Italian: Italian Immigration and Time

italian: With all the celebration, however, it's easy to forget that the story of Italian immigration to Vancouver is one that saw much hardship along with the joy, according to Georgia Asian. Following Italy's unification in 1871, the southern part of the country was impoverished and overpopulated. For many years at this time, Commercial Drive has come alive during the neighbourhood's annual Italian Day street party and what a time it'll be again this year, with an expected 300,000 guests arriving on June 10. With little opportunity to better themselves, the resulting diaspora saw almost nine million Italians depart for the Americas in search of pane e lavoro, or bread and work . Scores of these southern Italians found their way to British Columbia in the 1880s, lured by railroad, mining, and forestry work. Italians came here looking for a better opportunity to rear their children and find happiness for themselves. The railroad brought a lot of jobs for immigrants, says author Ray Culos, a local historian and an expert on Italian immigration. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.