Tales from and about my Grandparents

Our paternal grandfather (John Victor McGuigan) came to Canada from Northern Ireland in 1914, six months after his father (John Campbell) had arrived to set up a home and business for them in Lindsay, Ontario. My paternal grandmother told us the story of how Grandpa McGuigan, usually called Jack, at 14 was the eldest son, and he helped his mother Margaret bring the rest of the family to Canada. Eventually the family moved to East Toronto. I always thought our great-grandfather was a carpenter, but years later our Dad said he wasn’t, so we don’t know what he did. There were ultimately 12 children in the family, although one daughter named Kathleen died in a fire. 

Our great-grandparents’ second youngest child was Helen, and she had cerebral palsy. She was born in Canada, and my great-grandmother always believed she was damaged because the doctor used forceps. Helen was in a wheel chair, and couldn’t speak legibly, although she made strange, loud sounds. Sometimes one of her brothers or in-laws would come in and talk with her, and they made her laugh. Lynn and I just looked at her unable to think of anything to say. Years later our mother told us that she had found out from her work in the social services that Helen could have learned a lot more, and been more independent, but that service was not available in those times. She was loved in that family, though.

Once a year during the Christmas holiday,  our Mom and Dad took me and my sister Lynn to visit the great-grandparents. It was deep in East Toronto, one of the very narrow, row houses. It was a 3-story brown brick house. We lived in a suburban house in Scarborough, where everything was new. This house was a dark and old with long, narrow, squeaky hallways and a small crowded living room, all covered with heavy green rugs and big furniture. I always felt strange there. I didn’t know how I should act. I only understood later how lucky we were to actually meet and remember our great-grandparents.

My grandfather broke with his family in the 1930’s, during the depression. He left the church and with my grandmother joined the CCF (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation), the forerunner to the NDP. The only story he ever told us was about the CCF. He told us that because he had a very loud voice, he used to call people together on crowded streets. Once everyone was standing around ready to listen, a young woman would stand up and give the speech. I always found this hysterical, as he never seemed to be upset about not giving the speech. He was intensely loyal to the CCF, and he and my grandmother remained NDP supporters for the rest of their lives. My grandmother had a cookie recipe she gave to my mother, called Grandma’s CCF cookies.

When I was 11, my parents worked very hard with the NDP to elect Stephen Lewis in Scarborough In his first run for office.  They held a coffee meeting in their living room to introduce Lewis to some of our neighbours. It was the first time I ever babysat for anyone, and it was for neighbours across the road. It allowed them to attend this meeting. I also had, for me, the really thrilling opportunity to sit on the back of a convertible to turn pages for my father as he played his trombone in a street parade. A woman came out saying he was waking up her baby, and he shouted out that his children fell asleep to that every night.

My father interviewed his father Jack once, and I listened to the tape. Jack joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1918 at the end of World War 1. In 1918 he was sent across the country and camped out as they travelled to the Maritimes to ship out. He said the first night there were a lot of men who deserted. He made it to England but never saw action.

He said our father had been lucky, because Jack felt he himself had been hurt by his service. He didn’t use that word, but it seemed like he thought he had been twisted or warped by the war. It was the only time I heard anything about the war from him, and that was through my father.

It was our Grandma McGuigan who told Lynn and I about the two world wars, while we were playing cards up at their cottage, and I remember her sounding very proud when she told us ”We won.” I didn’t know much as a child about the horrendous wars, but I have learned a lot since then. Our lives have been dominated by the world that emerged from World War 2. Growing up in the 50s I think we had a false sense of security in the suburbs of Toronto. That sense of security is gone now, and of course the actual security never did exist. But we were protected. In the last few decades that we have slowly moved on to a new era, and we are now living in “interesting times”.