Nick Meros

Mr. Nick Meros of Summerside, Prince Edward Island agreed to an interview in July 1997. In 1980 he had come to PEI from Athens with his Canadian wife, because they wanted to be with her mother who lived there, and because he was looking for a less stress-filled life. At the time of the interview Mr. Meros’ children were a girl of nine and a boy of eleven. Nick Meros had a Masters Degree in Graphic Arts from Greece, and had worked in advertising in Athens, but he had found that his six and sometimes seven-day workweeks there were both exhausting and professionally unfulfilling.

On Prince Edward Island he happily occupied a number of jobs, and enjoyed moving from one position to another. Since his English was already very good when he came to Canada, he faced none of those usual language-related barriers. On PEI he did some advertising work, some theatre work, helped with a hotel in Stanley Bridge, and for six years produced computer graphics for the Land Registry Service of the Island. Over and over again in the interview he stressed how happy he was to be able to spend leisure time with his wife and children.

Nick Meros looked back at Greece with great fondness because of close family ties there, and because of the country’s strong historical and cultural past. He told the author that his Greek family could trace its roots back eleven generations to an ancestor who had emigrated from Hungary to Greece. By moving to Canada Nick was the first to break the chain. At one time his father had been Under Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the Greek government, and his uncle was a noted Greek cinematographer. While acknowledging all those ties, he had no plans to live there again. His parents had visited the family on PEI, and at the time of the interview his intentions for his children included a future summer in Greece with relatives. He was almost lyrical in his praise of PEI, calling it “…a portrait place, akin to the beautiful Athenian suburbs in the 1950s and 60s. PEI is a place for children. I have a sense of personal freedom, and I enjoy living in a country where there are four distinct seasons.”

Nick Meros wanted his children to know their Greek relations and to visit Greece, but he did not promote Greek traditions at home because, he said, “I do not want to confuse young children by bringing in Greek culture. I am a Greek Canadian or an ‘international person’ but they are Canadian.” His children did not speak Greek and all family conversations were in English. Nick made it very clear that, as proud as he was of his Greek family and background, his world and that of his family was fixed firmly on Prince Edward Island. Although he had one or two Greek friends, he said: “I do not want to go looking for things and people who are Greek.” Indeed, Mr. Meros’ interview came about not through Greek contacts, but with the help of the Newcomers’ Association of Prince Edward Island.