We recently traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia and visited Pier 21 – Canada”s Immigration Museum.
Between 1928 and 1971 1.5 million immigrants – war brides, displaced people, evacuee children and Canadian military personnel who passed through Pier 21 , among them my father in law on his first visit to Canada in the early 50’s.
For those that consider visiting pier 21, I would highly suggest the guided tour. It is very informative and it takes you through all the stages that the immigrants to Canada would have gone through. Don’t forget to take in the movie – it is very well done and it portrays all the different immigrant groups that came through this immigration port. If You have ancestors or family members that came to Canada via Pier 21 you might want to do some research at the Scotiabank Research Centre. Additional information on topics of migration, nautical history, waves of immigration to Canada, ethnic groups and genealogy can be found. Now a thriving and growing collection, the centre first opened with a handful of donated books and a few stories, artifacts and pictures. Since 1999 they have been collecting books, immigration and WWII stories, photographs, immigration-related documentation, ship memorabilia and oral history interviews.
The Passport (which needs to be stamped at different stations in the museum) is a great activity for the kids. Just make sure that they take part in the tour and watch the movie first. That way they will not just be focused on getting the stamps.
To me the giftshop was somewhat disappointing. I was hoping to find some genealogy charts, genealogy books, and family history kits for kids to encourage the next generation to find out about their history and their ancestors. It was just another Maritime gift shop – which included books about Anne of Green Gables and Anne memorabilia (which is really great – I love the books – but here on Prince Edward Island we certainly get enough of that already
But all in all Pier 21 was well worth the visit.
I did contact Pier 21 regarding the gift shop. This is the message I received back from them, which made a lot of sense to me.
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Good Morning Ms. Niewhof,
Your message regarding your visit to Pier 21 has been forwarded to me. As Manager of the Pier 21 Museum Gift Shop I am sorry you were disappointed in what you found here. Our Gift Shop has two mandates – one is to represent products from the many countries who have contributed immigrants to Canada. As such, at any given time we have products from up to 40 countries from around the world. Though we have limited space, we also have a varied book selection which includes a series called People of the Maritimes, which includes approximately 10 different books outlining the immigrant experience of people from countries including the UK, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, etc. We also carry a number of books specific to searching genealogy from a variety of countries (example: Searching your Scottish roots). We stock such books as they are brought to our attention – they are not always easy to find. We carry three full book shelves of assorted books related to the topic of Canadian immigration and the immigrant experience. We also carry approximately 15 products which are specifically “branded” with the Pier 21 logo, as requested by our museum visitors.
Our second mandate is to raise funds for the continued operation and growth of the Pier 21 Museum. As such, we do carry a wide variety of “souvenir” products which are requested by our customers – both museum guests and tourists, including the 200,000 cruise passengers who land on our doorstep each year.
We continue to strive to improve our product selection, and appreciate you taking the time to let us know how you feel we could improve our Gift Shop.
Thank you for your interest,
Mary E. Stewart
Preserve Your Family History 