Author: admin
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Deported to Canada
In the autumn of 1919 and the winter of 1920, an epilogue of the Finnish Civil War—and possibly the young nation’s strangest foreign policy process—took place, when Finnish volunteers of the Murmansk Legion were repatriated. The Finnish Legion was a unit under the British Navy that, in 1918, sought to repel a German advance toward…
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Savonian immigrants to Gorham Township
Gorham Township (Kivikoski, Lappe, Tarmola and North Branch) was settled from the west in the early 20th century, lastly the easternmost region of North Branch at the time of the 1910s economic downturn and World War. The boundaries of the villages were vague and the residents’ own opinion may have differed from the defined school…
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Immigration exemptions after 1929
Immigration to Canada took a gradual downturn in the late 1920s, and became seriously harder in 1931. With the passage of Order-in-Council PC 695 on 21 March 1931, the government of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett implemented the tightest immigration admissions policy in Canadian history. Further restrictions were deemed necessary after the onset of the Great…
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Finnish Tailors of Toronto
The early history of the Finnish settlement in Toronto differs quite a bit from other areas of Canada, where the main occupations were forestry, mining, agriculture and railways. In Toronto, a large proportion of Finns worked in factories, as craftsmen or entrepreneurs. The proportion of women was also higher in Toronto, and Finnish women were…
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Patronymic to Surname
Shortening the original Finnsih surname into Maki, Ranta or Niemi was not the only way to facilitate the immigrant’s settlement and integration. Patronymic looking names were familiar to many people of Germanic and Anglo-Saxon origin, and therefore did not stand out from the majority population. That is why behind many an Anderson, Jacobson or Johnson…