“From Sod House to Lefse House” Immigration, Ethnicity, and the Formation and Reformulation of the Norwegian-Canadian Identity in Western Canada. By Kristin Borgenheim A Thesis presented to the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages Faculty of Humanities In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the MA Degree in English. UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2011 ii Abstract This thesis investigates the formation and reformulation of a distinct Norwegian- Canadian identity in western Canada. It argues that Norwegian immigrants to Canada in the beginning of the twentieth century adapted to Canadian society through their Norwegian lenses and worldview, and created a distinct Norwegian-Canadian western identity through the establishment of various organizations. During the late 1930s and 1940s, mainly as a result of the Great Depression and World War II, Norwegian Canadians seem to have become more assimilated, but there were still some who worked to revive interest in the Norwegian culture. With the movement towards official Multiculturalism in Canada and the initiation of the Multiculturalism policy in 1971, Norwegian Canadians experienced an ethnic revival. The Norwegian-Canadian identity had been reformulated and was now largely expressed through symbols. Still, their Norwegian heritage held great importance, and Norwegian Canadians again celebrated their heritage both privately and publicly. iii Acknowledgements After countless hours of research, writing and editing, my thesis is done and the time has come to thank the many people who in different ways have helped me complete it. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor David C. Mauk for his feedback. A very special thanks to Professor Gerhard Ens for providing suggestions and believing in my project. Despite having many students of his own he found time to read all of my drafts, provide useful commentary and meet with me during my research trips. This thesis would not have been completed without his help. Thanks also to Professor Frances Swyripa for reading my project description and helping me on my way to the finished product, to Professor Christopher Hale for lending me his copy of Vikingen, and to Aya Fujiwara for informing me of where to access the Scandinavian brief. I would also like to thank Dina Tolfsby, librarian in charge of the Norwegian-American Collection at the Norwegian National Library, who worked diligently to help me acquire various sources. Thanks to Kenneth Domier, for providing me with an abundance of his material on Norskies and for spending a generous amount of his time driving me around Edmonton to compile sources and meet with Norwegian Canadians. Thanks to Solglyt Lodge for letting me participate at meetings and make use of the various sources in their storage room. The members Owen Wiig and Marge Barnes must be especially thanked for their help and hospitality during my first research trip. I will never forget the hospitality I was shown by everyone in the Solglyt Lodge! Thanks to Elnora Hibbert, Nordahl Flakstad, Roger Bruce, Sandy Kachmar, Jan Stemo and Wayne Nordstrom for taking time to provide me with useful information and insight during our interviews. It was of great help! Thanks to my friend Jannike Elmblom Berger for reading and providing useful commentary on all of my work. Also thanks to Joanne Rozestraten for proofreading. Thanks to reprogjengen for the many lunch dates, discussions, frustrations, laughs and sorrows we have shared this year. I would like to give a special thanks to my boyfriend, Scott Rozestraten. Thank you for helping me with my research, but more importantly, thank you for believing in me when I did not, for always listening and for being my shoulder to cry on. Lastly, I must thank God and all my family and friends for your support and prayers, and for helping me take some much-needed time off. Despite useful contributions, final responsibility for any potential errors in this work naturally rests with me. Kristin Borgenheim, Blindern, May 9, 2011 iv CONTENT ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 Purpose and Delimitation ..................................................................................................................................... 1 A Brief History of Norwegian Immigration to Canada ..................................................................................... 3 Historiography ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods and Sources .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Terminology ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Structure .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 Concluding Remarks .......................................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: A NEED FOR COMMUNITY AND BELONGING: ACCOMMODATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NORWEGIAN-CANADIAN IDENTITY TO THE 1930S. ....................................................................................... 18 Hardships of Pioneering ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Church Organization and the Communal Function of the Church................................................................ 20 Norwegian Canadians and Schools .................................................................................................................... 24 Other Social Movements: Ladies’ Aids, Youth Groups, Ski Clubs and Festivals. ........................................ 28 The Sons of Norway ............................................................................................................................................ 33 The Norwegian Ethnic Press in Canada............................................................................................................ 36 Analysis of Three Norwegian-Canadian Newspapers ...................................................................................... 38 The Diminishing of the Norwegian Language .................................................................................................. 47 Concluding Remarks .......................................................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER THREE: THE ROAD TO OFFICIAL MULTICULTURALISM: ACCULTURATION, CANADIAN CULTURAL POLICY CHANGES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR NORWEGIAN CANADIANS. ................................................ 53 Norwegian Canadians in the West from the 1930s to 1960 ............................................................................. 54 Changes in the Canadian Political Landscape in the 1940s-1960s .................................................................. 59 The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism ............................................................................ 60 v The Emergence of the Multiculturalism Policy ................................................................................................ 66 Some Implications of the Multiculturalism Policy ........................................................................................... 68 Some Implications of the Multiculturalism Policy for Canadians of Norwegian Descent ............................ 70 Concluding Remarks .......................................................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER FOUR: “TRADITIONS NEVER DIE”: THE REFORMULATED NORWEGIAN-CANADIAN IDENTITY. .................................................................... 75 Norwegian-Canadian Identity Reformulation through Activities in the Solglyt Lodge ............................... 76 The Function of Special Events .......................................................................................................................... 80 The Portrayal of Norwegian Culture in Canadian Society.............................................................................. 91 Norwegian-Canadian Self-Perception Today ................................................................................................... 99 Norwegian Identity as Portrayed in Two Former Norwegian Settlements .................................................. 105 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................................................ 109 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 110 Main Findings .................................................................................................................................................... 110 Concluding Remarks .......................................................................................................................................