Environment and Economy in the Finnish-Canadian Settlement of Sointula
Utopians and Utilitarians: Environment and Economy in the Finnish-Canadian Settlement of Sointula M IKKO SAIKKU There – where virgin nature, unaltered by human hand, exudes its own, mysterious life – we shall find the sweet feeling that terrifies a corrupt human being, but makes a virtuous one sing with poetic joy. There, amidst nature, we shall find ourselves and feel the craving for love, justice, and harmony. Matti Kurikka, 19031 he history of Sointula in British Columbia – the name of the community is a Finnish word roughly translatable as “a place of harmony” – provides ample material for an entertaining T 1901 narrative. The settlement was founded in as a Finnish utopian commune on the remote Malcolm Island in Queen Charlotte Strait. Al- though maybe a quarter of Malcolm Island’s eight hundred inhabitants are still of Finnish descent, little Finnish is spoken in the community today.2 Between the 1900s and the 1960s, however, the predominant language of communication in Sointula was Finnish. The essentials of Sointula’s fascinating history are rather well known: they include the establishment of an ethnically homogenous, utopian socialist commune; its inevitable breakup; strong socialist and co-operative 1 I wish to thank Pirkko Hautamäki, Markku Henriksson, Kevin Wilson, the editor of BC Studies, and two anonymous readers for their thoughtful comments on the manuscript. A 2004 travel grant from the Chancellor’s Office at the University of Helsinki and a 2005 Foreign Affairs Canada Faculty Research Award enabled me to conduct research in British Columbia. Tom Roper, Gloria Williams, and other staff at the Sointula Museum were most supportive of my research on Malcolm Island, while Jim Kilbourne and Randy Williams kindly provided me with the hands-on experience of trolling for Pacific salmon onboard the Chase River.
[Show full text]