The “Bio” Diversity Seniors Project

Olive came from Jamaica, where she grew up with her mother. Times were tough, though, and her mother went to Canada, bringing Olive and her sister a few years later. The kids at school were mean, Olive says. She went into nursing, taking care of the elderly. She regrets most of all that she didn\'t get more education.

Virginia tells the story of how her parents managed to come to Canada illegally, and build a life here. The children were left behind in an orphanage, until they could pay to have them brought in under assumed names, pretending to be the children of someone else.

Sandra tells the story of how her family became refugees after the military coup in Chile in 1973. Canada took them in.

Monica Borg interviews her father, who came from Malta. A musician, he met his wife in a Toronto coffee shop, all because he played the guitar!

Sara Rodrigues and Alexandra Avidago discover why Adelino Rodrigues\'s family left Portugal in the 1960s for Germany, and why Adelino, as an adult, decided life in Canada would be better.

Heather Russell interviews her grandmother and hears how difficult it was to leave their life in Portugal to seek more opportunity for their children in Canada. Heather was a Grade 12 student at Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic High School who took part in a Back Lane Studios video program.

Bishop Marrocco students Michael O'Meara and Tyler Spiteri tell the remarkable story of friend William Wallace Odium, 84, who grew up on a poor dairy farm in Ireland, immigrated to Canada, taught himself computer programming and wrote an investment program that was praised by the Wall Street Journal.