FCS Vaahteranlehti Summer 2015

VAAHTERANLEHTISummer / Kesä 2015

Finnish-Canadian Society / Suomi-Kanada Seura

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NOTES FROM THE FCS/SKS CHAIR

The summer has come (sort of) and gone, and so with that, we find another newsletter. Since our last edition, we’ve had several great events. A new one on our list was a Friendship Day lunch with the Finn-ish-Australian Society. We hope to have more events like this, as it was refreshingly different. As usual, the weather warmed up just in time for our annual Victoria Day BBQ in May at the Seurasaari BBQ pit (we have been very lucky with the weather for several consecutive years). Coincidentally, there was a sizable group of people also there, celebrating Norway’s National Day with music and food. July brought one of the largest and most-impressive events ever for the Finnish-Canadian community, as we part-nered with the Canadian Embassy for an event at the Espa stage in Esplandi Park. The event included a Mountie straight from Canada, music from André Noël Chaker and Douglas Pashley, waffles with maple syrup, the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki Pekka Sauri, a draw for an Icelandair gift card, and a seemingly end-less supply of Canadian flags waving. Again, the weather cooperated, resulting in a fantastic atmosphere. Many thanks go out to Ambassador Andrée Noëlle Cooligan, Raija Liukkunen and all the staff at the Canadian Embassy for doing the lion’s share of the organizing! Looking ahead to this coming autumn, events include curling at the Oulunkylä Curling Hall and the annual Christmas party. As with any vol-untary organization, we always gratefully accept ideas (in Finnish or English), as a fresh perspective is always welcome. Our contact details can be found on this page. As usual, I would like to thank the Board for their dedication, as without them, none of this would be possible. In closing, have a great autumn, and I hope to see you at an event soon!

Mike KempfChair, Finnish-Canadian Society /Suomi-Kanada Seura

Hurray for Canada Day!Cover photo by Carmen Pekkarinen.

Do you want to contribute to our next newsletter?

The Finnish Canadian Society publishes the Vaahteranlehti twice per year - summer and winter. We accept content in English and Finnish (and photos!) all year round. Please contact [email protected] for details.

Stay tuned to email notices for more information about upcoming editions!

A sunny Canada Day in an otherwise rainy summer. Cover photo by Carmen Pekkarinen.

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MEMBERSHIP PAYMENTS

Current membership fees/ Jäsenmaksut:

Individual/ yksityisjäsen €15

Couple/ pariskunta €20

Family / perhejäsenyys €25

Association/ Corporate / yritysjäsen €70

Please make the payment to bank account 313130-‐1115674 Remember to include your name in the message field when making the payment so we know who has paid!

Jäsenmaksu suoritetaan seuran tilille Handelsbanken 313130-1115674 Muistathan kirjoita nimesi viesti-kenttään.

Thank you in advance for supporting the Finnish-‐Canadian Society. You will be added to our mailing list for our twice-‐yearly newsletter and learn about our special events and activities throughout the year. If you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please send an email to: [email protected]

Suomi-Kanada Seura kiittää jo etukäteen antamastanne tuesta. Lisäämme yhteystietonne postituslistaamme. Jäsenenä saatte kahdesti vuodessa ilmestyvän lehtemme sekä tietoa toiminnastamme ja tilaisuuksistamme ympäri vuoden. Jos haluat että poistamme teidät jakelulistalta, lähettäkää meille sähköposti: [email protected].

Pssst....We are actively looking for new members! If you know someone who might be interested in the Finnish Canadian Society, please pass on our con-tact information and help keep the society alive!

STAY IN TOUCH

CONTACT US

Suomi-‐Kanada Seura ry./Finnish-‐Canadian Society

PL 282/P.O. Box 282 00121 Helsinki, Finland Email: [email protected]

Blog: http://finnishcanadiansociety.wordpress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5002159410

Twitter: @SuoKana

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SKS-FCS EVENTS IN 2015

We have had 3 official events so far in 2015. Please note that these events are for our paid members only. If you are a paid member and want to know more about our events, be sure to contact us.

Valentine’s Day Lunch, in partnership with the Finnish-Australian Society (February 2015)

Victoria Day BBQ (May 2015)

Canada Day Celebration in Esplanadi Park, in partnership with the Canadian Embassy (July 1, 2015)

And upcoming...

Autumn Adults Only Event / TBD (October 2015)

Pikkujoulu / Christmas Party (November 29, 2015)....information and invitations coming soon!

