2017 – Me. Mario Spina

I have come a long way...

a long, long way and today I cannot help but be proud of what I have been able to accomplish. I was about three (3) when World War II ended. My hometown, Boiano had been bombarded. A few months after the end of the war, American soldiers were marching through our freed town. My mother was always repeating that when I saw the soldiers marching, I left the crowd and went amongst the American soldiers to march alongside them. The soldiers had given me some chocolate before my embarrassed mother came to retrieve me. At three (3) years old, I was already looking for a career dedicated to defending others.

My parents were fruit vendors, but after the war as fruit sales had decreased, and my father fell ill. My brother Giovanni, at about 13 or 14, had replaced him to help our mother went from town to town to sell fruit in order to make ends meet for the family.

My father who died at ninety two(92) had only completed three (3) years of elementary school education. My mother never had the opportunity to go to school, was self-taught and nevertheless, was the one whom was responsible for the written family correspondence and keeping up the family administration. She passed away at 101 and was still of good health & of sound mind.

My parents’ richness was, a home, and children, that is, six (6) male children. This did not impede them from teaching us: discipline, honesty, order, and respect.

In 1958, my maternal uncle, Pasquale Chiovitti, applied to Immigration Canada to sponsor my father and my two elder brothers, Giovanni and Michele, in order for them to join him in Montreal. As the head of the family was immigrating, all the members of the family had to go to the Canadian Embassy in Rome for an interview and medical exam. To this day, I still vividly remember being by the fireplace at home studying Latin when the written decision from the Canadian Embassy arrived which read that either the whole family would go to Canada or nobody was going to be allowed to go. My mother decided we all go and so we left in 1959, Boiano by ship, Vulcania from the Port of Naples on March 7th and arrived in Canada on March 16th, at Pier 21 in the Halifax Port. After travelling by train all night and all day, we reached Montreal at the now Central Station on March 17th, which is St-Patrick’s Day.

We lived in the new area of the Italian Community, Our Lady of Consolata Parish. I soon thereafter went to work at a women’s shoes manufactory. I was paid 60c per hour. It was a very warm, uncomfortable place. I had very painful blisters on my right hand because I had to remove nails from the shoes and then with hot pliers that were on a gas flame, glue the shoes. My salary was paid weekly in cash in the amount of approximately $24.00. This money, along with the money that my brothers made, was handed over to our mother who would use our earnings in order to pay the loan my parents had in Italy, to cover living expenses and also invest a few remaining dollars in the bank.

In August 1959, I received a big raise of 10c per hour. However, a few weeks later, I announced to the boss who was not happy that I was quitting my job to go to school. He tried to convince me otherwise. Even though he did not encourage me to pursue my studies, and despite my age, I chose school over money.

I was around 18 and was put in Secondary II with the 13 and 14 year old students at Cardinal Newman High School, Annex St-Dominic. I had language difficulties which was a little embarrassing to say the least. But kept thinking about my brothers who were working for more than 8 hours a day and told myself why should I not study for eight (8) hours a day? so plunged my head into my books day & night. The following year, I attended St-Pius X High School which had been newly constructed. Following my high school studies, I worked at my parish church, Our Lady of Consolata, as a full-time secretary for about 2 years and then worked as a clerk in the administration department at Eastern Chartered Company.

In 1966/1967, I was accepted at Loyola College and my will power to succeed was ablaze, so much so that I could have spent night & day at College. At that time, the baccalauréat ès arts. degree was a 4 year program and had completed it in 3 years, specializing in Political Science. I wrote on the ceiling of the library: Here where Mario Spina spent 1,000 days.

At one point, I had to choose what career to pursue and which University to attend. What to become: Teacher, Priest, Lawyer, Opera Singer, career in the Military, or Magician?, I had been told I was a born teacher. Too easy of a job for me! Priesthood? Law career? My father, when people would ask: “Is it true your son Mario wants to become a priest?” would reply, “If he chooses to become a priest, I will give him $2,000.00. But if he chooses to become a lawyer, I will give him less.” I liked opera, but not to the extent of making it a career, since there are so many professional opera singers which very few succeed. The military? After joining the American Army at the age of 3, my mother had made it clear that it was a categorical no I believe I could have succeeded, because I like order, discipline and hard work. A magician? It was too enjoyable for me and again, in this field, work is not abundant. I was looking for a challenge and I remembered the words of my maternal grandfather, Domenico, who while I was in high school in Italy used to call me l’avvocatuccio, the little lawyer.

