TORONTO – The Italian Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ontario (ICCO) to launch the first product of their special project to celebrate the achievements of the Italian Diaspora in Canada, a publication entitled “Identità”. 

As it happened, the event (in the pics below) spotlighted an interview featuring one of my sons, Flavio Volpe. It is published and available at www.italchambers.ca for those interested. Not everyone knew he is my son, so his talent stands untarnished by perceptions of nepotism. He represents an element in our society that recognizes the role cultural context plays in the success of individuals.

To his credit, Flavio referenced the roles family plays in developing concepts of responsibility and accountability, of courage to develop a course of action and to pursue goals with resolve without leaving others behind. He is a great communicator: identifies the message and uses the vocabulary that keeps the listener attentive and engaged.

He has a story to tell. It is quite a story for those who believe that we can contribute to nation-building, that we can take the Canadian collective to a place where it can compete with transnational, global enterprises and generate made-in-Canada brands that are unique and desirable for consumers everywhere. Presenters and interviewers alike agreed his story is one that goes beyond personal achievement and satisfaction.

It seems only yesterday, he was “just a kid” like one of his sons (Tazio) and one of his nephews (Matteo), who were present at the event. Today he is a recently-designated member of the Order of Canada, President of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufactures Association (APMA), a [global] sought-after “expert” on matters of trade in general and auto parts manufacturing in particular, member of manufacturing advisory groups to federal and state governments from Mexico to the USA to Canada to European States and… to Vietnam.

The APMA was also the first to manufacture and produce PPEs at the start of Covid, when the pandemic forced a shut-down of its plants early in 2020, at cost. Now, as the “face” of the APMA’ s feature “concept-car”, the Avro 2, he is travelling through Europe, the Graeter Middle East, Japan, India and the Western Hemisphere “selling” Canada’s ingenuity, know-how and governance.

Not bad for a young man born of a mother from an ancient Latin city, Veroli, and a father from a Samnite/Norman town in south-central Italy, Monteleone. Veroli hosts the oldest Latin inscriptions discovered anywhere. Its roots predate the founding of Rome by at least 500 years. Monteleone is reputed, by Germanic scholars to be the site of the earliest Norman “parliaments”, preceding those attributed to England by close to three hundred years.

Those are the reference points Flavio acknowledges as his “identità”, his DNA. His Mother and father would have been/are proud. He, on the other hand, is remarkably humble: “I have been fortunate to have been born in that stream, and to have made friends and associates who have allowed me to merge their talents into my personal experience”, he says, adding a good number of them from school and work are here today – and “peppering” their names in his response to questions.