Newspaper, L'Eco italo-canadese, April 1, 1939

The newspaper L'Eco italo-canadese was co-founded in 1936 by Italian Canadian brothers Bruno and Attilio Girardi to service the Italian Canadian community in Vancouver, BC. In June of 1938, the paper was handed over to Alberto Boccini, who took on the role of publishing the Italian language pro-fascist paper. Boccini had acted as an assistant to Girardi since the paper first launched in the fall of 1936. The money needed to launch L’Eco was raised by the Italian Vice-Consul in Vancouver, Pietro Colbertaldo, the Italian clergy and the community’s various social organizations. The paper was distributed throughout western Canada. The weekly paper published news on local fascist activities, such as those organized by the fascist club Fascio Giulio Giordani, as well as articles describing Italy’s supremacy and fascist propaganda prepared by the Partito Nazionale Fascista in Rome. The paper served the different segments of Vancouver’s Italian Canadian community – veterans of World War I, the Roman Catholic Church and the Order Sons of Italy. Not surprisingly, anti-fascist activities in Vancouver and the British Columbia interior did not receive coverage in the pages of L’Eco. L’Eco’s coverage of Canadian news was minimal, except during elections where it tended to support the Liberal Party. The last issue of L’Eco was published on June 8, 1940. Two days later Alberto Boccini was arrested and interned. Bruno and Attilio Girardi were also interned.