FCS BOARD 2015 / SKS HALLITUS 2015

Chair/Puheenjohtaja: Mike Kempf Treasurer/Rahastonhoitaja: Anna Hedvall Secretary/Sihteeri: open/avoin Vaahteranlehti editor/Vaahteranlehden toimittaja: Erin Swift-Leppäkumpu Communications/Viestintävastaava: open/avoin Event Coordinator: open/avoin Member of the Board/Hallituksen jäsen: Johanna Kuosmanen Member of the Board/Hallituksen jäsen: Henry Niskanen

Member of the Board/Hallituksen jäsen: Kai Volanen

What kind of activities would you like to participate in with the Finnish Canadian Society?

Share your ideas at: [email protected] anytime, all year round!

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Carmen with the President of Lakehead University, Brian Stevenson and Vice Provost International, Tony Williams.

LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT VISITS FINLAND

Carmen Pekkarinen

On August 18, I had the chance to meet with the Presi-dent of Lakehead University, Brian Stevenson and Vice Provost International, Tony Williams. The pair were on a whirlwind visit of Finland and Sweden to drum up new international opportunities for the university and were headed for Umeå later in the day.

As part of the Lakehead University Alumni in Finland, I have kept in regular touch with the Alumni Associa-tion. There are a few of us here, and the group has gotten larger now that it includes students who spent an exchange year at Lakehead.

Lakehead University celebrated the 50th anniversary of its existence on July 1 (in true Canada Day fashion)! Meghan Hanbury from the Alumni office informed me a couple of weeks ago that our Lakehead Alumni chapter in Finland will be getting our 50th in a Box party pack. In fact, as I wrote this, I can say that it ar-rived at my door about an hour ago! I hope to gather up some other Lakehead alumni to celebrate with later this fall.

World Ringette ChampionshipsDecember 27 - January 4 in Helsinki

Come and see the fastest game on ice! Team Canada and Team Canada U-21 take on the teams from four other countries to battle for the title of World Champion.

Tickets are on sale now: www.lippu.fi, prices start from EUR 12,50

See more about the tournament here: http://www.wrc2015.fi/en/

World Junior Hockey ChampionshipsDecember 26 - January 5 in Helsinki

Tickets are on sale now: www.lippu.fi, prices start from EUR 11,00

LOOK OUT FOR THESE UPCOMING EVENTS...

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FEBRUARY/HELMIKUUValentine’s Day Lunch(in partnership with the Finnish Australian Society)

The eager lunch crowd at Ravintola Loiste, top floor of Sokos Department store, Helsinki.Photo by Mike Kempf.

Canadian flag flying proudly at Kappeli restaurant during Canada Day Celebration in Esplanadi Park on July 1, 2015.Photo by Carmen Pekkarinen.

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FEBRUARY/HELMIKUU

Susanna Koski, Päivi Koivisto-Alanko from Tammi, Ella-Maria Lukala, Outi Mäkinen from Tammi, Noora Kuusenoja and Ambassador Cooligan.

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Mu-nro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland, together with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre held a short story writing competition to find and support creative writers of the future.

The competition ran from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and was open to students cur-rently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not Eng-lish. The themes of the short-stories could span the nuances, simplicities and challeng-es of life. The stories could reflect the com-mon and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcom-ing of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories was based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English was also evaluated.

December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014

Short Story Writing Competition for Finnish Upper Secondary Level Students

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland is working with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre to find and support creative writers of the future by holding a short story writing competition.

The competition runs from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and is open to students currently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not English. The themes of the short-stories can span the nuances, simplicities and challenges of life. The stories can reflect the common and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcoming of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories will be based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English will also be evaluated. The length of the short stories can be between 2000 and 3000 words.

For more information on the competition, please contact Satu Salonen at [email protected], or visit the Embassy of Canada website.

Association of Teachers of English in Finland

December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014







December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014








The winning story was published in the Summer 2014 edi-tion of the Vaahteranlehti and one of the runners up was published in the Winter 2014 edition.

This edition features the last of the winning stories - ‘Sparkwatcher’ by Susanna Korpi of Helsingin kuvataide-lukio

All of the stories are reprinted with permission of the au-thors, and of the Embassy of Canada.

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Sparkwatcher

An original short story, by Susanna Koski

“It’s time to go Luukas,” my father said to me.“Now it’s the night.” I have waited ages for this, I knew that this day would come sooner or later. I took my bag which I had packed ready for this night. I had packed my flagon which was filled with sweet birch sap, a piece of bread, a tinderbox and a bag of sand. I grabbed my leather gloves by the doorway and head-ed out.

