(Submitted photo/Colombo Lodge).

By Aaron Schulze

RICUCIRE UN RAPPORTO

MENDING A RELATIONSHIP: ‘They wanted the Italian community to pledge their allegiance to Canada’

Apr 28, 2021 | 9:30 AM

KAMLOOPS — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that in May, the federal government will formally apologize for the treatment of Italian-Canadians during the Second World War (WWII).

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, 600 Italian-Canadian men were interned in camps after Italy allied with Germany in 1940. Nearly another 31,000 additional Italian-Canadians were declared enemy aliens.

There are Kamloops residents of Italian-Canadian descent who lived through WWII, or had ancestors who did, and shared their stories with CFJC Today. Some said a formal apology from the federal government would be greatly appreciated, and others said it while it would be the right thing to do, they don’t feel one is necessary. The entire three-part series can be found here.

Louise Malahoff, one of the founding members of the Can-Ital Ladies Society, grew up in Kamloops during WWII.

Currently in her 90s and having lived in Kamloops all her life, she kept a scrap book of all Can-Ital Ladies activities throughout its inception in 1964. One gentleman brought her a piece of Kamloops history that showed all the Italian-Canadian men in the community were invited to a meeting at the Colombo Lodge with the mayor and police chief at the time.

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Joseph (Giuseppe) Zanni – Malahoff’s father – was part of the meeting took place as Italy aligned with Nazi Germany in WWII.

“They wanted the Italian community to pledge their allegiance to Canada,” Malahoff said. “They had this meeting there that night and all the men pledged their allegiance, and there was a list of donations. They donated – at that time, money was pretty scarce – $1 or $2 and it was given to the Red Cross.”

Malahoff’s parents – along with all the people of Italian or German origin – were issued registration cards and had to report at the police station, as fears of enemy spies grew. Anyone of Italian or German descent who had firearms also had to surrender them.

Looking back to her childhood, Malahoff said it wasn’t overly difficult as a youngster during WWII. However, she admitted she felt ashamed of being Italian at the time, especially as there weren’t many other nationalities attending public school.

“I felt very inferior at school,” Malahoff said. “We were called enemy aliens… we felt we weren’t that welcome. As a kid, you want to fit in with everybody. We just accepted things… It wasn’t as bad in some other places.

“But as I got older, I was very proud of my heritage and what the Italian community has contributed to Kamloops. Even the Can-Ital Ladies Society. We have donated thousands to things in Kamloops; hospital, hospice, different organizations. We’ve proved we’ve helped quite a bit.

Feelings on a formal apology

Malahoff said an apology would be nice but living as an Italian-Canadian wasn’t too bad other than being the target of name-calling and being viewed differently.

“There were so many people who were affected during the war,” she said. “That’s how it was and you just accepted things. I think we were all thankful we lived in Canada. With all the different countries in Canada, we are a multicultural society. We should be proud of all the people that live here.”