In an old, dusty building on the waterfront in Yarmouth, N.S., Patti Durkee and Joe Bishara are chatting like old friends do.
Black and white photographs line the walls and a display case shows memorabilia from a men’s clothing store from days gone by: wool pants, belt buckles and a metal cash register, among other items.
Durkee and Bishara have been working to put this exhibit together at the Harbourfront Museum for several years. It opened this spring.
The exhibit, which pays tribute to the first Jewish and Lebanese immigrants who moved to this town at the turn of the 20th century, aims to highlight the history and friendships between the two communities in Yarmouth, and the solidarity that continues today, despite the growing conflict in the Middle East.
“I think that recognition that we’ve travelled a similar path to where we’ve landed today is an unspoken part of that love and respect that exists,” said Bishara.
Immigration to Yarmouth
Yarmouth was once one of Canada’s largest ports, attracting immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, including Bishara’s great-grandparents, who were Christian Lebanese and came to Canada around the late 1800s.
“When they arrived, they saw Yarmouth as a place where they could make a new home, make a livelihood,” Bishara said.
They started off as pedlars selling goods door-to-door and eventually opened a grocery store.
Around the same time, Jews started arriving from Europe, living a parallel experience, selling goods and eventually establishing businesses.
Durkee’s grandfather, Samuel Lynch, opened a menswear store on Main Street, one of five in the town that were Jewish-owned.
“The people just kept arriving because they had family or connections here,” said Durkee.
Eventually, about 20 Lebanese and 35 Jewish families settled in Yarmouth.
This intersection of cultures migrating to Atlantic Canada from the Middle East wasn’t limited to Yarmouth, according to Wyatt Shibley, a Lebanese American who studied the history of the Lebanese community in Newfoundland at Memorial University in St. John’s.
He has documented similar stories of predominantly Lebanese people from Arab countries who worked as pedlars and set up businesses in that province around the same time.
While they were successful in establishing their businesses, Shibley says their experiences were “definitely characterized by a high degree of alienation.”
And from those experiences, they developed a sense of duty to help others who might find themselves in similar situations.
According to Shibley, members of the Lebanese community, both historic and contemporary, feel a lot of sympathy for other newcomers and ethnic groups in the province. He says there are “a lot of stories of people helping other newcomers, other new families, regardless of where they came from.”
Respect and support
In Yarmouth, with the Jewish community, the sentiment went both ways. Bishara recalls hearing stories of friendship between Jewish and Lebanese families, as they leaned on each other for support.
On display at the Harbourfront Museum are deeds that passed from Jewish families to Lebanese families and vice versa.
“There was always this recognition that we were [both] different,” said Bishara.
“We weren’t members of the dominant culture of the day. And I think there was an understanding that in the midst of that difference, we could respect and support one another.”
He remembers one incident in particular, when his grandfather, Wilfred Bishara, was running for town council and someone began leaving leaflets with hate messages on windshields around town.
“[They] basically espoused that a vote for the Bishara was a vote for the Lebanese mafia,” said Bishara. “And how in Lebanon they settle their differences with guns. In Canada we use the vote.”
Irving Pink, a Jewish lawyer, offered to help Bishara’s grandfather seek justice, pro bono.
“And the story that I inherited is that [Pink] said something to the effect of, ‘Wilfred, if they’re coming for you, they’ll come for us, too.’ “
Today’s conflict hits close to home
Fast forward to today, Durkee is watching the rise in incidents of antisemitism in Canada against the backdrop of the escalating war in the Middle East. She says her Lebanese friends have been checking in on her.
“I feel very safe here,” said Durkee. “I feel that I would have people who would take care of me if anything happened, and particularly the Lebanese people.”
And she knows it’s difficult for them, as well.
“You can talk to our Lebanese friends about the scenario and they’re just as upset as we are about what’s going on,” she said. “We just have that connection.”
Although she had the idea for an exhibit on immigrants to Yarmouth several years ago, Durkee says it feels more relevant now than ever and she hopes it can serve as an example to others.
“We wanted to show the world that there can be close relationships between other cultural groups,” she said.
Bishara says it serves as a counter narrative in an increasingly polarized world.
“There can be peaceful coexistence between cultures, between people with political differences,” he said. “But you need to be able to centre yourself and see the common humanity that we all share.”
The exhibit is open to the public in the summer, and will grow to include more Lebanese and Jewish families, as well as other groups, including Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African Nova Scotian and more.
