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Ihunder Bay Finns Prof.Donald Wilson THEUNIVERSITY OF BRITISHCOLUMBIA CulturalAdaptation Changeand ContinuityAmong IhunderBay Finns was to recruit immigrants. This agent I, INTRODUCTION received a one way passageto Finland and a small sum of money; his return passage lmmigrationPatterns and {inal payment dependedon his success Despitereports that some Finnscame to in attractingsettlers.l From 1895 to 1899 Canadabefore 1867, it is likelv the first the C.P.R., too, sharedthis inlerest in the ones afrived from Alaska shortly after Finns and its agent, N.D- Ennis, ufged RLrssiasold that territory to the United Finns to travel to "sunny Canada and States.Other Finns may have entered become rich."2 Thus, by the turn of the easternCandda vra the Unr(ed Srates prior to century, Canada was making deliberate 1875.In any casethe first periodof major efforts to encouragethe immigration of Finnish immigration to this country finns, a "stLrrdy, honest, hard working, occurredbetween 1880 and 1914. l,4ost God-iearing folk, used to hardship and ol theseFinns were farmersand someof 1oil, obliged to battle rn order to live."3 them artisansfrom Finland'swesternmost The 1901 census shows there were provinces.As with many Scandinavian 2500 Finns in Canada. This figure rose immigranls to Canada,a good many had drarnatically to 15,497 in 1911 and to originallyemiqrated to the UnitedStates, 21.494 in 1921. Approxlmarely 10 9'o and for a varietyof reasons,not the least of the Fjnns who JeJt Finland durinq the of which was the prospectof good, cheap first two decades of this century went iand and jobs 'n 'ailway construction, cjirectly to Canada-4Many others crossed decidedto movenorthward- the border inro Canada after a period in By 1893the Canadiangovernment had the UnitedStates. becomeaware of the desirabilityoJ Finnish With the outbreak of war in l9i4 immigrationto the point of establishrng Finnish immigration virtually ceased and a "return man" in Finlandwhose job ir did not recommenceuntil the 1920sduring l' Ethnicity and Cultural RetentioniFinnsin Canada,1890,1920 Table I Patt€rn ol Finnish Sottl6ment in Caneds 190r 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 l9 6r 1971 lNsr.rToultDr.{ND 36 lrnrrce r:owennrsl-aNo I 1 I 7 _tb I lNovAscortA 43 45 99 96 159 254 I BRrrNswrcK lNEt,,l 24 36 135 109 t49 145 lauEBEc 2t6 2973 2043 r500 2277 1865 ONTARIO 8619 12835 27r37 26827 39906 38515 MANITOBA 1080 506 1013 808 821 1070 r450 SAS KATCH EI.IAN 1008 1931 2313 1940 1805 l8 91 1730 ALBERTA 1588 2926 3318 3452 2958 3662 3590 BRITISII COLWBIA 2858 3112 6858 6332 6780 10037 11510 YUKON 2l 34 55 50 72 95 NORTHI{EST 4 20 48 50 J) TOTAL 2502 r5497 21494 43885 41683 59436 59215 URBANDist! lbutlon r7 49'1 23643 40840 44925 RUML Dlstrlbut lon 24186 20r02 29199 r4290 N.B.Accordingto StatisticsCanada, "Finnish" is a personwho claimshis molher tongue to be Finnish,or whosefather's mother tonque is Finnish. which decade a peak number of 30,000 to be found in the Red River Valley and enteredthe country.5 The influx of this westof Winnipegin Manitoba;at Tantallon, decadeis explainablein part becauseof the Wapellaand Whitewood (commonlycalled introductionof an immigrantquota system "New Finland") in southeasternSaskatche- in the United Statesin 1924. Thus many wan near the l\,4anitobaborder; at Sylvan America-boundemigrants were deflected to Lake,west of Red Deer in Alberra;ano rn Canada.The depressionof the 1930s and the environs of Nanaimo on Vancouver the SecondWorld War broughtimmigration lsland. Those who were not rural,based to an almost complete standstill.Then worked as general labou.ers,in se,.vice once again another wave of immigration industries,and often as skilled workers, took shape,and in the two decadesafter especiallycarpenters. Single women and 1946, 20,000 Finns came to Canadato those marriedwomen who worked outside settle.6By the 1960s,however, immigration the home were often domestic servants, had slowed somewhat and the number maros or more recen y cleaningladies. '1000 of Finns enteringCanada fell under peryear.7 II. FINNSIN THUNDERBAY: A CASESTUDY SettlementPatterns The Finns who came to northwestern Although Finnish-Canadians can be Ontario settled in both citieswhich now found in every province and territory, form Thunder Bay - Port Arthur and except Prince Edward Island, they are Fort William as well as the surrounding mainly concentratedin Ontario and British rural areas.A thorough study has yet to Columbia (seeTable 1 Twenty-five years ). be made of Finns in the townships,but ago, their numbers were almost equally it is known that many settledthere before divided betweenrural and urban domicile World War LB There is no firm evidence \2O,'lO2rural; 23,643 urban). The 1971 at this time about the number of Finns census,however, reveals an