I was accepted in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa and McGill University in 1969/1970, and decided to attend McGill University. However, because of difficulties I encountered given that neither English nor French were my mother tongue, I was not able to pursue this. In the summer of 1970, I went to study la langue de Molière for 4 weeks at the Alliance française in Paris, in order to perfect my French. In the summer of 1971, I pursued French studies at the Université de Montréal for six weeks. In 1970/1971, I was a part-time teacher at the elementary and high schools. Finally, in the autumn of 1971, I firmly decided to become a lawyer even if I was not necessarily going to practice law, and left for Florence, Italy. I chose Florence because when my father prior to my birth, in 1941-2 was assigned to join the war was stationed in Florence. I was born on January 10th, 1942, and was the 4th child in the family. My birth spared my father from having to go to war, since the law stipulated that a soldier with 4 children did not have to serve and so he was immediately sent home. For the first ten months of my stay in Florence, I rented a room in the home of an older Florentine lady. Then, I moved out and was lucky to find room and board with the Monks from I Servi di Maria at the Monastery of Santissima Annunziata. I had the privilege of being the only lay person to stay with them.

While in Florence, I spent Monday to Saturday attending classes and studying at the Faculty of Law library until 8:00 p.m., its closing time. I would then have a quick supper and rush off to choir practice. I belonged to 3 choirs that had 6 different rehearsal times, but this did not weigh down on me and it allowed me to sing at the beautiful Duomo in Florence. My Saturday and Sunday practices were at the SS Anunziata, where I met my girlfriend, Marina Martinelli, a Florentine, who later in 1975 became my wife.

When I was studying in Florence, the Law Degree was a 4 year program that consisted of courses, written and oral exams and submitting a thesis which you had to defend. Once again, I completed all that in 3 years. Before leaving Florence, I wrote to Professor Jean-Louis Baudouin and asked him whether I could be admitted at the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal. He replied that according to the Vice-Dean there was no problem. I came back to Montreal in mid January, 1975, and hurriedly went to the Université de Montréal to see the Vice-Dean. To my great disappointment, I was told that I could only begin my studies in September.

During the summer of 1976, I went to work in Ville St-Laurent for a small company that was in the business of bleaching jeans. My shift was from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and I was paid approximately $150.00 weekly. That summer I also had the opportunity to work at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. My wife, who had joined me in Canada and was a piano teacher, gave private piano lessons. Together, we were able to make ends meet. During the time I was studying at the Université de Montréal, discussions around the referendum were happening and I could feel I was not in the right place. The only person who made me feel at ease was Professor Baudouin, former Judge at the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Finally, on October 7th, 1982, I was sworn in and became a member of the Barreau du Québec. Of all the options at my disposal, I ended up opting to practice law which, although a noble profession, I had not originally intended on practicing as that it was not my first choice. I joined the Law Office of Mtre Manuel Feldmann, who passed away in 1998, and then I joined the Law Office of Frankel & Frankel and left in 2020.

Today, I believe I am the eldest Italian jurist in Montreal, maybe in all of Quebec, and I am happy to be carrying this honor.

Throughout my life, I participated in many church activities. The Church was like my second home. I also enjoyed leisure activities and in the 1960’s I spent time playing soccer. I was considered the fastest soccer player and some spectators would poke fun at me saying: “Look, Spina is ahead of the ball!” They had nicknamed me the, arrow. I was a soccer player and an acrobat, and people always wished to see me enter onto the soccer field with a summersault. Always in the 60’s, I competed in the 20 km speed walk in Montreal and Gatineau, and another 50km competition in Ville d’Anjou. In 1997, I ran the Montreal Marathon of 42.2 km. However, as talented as I may be in sports, I lack the coordination of a dancer and, to my wife’s great dismay, the only dance I know is the Russian dance.

I was always involved in politics and twice I was a candidate in Municipal and Provincial elections, but unfortunately I did not succeed. Politics has always been in the back of my mind and at 71 years old, aspiring to be a Liberal candidate at the Federal level. I met an M.P. to discuss the matter. Following this, a few things happened that caused me to rethink the matter and guided me to change my mind and not submit my application to become a candidate.

My wife and I have been blessed with 3 children whom I am very proud of. Gabriele, was born in 1976. He attended McGill University obtaining a degree in Civil and Common Law. Prior to this, he had pursued his love for music by obtaining a Diplôme d’études collégiales from Marianopolis College and a Diploma in Music from the Académie de Musique du Québec. Advocate since 2002, practicing before the Immigration and Refugee Board for the Federal Government in Immigration law representing the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Minister of Public Security and Emergency Preparedness

Sabrina, our second child, was born in 1977. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Italian Studies at McGill University. Sabrina then pursued her interest in Human Resources and obtained a certificate in HR Management from McGill University. She worked for 14 years in various Human Resources positions mainly in the Pharmaceutical industry. Lately, she has aspired to develop further is currently a Compliance Associate at Takeda Canada Inc., is also pursuing a certification in Data Privacy.

We really wanted a third child and finally Claudia came along in 1988. She graduated from McGill University with a double major Political Science and History, as well as a minor in Italian Studies. At the same time, Claudia obtained a Diploma in Piano and Music Theory at the Académie de Musique du Québec. In 2011, Claudia attended the University of Toronto and in 2012 obtained her Teaching Degree. She currently works for the Toronto Catholic District School Board and teaches extended French and social studies in Fr