You could still see the sun on the horizon when we headed to the path which was shaded by the green leaves of birches. My father walked before me with fast but firm steps. He had walked by this path count-less times before. This was the first time for me.

My father was a quiet man, so it wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t speak during the entire trip. But I understood why; in the middle of nature you don’t have to say a word. You shouldn’t break the silence. You should not leave the path. It went around all the mossy stones and vole nests. It was careful not to cross the trail of any ants or mess the natures order. That’s why the road was long and time-consuming.

There was a fallen old birch by the path. Father took a penknife out of his pocket and cut the birch removing a wisp of bark from it. He offered it to me and said: “You should always carry some kindling with you, but don’t ever cut bark from a healthy tree. It would be the same if someone tore off your own skin and then took it with them” I took the bark and nodded for an answer. I put it in to my bag and we carried our jour-ney.

The path grew wider and soon became hard to fol-low. Still my father walked determinedly forward. The ground was covered in blooming grass and fallen leaves. The trees grew more and more scattered until we came to the side of the meadow. It was green and full of blooming flowers and hay. The last insects of the day were flying here and there, making room to the moths and mosquitoes of nighttime. I appreciate every living thing, but mosquitoes are something that I can’t stand. I leave them be if they do the same to me. Otherwise I smack them out of my way.

On the other side of the meadow there was a downhill, in the bottom of which was a small cottage. My father

whistled three times and a light was lit in the cottage. When we came to the cottage father told me to wait outside. By the time he came out the sun had already gone down. He walked towards me and said: “My father gave these to me when it was my first night. Now it’s time to pass them to you,” and he handed me bellows and a pitchfork. The bellows were made from oak and had beautiful gravures of acorns and leaves. The pitchfork reflected the light from the window and glittered black, it was made from iron and had nice weight in my hands. “You will get used to its weight,” father said and I saw a glimpse of a smile in his face, I nodded and thanked. I strapped the bellows with a leather string to my belt. Then we carried on our journey.

While the bluish darkness surrounded us we arrived to a large tree which branches almost dragged on the ground. It was just a normal tree, but the leaves were replaced with white pieces of paper. The root of the tree, and everything near, were covered with its pag-es. When I looked closer I saw that every piece had something scribbled on them. Next to the tree there was a carriage and a pair of harnesses lying around. Father took a whistle from his pocket and blew in it three times. Soon we heard rustling nearby us. Then a deer jumped before us out from the bushes. I was startled by it and took a few steps back. Father ap-proached the deer and gently stroked its head. “Don’t worry, it’s tamed,”and soon father had the deer attached to the carriage. “Your job is to put the papers in the carriage.”

I started working right away. I tried to lift the paper using my pitchfork but all the paper sheets fell off. “Gather them up to piles first,” I hear my father say. I did what he told me to do and soon I got the hang of it and I saw a glimpse of a smile in my father’s face. I lifted the paper piles with my pitchfork to the car-riage, and now I learned why we needed the deer. The paper wasn’t light, it was heavy, very heavy. It felt like trying to raise a stump from the ground, but still they drifted like feathers while falling down to the sooty ground.

I was struggling to lift them up and even a thought of carrying them made my back hurt. While lifting them I couldn’t help but read some of the papers. They could

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have been taken from anyone´s diary. Lines full of depression, regret, guilt, love and even death. Father must have seen me reading them because he said: “Animals can’t feel their weight.” ”Why not?” I asked. “Because they don’t understand our worries.”When the deer started pulling the carriage it looked like the paper weighed nothing, just like my father said. We started walking towards a lake. Trees we passed were blackened and had soot on their bark. The shore was covered with piles of ash.“Gather all that ash to this sack,” father said and threw me the big old sack. You couldn’t use the pitchfork so all the tools I had were my hands. Soon my face and hands were covered with it. When the job was done I closed the sack using a thin rope. Then I went near the surface of the lake intending to wash it off, but then my father yelled: “Come out of there! The water must not be touched!” I stood up quickly my heart beating so rapidly it almost burst off my chest. I watched over the surface of the lake which was smooth as glass. Father handed me a cloth and I wiped my face on it. “...I’m sorry.” “Here we have different rules than back home.” I tried to hand the cloth back but he wouldn’t take it and said: “Keep it.”The air around us became colder and I told myself it was because of the lack of sun.

