally declare it “the best place in the world.”