Viikkosanomat, October 26, 1981

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70th Anniversary
Finnish Organization
Finnish immigrants came to
Canada in small numbers prior
to 1880 Since then many have
made Canada their home They
numbered 15497 by 1911
43885 by 1931 and 59346 by
1961 One of the major orga-nizatio- ns
active in the Finnish
community was the Finnish or-ganization
of Canada Faced
with the grim realities of life in a
new and sometimes hostile
land the in 'sisu' (courage
fortitude inner strength)
compelled him to assert his
mastery over his destiny Se-ven- ty
years is a long time in the
short recorded history of our
country In fact it is over 23 of
the time since Canadian Con-federation
We are extremely
proudofthe fact that the FOC
has vveathered the trials and
tribulations of the past seven
decades and at the same time
made a modest social and
cultural contribution to the
greater Canadian community
Our community is made up of
pioneers vvorkers farmers and
middle-clas- s people professio-nal- s
and small shop-keepe- rs
We people of Finnish origin
have an old saying: 'Maasta se
pienikin ponnistaa' — Iiterally
translated: 'Even the smallest
pushes forth from the soh" We
believe this applies to our
Ms
Kääntykää silloin ystävien
paasta taman voikean ajan
ylitse Tällaisina aikoina
me ymmärrämme
INTERCITY
venerable old organization
An idealistic attempt to
found a Utopian Socialist So-ciety
was made at what became
known as Sointula — Haven of
Harmony— on Malcolm Is-la- nd
eighty years ago in 1901
The Finnish vvorkers and in-tellect-uals
established the 'Ka-levan
Kansa' Colonization
company on the principles of
common ownershipof property
A fev years later another
attempt was made at Vebsters
Corners —calling themselves
'Sammon Takojat' loosely
translated— forgers of the
vvilderness Both attempts later
failed The Sointula effort did
establish Canada's first Finnish
language press 'Aina (Time)
and various books and pamph-let- s
Local societies Islands of
Finnish culture vere establish-ed
vvherever there vvere con-centratio- ns
of Finns Among
the earliest locales were To-ronto
Nanaimo BC Port
Arthur Ontario Copper Cliff
and Vancouver The cultural
center haali (hali) was always
built first where dances vvedd-ing- s
funerals dramas vvere
staged orchestras & choirs
rehearsed gymnastic clubs
performed— a Finnish motto
being 'A healthy mind in a
healthy body' The hali became
Menestystä ja onnea juhlivalle
kulttuurijärjestölle!
Kun Kaikki tuntuu tyhjältä
me välitämme
Kun oku rakkaistanne poistuu iäisyyteen menetystä
seuraa usein epätoivon tunne
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INTERCITY
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of the
of Canada
the major center of the Finnish
community social political as
well as cultural and intellectual
life
In 1901 the Finnish Society
of Toronto also circulated a
handwritten nevvspaper or
'nyrkki-leht- i' called Toivo (Ho-pe)
Already back in 1 92 1 there
vvere 50 functioning branches
vvhen there vvere only 21000
Finnish-Canadia- ns in Canada
In the years to come it reached
its' zenith vvith 80 local branc-hes
and 96 halls over a dozen
sports fields including tracks
and even three cemetaries The
only existing hali in BC is
Sampo Hall There are several
in Ontario Our nevvspaper Va-paus
(Liberty) novv Viikkosa-nomat
—(Weekly News) has
consistently defended the rights
of Canada's vvorking people
since it's inception in 1917 For
12 of those years Vapaus vvas a
a daily paper Also published
vvas the literary vveekly paper
'Liekki' (Flame) for over 30
years
Perhaps the greatest cultu-ral-linguis- tic
contribution vvas
the staging of over 3500 plays
1234 and 5 act and even full
length Opperettas in the Fin-nish
and English languages but
mainly in Finnish Over 100 of
these plays vvere vvritten by
Finnish-Canadia- ns Aku Päi-viö
one of our most prolific
authors vvrote 1 1 books and
even a full length opperetta
'Aika' (Time) Added to this
cultural activity vvas the orga-nization
of numerous sports
clubs vvhich varied from
gymnastic teams track and
field vvrestling soft-ba- ll to
lacrosse teams vvhich operated
from the halls and facilities
vvhich they provided
From its' inception the
FOC has taken the position
that they vvished to be a full part
of the Canadian vvorking-clas- s
movement This vvas clcarly ex-press- ed
back in 1905 by A W
Mquist vvhen he said: 'We
Finns did not have to be here
long before vve savv that the
English-speakin- g Canadians
vvere not too friendly to immi-grants
arriving in Canada They
asserted that vve had come to
seducc the employers cut down
vvages of the other vvorkers
This was not so We therefore
vvanted from the very beginning
to show that we wanted to be
part of the Canadian Socialist
movement Born in those stor-m- y
formative struggles our
organization and it's forerun-ner- s
left an indelible mark on
the Socialist Party of Canada
the Social-Democrat- ic party of
Canada the independent la-bour
party the one big union
and the workers party of Ca-nada
(Later the Communist
party) The FOC vvas a
significant part of these early
movements as the majority of
members in the Socialist party
in the 20's and 30's were Fin-nish
immigrants
In 1923 the organization
vvas fully constituted as an
SSjflPI S j&v#3!S$g f{#g f &
Menestystä ja onnea juhlivalle ' I
I kulttuurijärjestölle! I
I toivottaa
f OAWSON'S
I kemiallinen pesula
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D NOPEA PALVELU — PYSÄKÖINTI ASIAKKAILLE f
f D KORJAUKSIA O KOTIINKULJETUS !
