Vapaa Sana

Uutena Torontossa ?
Mitä kaupungin perinteinen suomalaiskenttä voi tarjota tulokkaalle? Kaupungin "vanhat suomalaiset" varmasti yllättävät nykysuomalaisen, mutta kokemus voi olla kiinnostavakin.

Mikä ihmeen Vapaa Sana?

Vapaa Sana on riippumaton viikkosanomalehti, joka ilmestyy kerran viikossa Torontossa. Lehden nimi periytyy 1930-luvulta.

Nimi johtaa joskus lehteä tuntemattoman pitämään Vapaata Sanaa ns hengellisenä lehtenä. Sitä se ei kuitenkaan ole.

Näillä sivuilla tarjoamme poimintoja sisällöstä, emme koko aineistoa. Vapaa Sana on tilauspohjainen lehti. Vuosikerta maksaa Kanadassa 100 dollaria ja GST-veron, nopeammin kirjepostina 150 dollaria.Tilaukset numeroon 1(416) 321 0808, klo 10-13 Toronton aikaa arkisin.

Yhtiömme

Kustannusyhtiö Vapaa Sana Press julkaisee viikkosanomalehtiä Vapaa Sana (Toronto) ja Canadan Sanomat (Thunder Bay). Yhtiön internetsivustot ovat www.vapaasana.com, www.canadansanomat.com ja www.finnishcanadian.com.

Yhtiön omistajapohja käsittää toistakymmentätuhatta kanadansuomalaista.

Kyselyjen johdosta ilmoitamme, että internetosoite vapaasana.net ei liity tämän kustannusyhtiön toimintaan.

Historiamme

Kesällä 2008 ilmestyi Lauri Toiviasen kirja Vapaan Sanan vaiheista. Tämän linkin takana voitte lukea myös VS:n 75-vuotisjuhlanumeron reportaaseja ja haastatteluja.

A long last a Finnish Canadian MP again

Megan Leslie is the first Finnish Canadian Member of Parliament in Ottawa since the time Judy Erola was in Parliament. Erola also served as cabinet minister during Trudeau. Vapaa Sana reached Megan Leslie on the morning after the Election Night.

The following is an item from Vapaa Sana issue 42/08.

- It is fairly early on the first morning after the Election Night and somewhat surprisingly Vapaa Sana is able to reach the newley elected MP Megan Leslie in her campaign office in Halifax. -Yes, she is here says an aide. When Ms Leslie picks up the phone she starts with the collogial Finnish “Terve” followed soon though by “En valitettavasti oikein puhu suomea..” But that came in correctly, and sounded as Finnish. Such pronunciation is only possible as a result of living in a Finnish speaking environment. And that is what her background has been, as a Finnish Canadian.
Megan Leslie comes originally from Kirkland Lake, Northern Ontario. Her mother Merja-Riitta (born Paavola) came to Canada from Tervajoki, an Ostrobothnian locality near Vaasa. Also the grandparents, Kaarina and Tauno had moved to Canada.
MP Leslie told us that her Finnish background had come up somewhat during the election campaign - and people had shown interest in Finland and its social structure.
The Finnish education system and the whole societal safety net has been seen within NDP as something Canada should strive for. Ms Leslie has spent a year in Finland, at the University of Tampere in the late 90s.
No in depth conversation is possible during a brief news interview, but we tackle the societal values in Finland and Canada anyhow. :A lot that NDP has pursued here belongs to the “Nordic societal values” in Finland. But in Canada matters such as free post secondary education seem to be way out in the future. There is no such consensus in Canada, and the success of the conservatives in the general election rather indicates development in the opposite direction.
- But I am optimistic, says Megan Leslie.
- If people would just stop for a moment to think, it would realize that the majority of Canadians think social democratic, Megan Leslie says. - But we have this conservative and liberal history here.
Though of Finnish extraction and a supporter of NDP, Megan Leslie has no Finnish Organization of Canada (CSJ) background. She has been active in the Finnish Club in Halifax and arranged Scandinavian film evenings.
- There have been plans to go to Finland again, but with the campaign, first for the nomination and then for the election, they did not materialize this summer, she explains.

Vapaa Sana Commentary;

NDP as a home of Nordic values in Canada

Based on its initiatives and programs, the New Democratic Party is in a way "the home" of many of the Finnish and Nordic societal values here in Canada. Not that they have the name tag “Finnish” or “Nordic”, but the values and policies practised in Finland and the rest of the Nordic area today are parallel or identical to many of the NPD goals. Or sligthly more. The concept “Finnish values” is loose, and subject to interpretation. There are many immigrants from Finland who rather understand “Finnish values” as recollection of the bravery shown by Finland in WWII in the wars against the USSR and its allies than anything associated with contemporary Finland. Not all Finnish Canadians share the societal values practised in Finland today. After World War Two many Finns with right wing affiliations emigrated to Canada and soon adopted US style conservative attitudes.

Despite its very "Nordic" attitudes, the image of NDP has been controversial in come Finnish circles. This is because of the huge divide within the Finnish scene between what were commonly known as “church Finns” and the Finnish Organization of Canada.
Experts of the political behaviour of Finnish Canadians says approximately one third of the Finnish Canadians vote Liberal, one third Conservative and one third NDP. JN