Tailor Project photos, 1947. Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, fonds 70, file 5.
Stitches in time
Seven decades later, The Tailor Project’s legacy lives on in a brighter future for refugees
By Fiona Irvine-Goulet 20 |
Like threads woven through the fabric of history, 90-something Montrealer Irving Leibgott, originally from Poland, and 43-year-old Mohamad*, a Syrian refugee living near Toronto, are inexorably connected.
In 1948, Leibgott, an Auschwitz survivor, was one of the world’s millions of displaced persons unable to return to their homes in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Then 24, the Jewish tailor arrived in Canada under what was called the “Garment Workers Scheme,” an unprecedented federal government/Canadian Jewish Congress job initiative charged with bringing 2,500 displaced tailors and their families to the country to fill vacant positions.
Tailors were guaranteed one year of employment with pay and rights equal to other employees in Canadian garment factories. Displaced families—all who had suffered unspeakable hardship—were able to start new lives and become proud Canadians.
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