As the number of first- and second-generation Maltese in Toronto dwindles, the community there is chronicling their story for posterity in a museum that has just opened its doors to the public.

Museum curator Richard Cumbo. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

The museum, in the St Paul the Apostle Church complex on Toronto’s Dundas Street West already exhibits fossils and old artefacts, such as Roman coins donated by Maltese migrants. There are also several photos, documents and recordings of the first Maltese migrants in Canada.

Its curator, Richard Cumbo, is in Malta on one of his frequent visits.

“I’ve been here over 30 times, and every time I leave, a part of me stays here. There will come a day when there is nothing left of me to go back,” the 69-year-old told the Times of Malta.

Mr Cumbo’s family emigrated from Sliema when he was aged just three, and he only visited the island for the first time back in 1968. For years, he had been dreaming of the ideal country to live in, and when he stepped foot on the island, it ticked all the right boxes.

He immediately fell in love with the island and came back at every opportunity.

Mr Cumbo actually planned on returning for good in 1969, but although he made the trip, the uncle he was meant to stay with passed away suddenly, so he had to return to Toronto.

Nowadays, it is impossible for him to move to Malta since all his children and grandchildren live in Canada.

Following his first trip, in 1971 he started volunteering with the Maltese Canadian Society of Toronto, which was founded in 1922 and is the oldest active Maltese club on the North American continent.

“If it weren’t for that club, there would not have been a St Paul the Apostle Church complex. The club members were so committed that during World War II, under the Malta relief fund, the society collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Maltese in Malta.”

Maltese migrants departing for Toronto from Valletta in August, 1952.

Fr Raymond Falzon OFM, who was part of the Franciscan community that took care of the St Paul the Apostle parish, started collecting artefacts from migrants in the late 1980s. However, the museum was only opened to the public by Fr Manuel Parnis this year.

Asked about the significance of the Maltese community in the neighbourhood known as the Junction in west Toronto, Mr Cumbo explained that the place once hosted between 6,000 to 8,000 first-and second-generation Maltese.

One of the many old photos in the museum showing early Maltese migrants living in the Junction neighbourhood. Seen here is the Micallef family around 1923.

At that point in time, it was the highest concentration of Maltese in one place outside of Malta. But the number has now decreased to a couple of thousand.

Over the years, the area has also hosted several bakeries, but nowadays there is only one Maltese bakery.

Meanwhile, the number of clubs there has decreased from around nine to just two: the Maltese Canadian Society of Toronto and the Melita Soccer Club.

A third organisation – the Malta Band Club – has moved out of the area.

However, there is still a community keen on Maltese culture in the Junction, and a group of around a dozen people are currently learning the Maltese language under the tutorship of Carmen Galea. Ms Galea believes that more than a lack of enthusiasm, the decrease in the number of people who help to organise cultural activities is a result of the busy lives that people lead nowadays.

Log on to www.saint-paul-maltese.com for more information.

The float created by the Maltese-Canadian Society of Toronto at Toronto’s centennial celebration in 1934. The float won first prize.

The old St Paul’s facade, built in 1930. The church has been an integral part of the Maltese-Canadian community in west Toronto.

The St Paul the Apostle Church complex nowadays.

There are also fossils and historic and religious artefacts.