Backgrounder - Announcement of settlement funding to help newcomers in Edmonton

Three members were appointed to the newly established Italian-Canadian Advisory Committee for the Community Historical Recognition Program. Biographies of each of the members are below.

Palmacchio (Pal) Di Iulio
Toronto, Ontario

Pal Di Iulio is the President and CEO of Villa Charities, the largest Italian-Canadian organization in Canada serving thousands of seniors and developmentally challenged adults while also offering cultural activities.

Following graduation from the University of Toronto, Mr. Di Iulio’s career path included teaching, real estate sales, immigration counselling and business.

Mr. Di Iulio has been active in community service in the Greater Toronto Area for close to 40 years. He has served as a member of the Canadian Multiculturalism Council, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee, the Community Council of Rogers Omni TV and many more organizations.

Mr. Di Iulio was born in Molise, Italy. In 1956, at the age of six, he immigrated to Toronto, Canada with his parents.

Roberto Perin
Toronto, Ontario

Roberto Perin is Professor of History and Graduate Programme Director in the School of Public and International Affairs, Glendon College, York University. His research interests include immigration, Quebec in Canada, multiculturalism, and intellectual history in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Dr. Perin is the author or co-editor of several books including: Enemies Within: Italian and Other Internees in Canada and Abroad, (co-edited with Franca Iacovetta and Angelo Principe); Arrangiarsi: the Italian Immigration Experience in Canada (co-edited with F. Sturino); A Concise History of Christianity in Canada (co-edited with T. Murphy); Rome in Canada: The Vatican and Canadian Affairs in the Late Victorian Age; Ignace de Montréal, artisan d’une identité nationale.

Dr. Perin has been vice-president and member for several years of the French Language Advisory Committee of the Toronto Board of Education. He is currently the President of the Canadian Society of Italian Studies.

Joe Papa
Montreal, Quebec

Joe Papa is a Photographer/Journalist for Corriere Italiano, a major Italian newspaper in Montreal.

After completing high school, he joined the family business bearing his father’s first name, “Sabatino Furniture Ltd.”, a retail furniture business catering to the Italian community of Montreal. In 1990, Mr. Papa became a real estate agent while taking courses in photography before finally joining the Corriere Italiano.

Mr. Papa has served with different community organizations, including the Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce), and the Montreal Board of Trade. He has also been President of the Optimist Dante Club in Montreal. He is a long standing member of the Teleglobe Toastmasters Club.

He was born on December 8, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec. His maternal grandfather, Enrico Fuoco, immigrated to Canada in 1890 and helped build the Canadian railroad system. His father, Sabatino Papa, was a founding member of the Canadian-Italian Business and Professional Association in 1949.