Mister Safety Shoes Inc

Description

A story about passion and perseverance My father witnessed an event in August of 1950 which affected his life forever and ultimately played a large part in the opening of my parents' first safety footwear store in 1972. Working as a laborer in a construction site that day, Frank Colantonio saw an older, experienced man die due to a frayed extension cord which found its way into a puddle. You see, my father had noticed the extension cord close to the puddle earlier in the morning. Instead of saying something he decided to keep his mouth shut because who was he, a new immigrant from Italy, to tell an experienced older man how to go about his work? That horrible experience taught young Frank two things. First, workplace safety is all about prevention and training. Secondly, never sit on your hands when speaking up is the right thing to do. My father spent many years on the job site, working in disorganized, dangerous situations for little money during the 1950's. As immigration boomed so did Toronto, and as a result there were lots of jobs. The problem was that the money always didn't flow down to the workers like it should have. The beginning of Frank Colantonio's life in our great country was not that different from that of most immigrants in the 1950's. He served in the army at home, came here as a young man alone and with no money, earned enough to bring his young bride over to Canada, then started a family and bought a house. It was the path that "˜chose him' in the mid-1950's which made my dad's life journey a little different. He was recruited to be a grass roots organizer for the Carpenters' Union and from that point forward he supported his family by using his words, not his hands. My father was known for his integrity, independent thinking and his ability to lead and inspire. He was friendly, polite and respectful and he worked hard to learn the language so that he could be a contributing member of Canadian society. It was all these characteristics which took him on a professional adventure with the unions as they gained strength, as a case administrator for the Italian Immigrant Aid Society, and as a safety instructor with the Construction Safety Association. In the unions, Frank tried to make a real difference for people in difficult work situations (of which he was intimately familiar), while staying away from the fray of the politics. Eventually, he decided to go in another direction, working directly with immigrants coming to Canada. So he got a chance to help workers and their families in a different way, as part of the Italian Immigrant Aid Society. Later he created a course and trained workers on workplace safety. This fulfilling work involved much travel, many meetings and long days but he got great satisfaction from the work. Meanwhile, my mother Nella was working while raising a family and maintaining a home. Mom is a very strong and independent woman with tremendous courage of conviction and sense of accomplishment. It was her personal experience and work-life success that formed the other seed of what became Mister Safety Shoes. In the late 1960's Mom worked her way up at Steinberg's in Rexdale.

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