Father took the sack and laid it down. He didn’t seem angry. He had the same look that he always had. You couldn’t get any kind of emotion out of it. There were just his dark green eyes, a nose with a sharp bridge and mouth that was just a thin line. But this time his eyes were darker and colder. I had seen it before. Ev-ery time I failed at something. How was I supposed to know that you shouldn’t touch the water? Then he turned his gaze towards the lake. “This lake is dangerous. You are not allowed to drink or wash yourself in it. Do not even touch the surface of it,” then he turned his eyes on me but I lowered my own. He took a deep breath and sighed. “You couldn’t have possibly been able to know that, but now you know.” I lifted my gaze and saw the fa-miliar gaze again.

The late evening had changed to night. I had piled up the papers into one big pile. It felt like there was paper endlessly. While some of the gathered papers

were still in the carriage, father told me to pull out my tinderbox. ”Light those papers up,” he ordered. I managed to make a spark with it and I tried to light up one of the papers but it just darkened and didn’t catch fire. I tried again but same thing happened again. The spark was not enough. Then I remembered the bark from the birch. I took a little pile of it from my bag. I man-aged to light it up and then took the slowly burning bark between my hands. I started slowly and gently blowing air into it. The small smouldering pile of bark sucked the air and burst into a small flame, like a little bird that was flying for the very first time got some wind under its wings lifting it up in the air. I placed the burning bark in the middle of the paper pile and then I took my bellows out just in case. The papers grabbed the fire of the birch that was slowly burning out. I gave it life again by blowing some air to it us-ing my bellows. Soon the flames were so big that they didn’t need my help. But still I kept the bellows near to me. I looked to my father who smiled for a brief moment.

There was a moment when neither of us said a word. Then father broke the silence.“You have to burn all the paper that is lying around here, right down to the last piece. Keep an eye on the fire so it doesn’t spread or die out. You can’t fall asleep.” I nodded to show that I was listening. “When you are done, collect all the ash to the sack that you can find attached to the carriage. Then leave the carriage by the tree and release the deer. Return back home along the same route we came here. Sprinkle the ashes to the ground here and there.” I pressed the instructions to my mind and then nodded for re-sponse. “Catch,” he said and threw me a small bag.“See you at home.” After that he left and soon disap-peared to the darkness a sack of ash on his shoulders. I opened the bag and there was an apple and piece of bread inside.

I went to pick up more paper with the deer. The paper did not seem to run out no matter how much I loaded them in the carriage. Once my trip took longer than usual, when I came back the fire had almost gone out. I took the bellows from my belt quickly and blowed life to the flames. At other times, fire had spread too

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widely. I had to throw some sand over the fire and try to suffocate it by stomping on it. I was afraid to fall asleep at some point so I decided to stay in motion. Pa-per loading was exhausting and I felt tiredness over-whelm me. I actually thought that I would pass out from exhaustion. I decided to rest and take a break. I sat beside the fire and wiped the sweat from my brow. I took out the flagon, and had a sip of the birch sap. The taste of the sap felt really sweet in my mouth. I wish I’d been able to drink cool water from the lake, but father had made it clear that it was out of the question. I put the flagon next to me, and began to dig that piece of bread from my bag. In the meantime the deer walked next to me and gently sniffed the flagon. It licked the cork so I opened the bottle and poured a little bit of the sap on my hand. The deer licked it and seemed to enjoy it’s sweet flavour. When it had drunk all of it, it gave me a quick lick to my cheek. It’s togue felt rough and warm. I stroked the deer’s head and looked in its large dark eyes. They were full of emotion. They were warm and kind. Nothing like my father’s. Really, I don’t hate my dad, I just do not always understand him. I want him to be proud of me.

I poked the fire a little with my pitchfork. Sparks rose up in to the air in a red burst. I studied the papers, read them through and then sorted them by sub-ject matter. I noticed there were clear differences in them. The darker or sadder the thing written down, the heavier the paper seemed to be. They also burned in different ways. Sorrows of the heart, such as anger and envy, burned fiercely with red flames, guilt and shame burned quietly spewing sparks, the ones that told about depression and death, slowly charred and crumbled into dust.

Among piling the papers my gaze was drawn to the lake, by some kind of moving light. I walked to the water’s edge and take care not to touch the water. It was middle of the night so it was difficult to discern what was moving there, but thankfully it never gets completly dark in the summer. The thing slipped a little bit closer to the bank. It was a small rowing boat that had a small lantern in it’s bow. In it sat a woman dressed completely in white. The woman was old and she looked very fragile. I soon realized that the boat floated forward by itself. No one rowed and there was not even a hint of wind. It had to be the stream.

