Helen De Ponte (née Dionyssiou) | Oral History Archive | HHFGCA

Helen De Ponte (née Dionyssiou)

Interviewer(s):

Theo Xenophontos

Project:

Film as Mediator: Cultivating a Cypriot Canadian Community Audiovisual Media Archive

INTERVIEW LOCATION:

Toronto, ON

LANGUAGE:

English

DATE:

August 29, 2023

Interview Summary:

Helen De Ponte was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1970. In 1974, she migrated to Canada with her parents following the Turkish invasion. Until the invasion forced her family to flee Cyprus, her father worked at the famous Ledra Palace Hotel.

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Date and Location

August 29, 2023

Toronto, ON

Interviewee(s)

Helen De Ponte (née Dionyssiou)

Interviewer(s)

Theo Xenophontos

Languages

English

Reference ID

FAMREF018

Project

Film as Mediator: Cultivating a Cypriot Canadian Community Audiovisual Media Archive

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Categories

Associational Life

Canadian Society

Culture and Tradition

Working Life

Education

Historical Events

Migration

Rites

Tags

Decades Referenced

1950s

1960s

1970s

1990s

2000s

2020s

Locations Referenced

Cyprus; Kyperounda (Limassol District); Ledra Palace; UN Buffer Zone; Nicosia; Nicosia International Airport; Varosha (Famagusta District); Famagusta; Kyrenia; Limassol; Canada; Toronto; Cypriot Community Centre (Throncliffe); Danforth; Scarborough; Lansdowne; Keswick; Azores; Portugal; Australia; The United Kingdom; Italy

Occupation(s)

Parents Occupation(s)

Her mother worked as a nanny in Cyprus. Her father worked as a bartender at Ledra Palace and also worked as a bartender in Canada.

Names Referenced

Anna Ellinas; Theodoros Xenophontos; Helen Power (née Xenophontos); Nitsa Benkovic (née Pingos); Stella Partheniou Grasso; Makarios III; Costa-Gavras

[00:00:18] Memories of Cyprus and family stories

[00:11:26] Migrating to Canada due to the 1974 invasion

[00:14:50] Family divided between Cyprus and Canada

[00:16:00] Growing up in Toronto and the need for adjustment

[00:18:08] Assimilation and maintaining Cypriot culture

[00:23:25] Differences between Cypriot and Greek language

[00:29:49] Relations between Cypriots and Turks

[00:36:25] Keeping in touch with the news in Cyprus

[00:40:02] Multiculturalism in Cyprus

[00:41:10] Cypriot communities in Canada; Cypriot festival

[00:41:52] Infusing Cypriot identity into her daughter's life

[00:45:50] Communication with her family back in Cyprus

[00:46:57] Taking pictures and videos of events

[00:47:52] How audiovisual media helps us remember the past

[00:50:10] Identifying as a Cypriot Canadian

[00:54:20] Hopes for a unified Cyprus

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