In the years before the outbreak of the war, Max must have made many trips to Czernowitz. It would be in a cosmopolitan setting like Czernowitz, that Canada would have publicly advertised free land for immigrants to Canada. The very influential Minster of the Interior, Clifford Sifton, led the push to draw new immigrants to Canada (particularly the West). Massive numbers of pamphlets in several languages flooded Europe. Canadian exhibits were mounted at fairs, exhibitions, and public displays, while articles were inserted in foreign newspapers.

Here is an interesting quote Sifton made when describing what he looked for in the ideal settler, in response to criticism that his policies were ruining the British character of Canada:
“When I speak of quality I have in mind something that is quite different from what is in the mind of the average writer or speaker upon the question of immigration. I think that a stalwart peasant in a sheepskin coat, born on the soil, whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and a half-dozen children, is good quality.”

Jews, along with Italians, Blacks, Orientals and urban Englishmen were discouraged from being targeted for immigration, as he felt they would make bad farmers.

Max left Oprischeny in the beginning of April 1910. Contrary to many stories, he was in contact with his family in Bukovina while he was in Canada. He continued for some time to send money back to his family. He eventually stopped sending money to them, and the correspondences stopped and he lost all contact with his family. We can assume he stopped sending money when he got married and began to support a family, but that wasn’t for at least ten years, or after World War I. Also surprisingly, he left his home by horse and wagon, with the family accompanying him to the train. He took the train (certainly from Czernowitz) into Austria (Vienna), and from there into Germany, most likely departing from Hamburg which was the second busiest emigration port in Europe, or nearby Bremen, Germany which was the busiest port, and handled about 30% of all emigrant traffic. He did in fact leave Germany on a cattle boat. Immigration records from the time show this was not an urban legend, but was quite a common way for poor immigrants to arrive in North America from Europe. Personal records of immigrants tell different stories of cattle boats. Some say it was a boat that had brought cattle to Europe and was returning to Canada. Others say the passenger ships had cattle in steerage, and 3rd class passengers stayed in steerage with the cattle. Others say they were converted old cattle ships, now used for cheap transport. The Struma is the most famous example of a former cattle boat carrying Romanian immigrants. The boat travelled to Palestine, fleeing the Nazis, where it was sunk, killing all the refugees aboard.

During his entire journey from Bukovina to Canada, Max pretended to be Christian. One month after leaving Oprischeny, Max arrived in Halifax on May 10, 1910, when he was approximately fifteen years of age, according to his account. Immigrants were required to have at least $25 in cash when they landed in Halifax (according to records from 1911). That would equate to over two hundred of today's dollars.

Max was able to enter Canada with a false passport. The name on his false passport was Markus Braun (or Brun). From here we get our family name Brown, which is Braun in German. Surprisingly, his first name on the passport was real. The name Braun was a Jewish surname as well. While at the docks in Halifax, his one bag with all his belongings, his tefillin and his photographs, was stolen.

Max landed in Canada at an interesting time. Only a few days before his arrival, King Edward VII of England (and Canada), son of Queen Victoria, died. At the time, Canada was still a Dominion in the commonwealth, decades away from the autonomy and sovereignty granted in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. On May 10, a Tuesday, there was a national day of mourning with flags flying at half-mast. The mayor of Halifax read the proclamation of King George V. The federal government at the time was led by Sir Wilfred Laurier, who had been in power since 1896. All schools and government establishments and institutions were closed (We can only wonder what was happening at the immigration offices?).

Max immigrated during a period of one of the greatest demographic changes in history. In Canada, 1913 saw the largest ever number of new immigrants, when over 400,000 newcomers arrived on Canadian soil.

In fact, Ukrainians (the collective name applied to Slavs from regions of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires) were by far the largest group to immigrate to Canada from eastern and central Europe in these years. Between 1891, when the first wave of Ukrainian immigrants came to Canada, and the outbreak of the First World War, approximately 170,000 Ukrainians immigrated to Canada, attracted by the offer of free land.

For the most part, these Ukrainian newcomers were small farmers and labourers from Galicia and Bukovina (both of which were provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) most of whom were fleeing oppressive economic conditions. Most of these immigrants however were not Jews, and most continued west after landing in Halifax, settling the prairies in the brand new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The massive number of immigrants led to the Immigration Act of 1910. The very year Max arrived, the government was given the authority to exclude "immigrants belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada." The Act also strengthened the government's power to deport any individuals it thought necessary.

From Halifax, Max went to Montreal. He spent only a couple of weeks in Montreal before going to Toronto. He found work in a can making factory on King Street, making $6.25 a week. In 1910, the average production worker in Canada took home only $417 in annual wages. If Max worked 52 weeks a year, with no vacation/sick days off during the year, he would earn $325 a year, or only about ¾ or the average wage.

In Toronto, he first saw Rebecca Victoria (Becky) Tobias, when she was only six years old. If this recollection is correct, he would have been 19 at the time, and in Canada already for a few years.

Max says he never liked Toronto and left after a short time. He apparently went to northern Ontario to work in the logging industry. He may have worked there for as long as two years, because he arrived in Oakville in 1912. At the time he was the only Jew living there. He got a job working in the local basket making factory. He made return trips to Toronto, and attended the Romanian (Romanishe) Shul. Here Max met Becky’s Buba. She told Becky this is the man she had to marry. Although Becky had her eye on a red-headed boy (this would explain her lifetime fascination with red-headed dolls), the other younger sisters couldn’t marry until Becky was married off.

Although Becky lived in Toronto, and was born in Montreal, her family was a very prominent rabbinical family from the city of Iasi (Jassy) in Moldavia, Romania, the province to the south-east of Bukovina. Interestingly, there is another town named Opriseni, just a few kilometers east of Iasi.

Here is the end of the story of Max’s immigration, and the beginning of the story of the life of Max and Becky and their children in Oakville.