ODDS’N’SODS — Growing up in Perron

My mother and I came to the Perron gold mine in northwestern Quebec, from the Ukraine, in 1937. My father, Karol Kit, worked underground there and saved enough to pay our fare to Perron from the Old Country.

We landed in Halifax and took the train to Quebec City, where my father met us. From there, we took the train to Senneterre, and then a dirt road to Perron, about 25 miles by car.

My father had bought a log shack which he used as a steambath; he added a couple of rooms and this served as our first home in Canada. We had a large kitchen and two bedrooms. My mother, father and I slept in one room and the other bedroom was rented to two miners. In no time, my mother was preparing meals for the miners. Our home soon became a boarding house with at least 10 miners coming to eat.

There would be various nationalities — Ukrainian, Polish, Slovaks, French and Anglo Saxons from the east coast — and they all got along. The only problem was that neither the English nor the French could pronounce the Slavic names.

There was one Ukrainian named Andy Picuik — he became Andy Peaches. Another Ukrainian had a taxi business and was very stout. All the Slavic people called him “Bambula,” which means very stout in Ukrainian (of course they only called him this behind his back). The English and French, thinking “Bambula” was his real name, ended up calling him “Mister Bambula.” Another fond memory is going to the shaft house to meet my father as he started the day shift. When he finished, I would walk home with him. I remember Everett Ross, the mine captain, chasing me away when I got too close to the shaft.

In the late 1930s, mining towns were proud of their hockey teams. Perron had one of the best hockey teams in the area. We had “Red” Gilbert in goal, as well as the two brothers, Herb and Ozzie Carnegie. They were black and good hockey players. Herb went on to play with the Quebec Aces.

I have such fond memories of

Perron that I bought a cottage 12

miles from there, which I use every summer. It takes 10 hours to drive from Toronto. The cottage is on the same dirt road that we used in 1937 when we first drove from Senneterre to Perron.

— Jerry Slawko Kit is retired in Toronto.