See VS editorials in English.

Bruno Tenhunen and Paul Siren promoted the position of media workers and the media
Read Vapaa Sana profiles of two Finnish Canadians who influenced the conditions of Canadian media. Bruno Tenhunen (1898-1986) was instrumental in creating an organization for the ethnic media. Paul Siren (1917-2009) was one of the three Finnish-Canadian recipients of the Order of Canada medal. Read about his lifelong work for workers' rights.

The Anderson farm in Copper Cliff (Sudbury) reminds us of the agrarian tradition among Finnish Canadians.
Read this VS feature and meet the Musem Curator Jim Fortin.

Also love brought Finns to Canada, not only economic prospects

Traditional immigration from Finland to Canada was of economic nature, though we must not forget those who came here as refugees after the 1918 Finnish civil war. But love and marriage were a factor as well. In this feature we meet Katri West. Read

New interest in Marshal Mannerheim

The renowned Finnish military leader has started appearing in works of fiction. And a new Canadian book about the Journey to Asia by Mannerheim asa factfinding assignment for Imperial Russia. More.

Inequality kills

Juha Mikkonen keeps a smile on his face, despite talking about gloomy facts associated our Canadian society.
Even though Canada has a well functioning health care system, Mikkonen says that social inequalities contribute to the quality of health among different income groups.
And health is not only about health services. Where you come from and how much you earn also matter, he says.
Read more about Mikkonen and his pamphlet Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, co-authored with Dennis Rapahel. Johannes Niemeläinen of Vapaa Sana wrote the story. Read here.

 

Serving in a stately home in the 50s and 60s

Finnish born Kirsti Laukkanen served in an affluent Toronto family and took care of the family's son Peter. More here and the recollections by her colleague Airi Stark about work in a Rosedale family.Here.

 

The Symbol of Toronto is of Finnish design

Finnish architect Tuula Revell in conversation with the President of Canadian Friends of Finland (Toronto) Bill Holt. The occasion was the City Hall Exhibition marking the centenary of Revell and the 45th anniversary of the City Hall. Read in Finnish.

 

"Kalevala-Kallie"

Kallie George is one of the editors at the Vancouver based publishing house Simply Red Books. Her background is Finnish, her grandmother came from Finland. Kallie George is one of the key persons behind the 2009 publication in English of Kalevala for children. The translation was by Kaarina Brooks, a wellknown literary person on the Finnish scene in Toronto. This item is in Finnish only.

 

You can now sing OCanada also in Finnish

Vapaa Sana published in its issue 19/10 the lyrics of the Canadian National Anthem also in Finnish. The translation was by professor i Börje Vähämäki sing here.

 

 

The focus of research of the Finnish Canadians should turn to the right wing movements

Finnish Canadian politology researcher Lennard Sillanpää says focus in the work on Finnish Canadian history should shift to the political right. The history of the Finnish left here has been amply covered, while very few projects have touched upon the political right wing here. Sillanpää took up the theme when reviewing The Trailblazers, a book about the Finnish National Association (Kansallisseura) of Port Arthur, by Kaarina Brooks and Rail Garth. The review was published in Vapaa Sana, issue 35/10. Dr Sillanpää is seen here, in a photo taken during the 2010 Finn Grand Fest in Sault Ste Marie, with MP Megan Leslie (of Finnish extraction, NDP, Halifax) and MP Tony Martin (NDP, Sault Ste Marie). Dr Sillanpää, of Orleans, Ontario, is an Adjunct Professor in political science at Laurentian University of Sudbury.

Vapaa Sana com has openeda page, with links to related VS stories.

 

The Canadian Friends of Finland Education Foundation kept its pledge

A donation of half a million Candian dollars was handed over to the University of Toronto in February 2010. The CFFE had made its pledge in May 2006. Read more.

 

Canadian Friends of Finland function in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. In a September 2010 event in Ottawa seen here professor Varpu Lindström and the Chairman of the Ottawa CFF Dorothy Ahlgren.

 

Friends at York University honoured Varpu Lindström

At an event on June 15, 2010, academic and administrative colleagues of professor Varpu Lindström at York University expressed their appreciation of the work for them and for York by Varpu Lindström. Read here.

 

This high tech expert is an ambassador of Finnish values..

Riku Seppälä, 25, still an industrial engineering and management student at the Helsinki University of Technology, but already a high tech entrepreneur in Canada. - A company is being launched with a couple of friends, he explained. He also talks warmly about the Finnish educational system, worlds apart from some policies prevailing here in North America. Vapaa Sana talked with Riku Seppälä at a CFF event in Montreal. See the feature.

Finnophile nights meet the demand

High hopes at the relaunch of the Finnophile pub events in Toronto in 2009. These events have been seen as the missing link possibly able to bring the connection between the generations of emigration.

A TV channel started in Finland with private Canadian funding
Finnish media interested in finding the essence of the "family values" of the new channel. Launched in early 2010.

 

The Megan Leslie phenomenon

The input in Ottawa by MP Megan Leslie (NDP, Halifax) got wider acclaim in 2009 when she was elected “rookie of the year” by other MPs, in a magazine poll. Being of Finnish-Canadian extraction she has been active in promoting the Finnish heritage in the parliamentary circles. One of her interests is the Finnish “sauna tradition”. Read this Vapaa Sana feature about a sauna party hosted by Ambassador Risto Piipponen and his wife Marjatta in December 2009. Among the invitees, including Speaker of Parliament Peter Milliken, Megan Leslie was the sauna expert.

Read also this Vapaa Sana feature published in issue 03/09. - Most Canadians have social democratic values even though they do not know it, says Megan Leslie. Many of the goals of the Canadian New Democrats have been attained long ago in Finland, and part of the political consensus there.

 

Even if they were only a nuisance

The debate on whether the security surveillance papers of former NDP leader Tommy Douglas should be published or not is not one of indifference to the Finnish scene in Canada. The security wing of RCMP used to hire Canadians of Finnish extraction to keep an eye their fellow Canadians of Finnish extraction. Newly arrived Finnish immigrants of the immediate post-war era were not unwilling to participate. After all, they had been fighting the communists in Europe, why not here. And the fact that Canada had been on the other side in the war did not matter. (It was Canada who changed sides, not the Finnish immigrant..) Full publicity to the records of Tommy Douglas would open the door to full publicity to the whole collection of files. That would put the former informants in to an embarrassing situation. Vapaa Sana does not endorse full publicity to the old security documents, however wrong and against democratic principles the actions at the time were. Read the editorial.

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A selection of recent features from the FCR appears on this English front page of www.vapaasana.com. Earlier features can be seen on the English archive page.

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