overwhelming in either Canadaor Thunder Bay before predominanceof urban-basedFinns (44,925 1900. During lhal year,682 Finnsimmi to 14,290).The four largesturbanconcentra- gratedto Canadaand the numbersincreased, tions of Finns (in descendingorder) are though by no meansevenly, until Worid Toronto, Thunder Bay, Vancouver and War l. In 1913 1914,the numbers peaked Sudbury. Thunder Bay and Sudbury rep- at 3,183 and then fell decisivelybelow resent"old" Finnishsettlement; Toronto's the 500 mark.9 What proportion of these and Vancouver'sFinnish communities, on came to Thunder Bay is not certain.The the other hand, have grown enormously 1901 censusdoes not mention Finns in sinceWorld War ll. eitherPort Arthur or Fort William;apparent- Originallyengaged for the most part ly they were classedas either Russiansor in railroad building, mining, lumbering Scandinavians.The Turku study of Finnish and mixed farming. Finnish immigrantsin emigration in 1905 reports that about the first half of the twentieth century 3O.1 '/. oI the Finns to Canada came to concentratedin the Sudbury'CopperCliff PorrArthur and Fort William.l0Tne 1911 Sault Ste. l\4ariearea of northern Ontario census,on the other hand, revealsthat and the Port Arthur - Fort William (or 10.6 o/. ot Canada'sFinns resided in Port Thunder Bay District) of northwestern Arthur and Fort Williamduring that year.ll Ontario. In weslern Canada,Finns were The discrepancybetween these two setsof 14 figures suggeststhat there are too many The Church variable factors to determine preclsely At the turn of the twentiethcentury, what proportion of Canada'sFinns came three Finnish congregationscame into to ThunderBay. The Turku statisticsinclude being in Thunder Bay the Apostolic anyone who gave his destinationas Port LutheranChurch (commonlyknown as the Arthur or Fort William and ultimately Laestadians),the Port Arthur Finnish movedon to the rural areasoutside Thun- Lutheran Church, and the Fort William der Bay, but they excludeFinns who came Finnish LutheranChurch founded in 1897. to Canadavia the UnitedStates. The census The Apostolic Church was the centre of includesthose Finns in Canadawho immi- life for its members.Drinking was forbidden grated via the United Statesbut excludes and thus the needfor joiningany temperan- those living in rural areas.Although it is ce society was precluded.The Laestadians not possibleto give an accurateaccount were also strongly anti-union and kept of annual Finnishimmigration to Thunder aparl f'om labour and socialistaclivities Bay, it ic cerlainthdt by 191l, dl leasl as much as possible.Generally, they re- 1643 Finns residedin the cities of Port mained aloof from associationwith their Arthur and Fort William,comprising 5.9 % fellow Finns and wath the wider English- of their total population.l2By 1913Finns speaking community of Thunder Bay. exceeded1O % of the total populationof Port Arthur and a contemporaryobserver The Port Arthur Finnish Lutheran made note of the prominenceof the "Finn congregationwas formed in 1896. The Colony " in both cities.13 following year land was donated to the congregationand a church was built. The As they sought to build a new life next iew yearsthe congregationexperienced in this area,the Finns came into contact a period of growth. Regularworship ser- with other Canadians and immigrants vices and Sunday School were held, a rhrough their work. At the same Iime, choir was formed, and variouspicnics and they formed organizationswithin their specialact ivities were sponsored. own ethnic community churches,tempe- rance societies,and workingmen'sassocia- The long-standingfeud betweenchurch- tions. There is no evidencethat Finns goingFinns and antichurch,usually socialist, '1910. establishedany formal organizationsin Finns beganto heat up after Church Thunder Bay before 1896, at which time Finns charged that their serviceswere the FinnishLutheran Church was formed in being disrupted. "On Sundaysand other Port Arthur. Until then ceremoniessuch as days;" they charged, "when divine service baptism, marriage and burial had been is being held in the church, the socialists conductedat St. John's AnglicanChurch noisily and openly enter and disturbthem where the minister had learned to read and their worship." The socialistswere in Finnish.la As with many other ethnic describedas "a wicked and ungodly people groups. religiousorganizations became the who openly break marriage vows and focal point of many Finns' self-identity.l5 exchange wives."16 For the socialists, Generally speakingthose Finns who did the church represented the oppressors, not associatewith the church in Thunder the "hired hands of capitalists,"' and Bay joined some socialistorganization or preached the "degradation of lile."17 other. The originsof the so'calledWhite ln Finland the Finnish
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