A Scandinavian Heritage. Joan Magee

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A Scandinavian Heritage - Joan Magee

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Essex County Scandinavian and Finnish, 1981

       Appendix 4: Ethnicity: Windsor, Ontario and Essex County, Scandinavian and Finnish, 1981

       Appendix 5: Non-inmate Population by Birthplace, Windsor, Ontario, and Essex County, 1981 Scandinavian and Finnish

       Appendix 6: Origins of the Population of Windsor, Ontario: Scandinavian and Finnish, 1921-1971

       Appendix 7: Origins of the Population of Canada Census Dates, 1871 to 1971

       Appendix 8: Population by Place of Birth: Scandinavia or Finland according to Census of Canada, 1871-1971

       Appendix 9: Ethnic Origin of the Canadian Population (percentages), 1871-1971

       Appendix 10: Population by Mother Tongue and Sex, Showing Official Language and Home Language for Canada, 1981

       Notes

       Selected Bibliography

       Photography Index and Credits

       Index

      Foreword

      Miss Joan Magee has written three books of great interest. A common theme pervades them. A Dutch Heritage was my introduction to it, and to the author. The Loyalist Mosaic fascinates me, as does her study of the national groupings in Canada. A Scandinavian Heritage portrays the enriching role of the Scandinavian community in Essex County.

      It is a privilege to contribute a foreword to this narrative. Canada is a land of many people; the Windsor region is typically multi-racial. The Scandinavian community is a case in point. For a long time it has helped to strengthen the heritage of the two founding groups of Canada’s confederation.

      The author emphasized in Loyalist Mosaic our multi-ethnic heritage. The Loyalists of the American Revolution were not all English and Anglican; they were as varied as their countries of origin, as were their languages and religions.

      The historic sense and well governed enthusiasm of the author of A Scandinavian Heritage give the reader a picture of the adventurous Norsemen, who first came to this continent and their descendants who form part of the Canadian mosaic.

      Miss Magee’s books have been needed for a long time; they underline the importance of the racial divisions in our country’s structure and the intention to avoid the melting pot process. The author fortifies this desire and, hopefully, this achievement in her portrayal of the development of a Scandinavian community in the several parts of Canada, where are to be found Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, and Icelanders. We are reminded of the difficulties and privations which attended the adventurous emigres. Not until 1870 was there an acceptable receiving system; it brought with it an increase in the number of willing newcomers, anxious to be relieved of the hard conditions of life in the homeland. Of course, the problems and trials of the new environment require portrayal, so well done by the author.

      The achievements of contemporary Scandinavians in Essex County are duly described with references to living personalities. Happily ethnic survival combines pride of historic origins with new surroundings, aims, and achievements.

      Miss Magee delights in her writing and enlightens her readers in the process. Her knowledge of the Scandinavians, the multiethnics, the French and the English in Canada strengthens her appreciation of the mosaic character of the Canadian nation. I like to recall the importance given to this concept by the great Sir Wilfred Laurier. He told a university audience in Western Ontario that Canada was the image of a cathedral he had recently visited in England. It was the image of the nation he wished to see Canada become. It was made of marble, oak and granite; here he wanted the marble to remain the marble, the oak the oak, the granite the granite. Out of these elements, he would build a nation great among the nations of the world.

      Hon. Paul Martin

      Windsor, Ontario

      14 February 1985

      Preface

      In his preface to A Dutch Heritage: 200 Years of Dutch Presence in The Windsor-Detroit Border Region, R. Allan Douglas, Curator of the Hiram Walker Historical Museum of Windsor wrote:

      Those who see only the Indians - whatever that vague term means - succeeded by the French and then the British, do themselves a great disservice by overlooking the depth and the variety of the country’s ethnic landscape. It is true that the groups just mentioned have, by reason of the historical process, been largely responsible for the character of life in Essex County. Others, however, from the Albanians to the Zimbabweans, have contributed important variations.

      Among those who have contributed to this ethnic landscape are those immigrants who come from the countries often grouped together under the general name of Scandinavia, a term which includes Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and sometimes Finland and Iceland.

      The five countries form a varied group. Three are monarchies — Norway, Sweden, and Denmark — while Finland and Iceland are republics. Except for a majority of the Finns, all of these Scandinavians are Nordics. All, with the exception of the majority of Finns, speak a related Nordic language. Only about 7 percent of the people of Finland speak Swedish (a Nordic language) rather than Finnish (a Finno-Ugric language) as their mother tongue. Yet both Swedish and Finnish are official languages in Finland, and many of the younger people are conversant with both having learned the second language in school. The majority of those who speak Swedish as their mother tongue live in the southwestern part of Finland where their ancestors settled in the middle ages.

      The Census of Canada has reported the Scandinavian population in a variety of ways since 1871. At first, in 1871 and 1881, Danes, Icelanders, Norwegians, and Swedes were reported together as Scandinavians, while Finns were included with Russians. In the 1901 and 1911 Census reports Finns were reported separately. Since 1921 “Scandinavian” has been divided into Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. Since 1901 Finnish has been reported separately, and has not been included when Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish are at times referred to collectively as “Scandinavian” in certain census reports. This variety in reporting methods is reflected in the census figures included as Appendices 2-10 of this book.

      Within Scandinavia a newer collective name for these countries has gradually come into use during the past 50 years. This is “Norden”, translated as “The North”, and it includes all five of the countries mentioned. This book, A Scandinavian Heritage, sponsored by the Norden Society of Windsor, also includes all five countries in this wider definition. Immigrants from each of these five Northern nations will be considered in turn, in the order of their arrival over a period of 200 years, ultimately to form an integral part of

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