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During the decade prior
to WWI, the number of the Italians in Windsor had only grown from
52 in 1901 to 95 in 1911. An increase in industrialization and
the expanding labour market attracted many Italians to Canada.
Italians were recruited and transported by private companies
to perform dangerous or labour-intensive jobs in mines, railways,
city sewer or road construction projects, and in the expanding
automotive sector. Much of this work was backbreaking and seasonal. The
immigrants often worked in squalid conditions. They also encountered
hostile attitudes and discrimination. (Left picture
- Inspecting the immigrant's possessions at Pier21,
Courtesy of Pier21 )
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