The first Italians (predominantly northerners), attracted by the employment opportunities that the Canadian Pacific Railway offered, arrived in the Sudbury area in 1883. It is less commonly known that one of the first Italian settlers in Ontario was F.C. Capreol for whom a town on the outskirts of Sudbury was named. While the area known as Gatchell was, and to a degree still is, the Little Italy of Sudbury, the earliest settlements of Italians in the Sudbury area were to be found in Copper Cliff, in the section known as the “Crowsnest”.
In 1915, St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church was founded on Craig Street in Copper Cliff. Not only was the priest Italian but indeed the language of communication was Italian. Bishop David Joseph Scollard, the first bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, made a note in his journal to the effect that on January 1, 1914 at St. Elizabeth’s Church,
“… the first mass was celebrated by Rev. A. Ranaudo in the new Italian church basement [of] Copper Cliff. In the month of April Rev. A. Ranaudo was placed in Copper Cliff to look after Italians of that place, of Creighton, Sudbury, Coniston, and of all other places in the vicinity. The Bishop borrowed money in the bank to build a priest residence in Copper Cliff, which was erected at a cost of over $1,200.”
St. Elizabeth Church, built with volunteer labour, was abandoned in the early 1920’s. “The priest remained there for only one year and ran off with a woman, never to return.”
In 1921 the Methodist Mission located on Lombardy Street in Copper Cliff began offering its services to the Italian community. The Mission organized kindergarten classes and Bible school, offered knitting and crocheting instruction to young people, and planned children’s concerts and sleigh ride parties. Even though they were Roman Catholics, the Italian community encouraged its children to attend the Methodist Mission since the Catholic Church offered no children’s activities. Another particular of note is that St. Stanislaus on 78 Balsam Street in Copper Cliff was later to become the church which took care of the religious needs of the Italian community, while St. Elizabeth remained vacant until it was renovated and transformed into the Italian Club of Copper Cliff.
The bleakest period of the Italian-Canadian experience in Sudbury (but in all of Canada, for that matter) occurred during World War II. The sequence of events that lead to the unjust internment of Italian Canadians are recorded in the Sudbury Star’s June 10 to June 13 issues of 1940.
Following the Second World War, we have the foundation of Club Allegri in Coniston in 1945, an association involved in fundraising, organizing picnics and various social events. On May 18, 1947 the Società Caruso (named after the singer Enrico Caruso) was founded following a meeting held at the Ryan Community Club (291 Albinson Street, Sudbury).
In 1960 the Montessori Club of Sudbury (named after Italian educator Maria Montessori) was founded by a group of businessmen, who represent both the old and the new generation of immigrants (Mirco Buttazzoni, Fred Cecutti, Tony Derro, Joe Fabbro, Alfred Favretto, Fred Pagnutti and John Pianosi).
Meanwhile during the same time frame, Sudbury witnessed a true flourishing of social clubs which promoted a variety of recreational and cultural activities. The Associazione Nazionale Alpini-Gruppo di Sudbury was formed in 1970 by Adriano Toppazzini and Danilo Petovello. Other Italian-Canadian associations and social clubs in Sudbury include the Associazione Nazionale Marinai d’Italia, founded in 1973; the Associazione Nazionale “Cavalieri della patria”, founded in 1985; the Fogolar Furlan of Sudbury, founded in 1981 and the Calabria Club.
From The Italian Cultural Presence in Sudbury (Read in ‘Members Only’) and Up the Hill: The Italians in Copper Cliff
Read more in Copper Cliff Notes
