Interview with Norman Mascioli

Norman Frank Mascioli was born in Montreal in 1924, and is the son of internee, Antonio (Tony) Mascioli, and Ninetta Mascioli. Both of his parents were from Cocullo, Italy, and his father came to the Timmins area to work in the mines around the time of World War I. Tony was later in business with his brother, Leopoldo (Leo) Mascioli, a successful Timmins businessman who was also interned as an enemy alien. During this interview Norman explains that his father was interned twice: first for a period of nine months, before being released after a trial and was then arrested and interned again a few months later for a short period of time. Norman believes he was only home for a few weeks before unexpectedly being taken away again, and the second internment was more difficult on his mother than his first absence. Norman tried to visit his father a few times during his internment – he was able to see him through the bars of his jail cell in Timmins, but unable to visit with him in Toronto. Norman’s mother, however, did drive to Petawawa on a monthly basis to visit her husband while Norman was away at school. He explains that he did not face any discrimination for being Italian while growing up in Timmins, but that there was an incident during the war period involving riots and violence against local Italian Canadians.