i t
f "Siisti asu on arvokasta pääomaa" )
£ I
I 229 Camelot St Thunder Bay Ontario I
Tervehdimme juhlivaa CSJ:ta
314 Bay
independent cultural-educatio-n- al
organization Shedding their
political affiliations by no
means meant that they were or
ever vvould be indifferent to the
vvorking-clas- s movement The
record shows that through the
years the organization has
unstintingly supported popular
causes such as for unemploy-me- nt
insurance benefits old-ag- e
pensions and starting
pensions at 65 medicare plans
workmens compensation be-nefits
shorter work-day- s and
work-wee- ks higher vvages and
improved working conditions
against child-labo- ur and many
important social reforms
We can be proud that our
halls and many individual
members played an important
role in pioneering work of the
trade union movement of Ca-nada
in the woodworkers uni-o- ns
of both Eastern and
Western Canada The Miners
unions in Ontario and British
Columbia the carpenters union
particularly in Northern Onta-rio
Going back to the news-pap- er
'Aika' in Sointula with
its' demise there vvere no Fin-nish
language newspaper's in
Canda except in Nanaimo until
the appearance of 'Työkansa'
(Vorking Folk) about 1907
This vvas published by the Fin-nish
Publishing Co of Port Art-hur
Ontario It later failed until
'Vapaus' (Liberty) vvas founded
in 1917 published in Sudbury
Indeed Vapaus became so
successful that it published se-veral
periodicals and books
This led to the incorporation of
Vapaus Publishing Co Ltd in
1935 Atits'peakofpopularity
in the 1 930's it vvas published as
a daily for 12 years Also
published in 1935 vvas the
literary vveekly paper 'Liekki'
(Flame) for over 30 years
Many of the books published
vvere political others vvere pub-lished
for their literary merit or
informative value such as a
Finnish edition of Stephen
Leacock's Sunshine Sketches
and translations of statutes and
other documents In its heyday
Vapaus Publishing Company
did job-printi- ng operated a
juhlavuotenaan (1911-198- 1)
H I©
siraiiiif
St Thunder Bay Ontario
70-vuo- tis
onnittelumme
CSJ:lle!
iAASTOI
Suomalainen miesten
vaatetusliike
Puhelin 345-501- 2
294 Bay St
Thunder Bay Ontario
travel agency and money-exchan- ge
maintained a book
and stationery store in Sudbury
established branches in Port
Arthur Toronto Montreal and
elsewhere Vapaus along with
the FOC provided expertise
and assistance to various Fin-nish
co-operati- ves In 1947
Vapaus & Liekki were replaced
by 'Viikkosanomat' a weekly
publication which is still pub-lished
The paper has consis-tently
defended the rights of
Canada's working people since
its' founding in 1917
Throughout its' existence
the FOC encouraged and co-ordina- ted
the cultural activities
of its' locals It sponsored play-vvriti- ng
and drama compet-ition- s
sports and musical fes-tiva- ls
vvorks of history poetry
and other literature They vvere
also a vehicle for the expression
of a unique Finnish Canadian
culture and a training ground
for many talented people vvho
enriched Canada's multicultu-ra- l
society
When the World vvas threa-tene- d
vvith the rise of fascism in
the 1930's our organization
along with the vast majority of
Canadians rallied for the de-fenseofallth-atvve
heldnearand
dear to us Over 1 00 boys from
our organization and around the
halls volunteered into the ranks
of the Mackenzie-Papinea- u
Battalion to fight the genesis of
the fascist axis This struggle to
defend the elected democratic
government of Spain was an act
of heroism vvhich is only now
being recognized by the general