The Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society (TBFCHS) is pleased to announce the “From the Ashes of the Old: The History, Loss, and Memory of the Finnish Labour Temple” event, taking place on Saturday April 27, 2024 at the Thunder Bay Museum on 425 Donald Street East at 2 PM, free and open to the public. This event will serve as the 50th anniversary commemoration of the TBFCHS, a not-for-profit member-supported organization founded in 1974.

This milestone offers an opportunity for reflection on the Finnish Labour Temple, an important cultural landmark tragically lost in a fire on December 22, 2021. TBFCHS members Saku Pinta, Jorma Halonen, Kathy Toivonen, and Sara Janes will deliver presentations on topics related to the history, loss, and memory of the Finnish Labour Temple. Also, the materials recovered from the time capsule – buried in the cornerstone of the building for nearly 113 years – will be on public display for the first time. The event will be followed by the TBFCHS annual general meeting.

“The Society has been a unique undertaking right from the start,” observes TBFCHS President Saku Pinta. “Our founding members represented the local Finnish community in nearly all of its diversity, no small task given the political and religious differences which have often proved divisive over the years.” Pinta notes that this “unity in diversity” in service of historical inquiry has been a source of strength and helps to explain the longevity of the TBFCHS. “As a member-supported organization, we have served as the leading voice of Finnish Canadian history in the region for 50 years through the efforts of the community itself, telling our own stories and preserving our own history.”

Since 1974, the TBFCHS has made multiple outstanding and pioneering contributions to the preservation and interpretation of the history of Finnish Canadians in northwestern Ontario. Beyond individual achievements, this includes but is not limited to:

– the publication of four books, the most recent, A Century of Sport in the Finnish Community of Thunder Bay (co-published with The Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame), won the Communication and Best in Show awards from the International Sports Heritage Association in 2014
– numerous public presentations, notably a series of historical panels that were on display in the Hoito Restaurant for many years
– the compiling of an archive – housed in the Lakehead University Archives – of thousands of historical documents, photographs, and oral histories of various Finnish organizations, individuals, and activities in Thunder Bay and the surrounding region
– organizing the “Increasing Access to Finnish Language Archives” project in 2018-2019, with the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, which digitized and translated key historical documents from Finnish to the English-language for the first time
– contributing to the recovery of the Finnish Labour Temple time capsule in April 2022, thanks to the work of the late Marc Metsäranta.