Immigration Challenges

[Text: A survivor from Dubechne, Ukraine, David discusses his decision to come to Canada and the challenges that Jewish emigrants faced after the Second World War.] 

David Shafran: I'd liked Canada. I tell you at that time, you know, I was a little bit more educated already. I started to read. I liked Canada because Canada, to me at that time, and same today, I think is the greatest democracy in the world. Although it didn’t have the best record during the war towards Jewish immigrants, which I didn’t know, we were not aware at that time. But I liked it because it’s not so much populated and it’s a ... I read about the climate on the West Coast... 

Interviewer: Did you have any family? Any personal connections?  

David Shafran: Yeah, I had people who lived here already. They left as tailors, and I knew them in Germany, and I kept in contact with them. And I tried to apply to go to the United States. I could have gone to Argentina. It was a small quota to go to Argentina. We applied to go anywhere, you know, because nobody really wanted us. Let’s not kid ourselves. No country wanted us. Even the United States had a very narrow quota to come in.