Pier 21: A History by Steven Schwinghamer and Jan Raska

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pier 21: A History by Steven Schwinghamer and Jan Raska Lisa Chilton Schwinghamer, Steven and Jan Raska – Pier 21: A History. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2020. 277 p. For historians of Canadian immigration, Pier 21 holds a position of literal and symbolic importance. During the nineteenth century, transatlantic migration directly into Canada was largely channelled through the immigration facilities at the port at the City of Québec, and to a lesser degree at Saint John, New Brunswick. From the early twentieth century, Halifax became an increasingly important entry point, first at Pier 2 and then at Pier 21. Between 1928 and 1971, the purpose-built immigration facilities at Pier 21, Halifax, processed nearly one million newcomers, and for a period after the Second World War, the facility processed more immigrants than any other Canadian point of entry. Whereas other buildings that served for a time as major immigrant-processing locations no longer exist, the structure designed and built at Pier 21 to manage the flow of people moving between ship and land is still intact. It is for this reason that Pier 21 became the site of the Canadian Museum of Immigration in 2009. The space that served for decades as Canada’s primary institutional representation of managed migration now contains a carefully curated, politically sensitive exploration of the nation’s relationship with that history. Pier 21: A History might be considered the textual embodiment of Pier 21, the national museum. Written by Steven Schwinghamer and Jan Raska, two of the museum’s staff historians, Pier 21 provides a richly detailed study of this important institution. Like the museum itself, the book foregrounds individuals’ stories to tell the larger history. Schwinghamer and Raska draw upon the extensive collection of oral histories and written personal reflections available to them at the museum to draw out a wide variety of perspectives: they have tried to give voice to people of all ages, ethnicities, political orientations, and reasons for being at Pier 21 in this book. Pier 21 was designed to process migrants, but one of the first things we learn in this book is that mobilization for war meant that for many years the people who made use of the immigration port buildings were military and military-adjacent personnel, whose relationships with this space were likely to be radically different from those of newcomers. Moreover, as the authors note in their introduction, the diversity of experiences recalled by the immigrants, and the different perspectives and attitudes of the many employees and volunteers who also recounted their observations, might suggest that there were, in fact, many different spaces through which these people moved, with some being warm, friendly, and thoroughly welcoming, and others cold, inhospitable, and even threatening. As a federal gateway institution, Pier 21 [End Page 704] served both to convey the idea that Canada was a desirable place to settle, and to ensure that “undesirables” would be kept out. The experiences of individuals and groups of immigrants, and how these people emotionally responded to their experiences, are at the heart of Pier 21. But the book is also about the development and evolution of the institution as a physical structure. Schwinghamer and Raska lay out a detailed history of the design, construction, and repurposing of the pier’s built environment over time. As with most institutional histories, the narrative reveals that the Pier 21 project was undermined by inadequate funding, fraught politics, and unfortunate circumstances. Schwinghamer and Raska argue that from its earliest conception, Pier 21 was marked by the fact that big business—especially associated with the major transportation companies—was a more influential force in the determination of the institution’s placement and design than any other consideration, including the expert opinion of the government agency leadership that was tasked with managing immigration. It’s a compelling argument, and one that brings into focus the extent to which considerations other than the needs of the immigrants or the frontline immigration agents were prioritized by people holding political power. Economic arguments and political connections tended to set the terms, with sometimes disappointing outcomes for those who would actually use the constructed space. Finally, while...