The period after the First World War saw tremendous immigration to Western Canada from Eastern Europe. They had had enough of Czars, Kings, Emperors and Europe’s wars. They came first to Winnipeg, which at the time was the largest city between Toronto and Vancouver, and then on to the newly created provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. These immigrants were generally men who wanted to raise enough money so they could bring their families to Canada. They were also survivors who were used to visits by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - war, pestilence, famine and death; sometimes all four horsemen at once.

My grandfather, William Slobodian, had come to Canada in 1903 from the Austro Hungarian Empire where he had been conscripted into the Army as a shoemaker. He came with his father, a stone Mason who had a job to build the Paper Mill in Fort Frances Ontario. When the contract was finished, he moved to Winnipeg. By the time WW1 ended William was well established in Winnipeg's North End. He worked full time at the Ogilvie Flour Mill as a millwright and he owned a general store at the corner of Burrows and Parr. His time in the Austrian Army instilled a deep sense of duty, and he would often provide assistance when newcomers from Eastern Europe coped with occasional set backs, as they acclimatized to their new home. J.S. Woodsworth and the CCF were still 30 years away from having the state help unemployed individuals, and so in those days it was more common for neighbourhoods to look after their own.

For many years, William and his wife Olina were known to feed anyone who came to their door. Olina had a magnificent garden in which she grew every manner of vegetable. Everything went into a huge cauldron which always seemed to be simmering on the stove. William also ‘donated to the pot’ by providing meats from the store. My mother and her sisters remember coming home from school and being greeted in several languages by strangers enjoying warm soup. Later, when these new Canadian ‘transplants’ had become established, they would bring chocolates as a thank you to my grandmother. There were many bowls of soup over the years. And many thank you’s from grateful newcomers. And the young Slobodians in the house, with the endless appetite for sweets that children have, ate many, many chocolates.

William sold his business in 1929, quit his job at Ogilvie's and moved to Gimli. The first thing Olina did at her new home was plant a huge garden, to provide fresh vegetables for cooking and especially for soup. William built a successful clothing store in Gimli that eventually became known as the ‘Target Store’.

William and Olina and their four girls Annie, Sophie, Minnie and Jeannie settled into life in Gimli. Years later, my mother (Annie) and father (Ted) would take all us children to Winnipeg Beach to walk the Boardwalk and ride the rides. With my cousins, Beverley and Eddie, I would play the games of chance on the Boardwalk and would sometimes be lucky enough to win a box of Lowney’s Chocolates. These I proudly presented to mother. Though she would smile and thank us, she would always say “Oh no, not chocolates!”

 

Ken Kristjanson

December 2008