Another “Good Doctor”
Blog vol 5.52. Another “Good Doctor”
What I did not know when I started this blog 5 years ago, was that the title “the good doctor” was not original. There have been other good doctors (my guess there are bad ones too). One I recently discovered is Dr. Vincenzo Arcone, an Italian immigrant from Sicily who arrived in Hamilton with his family in the late 1920’s. Trained at Catania, Italy, he arrived in Canada to start a new life.
I picked up the book, The Good Doctor, by local writer and politician, Vince Agro, (he was related to Dr. Vincenzo Arcone, the “good doctor”) at a used book store because of the title, something familiar about that. What interesting times. The period of the 1920’s and 30’s was very turbulent in Italy, with Benito Mussolini seizing power in 1922 in the midst of pre-Second World War Europe. “Doc Vince” was threatened by the Fascists in Italy and had to flee, and ironically was followed by the same Fascist movement when he got to Hamilton.
He truly was a great doctor, taking care of his patients, helping to build his community at James South, and making a stand for Canada and his fellow Italians. There is plenty of intrigue in the book with the tensions between the new and old world and with the prejudice against Italians in the new homeland. Prejudice is not a new thing at all and it has never been good. In the case of Doc Vince, he was stridently against the triumphalism of Mussolini though not all his fellow Hamilton Italians were of the same mind. There was division in the local Italian community; it came with them from the homeland. Their non-Italian, Hamilton neighbours unfortunately did not make a distinction between the people who sympathized with Fascism and those who opposed it. Also unfortunately, the pro-Fascists were not necessarily very quiet about their views, with parades on James Street celebrating Mussolini’s victories.
When Italy joined the Axis in World War II, the Canadian authorities, in the name of national security, treated all Italian immigrants as Fascists. Read the book, it does end well eventually. These were real people, truly human, with all their foibles and follies. Very heroically, some of them even gave their lives to defend Canada, while still having strong ties to Mother Italy. Like life, not that simple.
This book also speaks to our present times. So many people come to Canada fleeing political turmoil even now. Let’s welcome them. Doc Vince was truly a Good Doctor and Uncle and Community leader for Hamilton. Really interesting local history, so many familiar names and places seen in a different light.
Truly glad to have read this book, especially as we celebrate Canada Day and all the good that Canada stands for. I am also glad to have a blog called “the good doctor” as I try to emulate the many good doctors who have gone before, like Doc Vince,
‘til next time,
The (hope to be as) good doctor
