A new book by Elinor Barr about the immigrant experience of Swedes, Swedes in Canada: Invisible Immigrants, will be launched in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Thunder Bay this month. A fourth launch is planned at the Swedish Embassy in Ottawa.
Publisher’s description of the book
Since 1776, more than 100,000 Swedish-speaking immigrants have arrived in Canada from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, and the United States. Elinor Barr’s Swedes in Canada is the definitive history of that immigrant experience. Active in almost every aspect of Canadian life, Swedish individuals and companies are responsible for the CN Tower, ships on the Great Lakes, and log buildings in Riding Mountain National Park. They have built railways and grain elevators all across the country, as well as churches and old folks’ homes in their communities. At the national level, the introduction of cross-country skiing and the success of ParticipACTION can be attributed to Swedes.
Despite this long list of accomplishments, Swedish ethnic consciousness in Canada has often been very low. Using extensive archival and demographic research, Barr explores both the impressive Swedish legacy in Canada and the reasons for their invisibility as an immigrant community.
Author donates research collection
Ms. Barr has written extensively about Northwestern Ontario and Scandinavian immigrants in Canada. She is a research associate of the Lakehead Social History Institute at Lakehead University. She donated the research collection she accumulated during the process of writing Swedes in Canada to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. The collection will be publicly available for research later this fall.
Swedes in Canada was published by Toronto Press in July 2015. You can look inside the book on Amazon.ca.
Launch details
Edmonton: Audreys Books, September 10, 7:00 p.m.
Winnipeg: McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park Mall, September 16, 7:00 p.m.
Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Museum, September 26.
Ottawa: Swedish Embassy, date to be announced.
Ms. Barr’s website, Swedes in Canada, contains more information about the book, Swedish pioneers, and book launches.