“Hey, lady!” I yelled, but for nothing. The woman did not react at all. Just when I was about to yell again, the deer began to stamp with its feet. It started to panic. I tried to soothe it down. It looked fearfully towards the lake. I looked back at the direction of the woman. Her had slipped far away. When I looked in the direction from which it had come I noticed more lights. They, too, came from the boats. The surface of the lake lit-tered with small rowing boats, with people dressed in white in them. I shouted again. No any kind of re-sponse. None of them even looked at me. There were people of all ages. Most of them had their own boats, but some had groups of people around the same age sitting in them. They all looked a little wistful. Life-less, actually. One of the boats floated near the bank where I was standing. When the boat came closer, I saw clearly the face of older woman. I was shocked. There was no life in her eyes. They were the eyes of the dead. I took a few steps back. I went next to the deer and stroked its back not taking my eyes of the lake. The deer’s legs had gone into lock, and I felt how it shook. It also looked at the lake. I stood there for a moment, relying to the deer. But as soon I saw that the boats had decreased and that they didn’t care of our presence at all, I started slowly getting back to my work. I was still cautious so I kept an eye on the lake with the deer.

Luckily I found that the amount of papers by the tree began to decrease significantly. I sped up my working, but the burning of paper I could not speed up. I had no intention of going near the lake again. The last few piles of paper I picked by hand and carried them over to the fire itself, or what was left of it. Soon every-thing had become fine ash. Burnedout, I felt too lazy to rejoice. I heaped the ashes to the sack and tied its mouth. I sauntered back to the tree and released the deer and it looked at me once more before disappear-ing into the woods. The morning had begun to dawn. There was just a long journey home with a heavy bag of ash on my back.

I remembered the route which I had come along origi-nally. It was not quite as easy as I had thought. I was tired and the trail zigzagged a lot. However, I found my way to the cottage which was now pitch-black. I climbed up the hill and I arrived at the edge of the meadow. I stopped for a moment to rest and sat down.

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I took an apple which I had received from my father. I ate it while I looking at the sunrise. Soon I contin-ued on my journey. As I walked across the meadow my clothes got wet from morning dew that the grass had collected. However, the heat of the sun dried them quickly. Then I remembered the ashes. I opened the mouth of the sack and began to sprinkle the ashes in the woods. I understood its purpose when I was by the lake. All the residues from others sorrows give a new chance for life and joy to grow. The ash from the papers gives nourishment to the plants, which can therefore live longer and grow larger. I didn’t scatter all the ashes into over that spot. I continued on my journey. When I came over to the fallen birch, I sprin-kled the remaining ashes. It was no longer a long way to go. I heard how the birds chirped and I felt so tired that I was afraid of falling asleep on my feet. Finally I saw familiar birches. I was at home. I sighed with re-lief, I had survived perhaps the hardest night I’ll ever experience.

I opened the door to my home. Then put my bag and fork down on the floor. I could smell the strong scent of coffee, father was in the kitchen. He looked at me. At first my face, then my hands, my clothes, and finally right into my eyes. He had this look in his face that I had never seen before. “Good job Luukas, now you are a sparkwatcher,” he smiled at me and then said: “I am proud of you.”

Photos by Carmen Pekkarinen.

A THROWBACK THURSDAY MOMENT

Carmen Pekkarinen

With my greater involvement in the sport of ringette and in anticipation of the upcoming World Cham-pionships in Helsinki (December 27- January 4), I dug through my collection of pins to see if I still had any ringette ones left. I only had three, but I know I have many more buttons still sitting in a bag at my mother’s house in Canada!

Nostalgia. Indeed!

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MAY/TOUKOKUUVictoria Day BBQ @

Seurasaari

Photos by Pekka Leppäkumpu and Kai Volanen.

Meeting some goats along the way.

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‘Were those ours!?....’Managing the grill is serious business!

We lucked out and njoyed beautiful, sunny weather yet again.

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On May 2, 2014 Canadians living abroad for more than 5 years won back their right to vote in elections in Canada. Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Pen-ny found that part of the Canada Elections Act, which bars expatriates who have lived abroad for more than five years from voting, is unconstitutional and that citizenship, he noted, is a fundamental requirement for voting, not residency.

One month after this ruling, the Canadian government requested an injunction for 12 months which was ul-timately denied. Once again, the courts took the side of the Canadian citizens and entrenched that the right to vote is afforded to all citizens irrelevant of their ad-dress.

Unfortunately, on July 20, 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned this decision by a vote of 2-1. Ex-pat Canadians had to continue the battle.

With the October 19, 2015 Canadian Federal election quickly approaching, the topic of Canadian expat vot-ing rights is hotter than ever. During the past several months there has been a strong push from individuals and groups alike wanting to exercise their democratic right to vote.

On September 29, 2015, expat group ‘Let Canadians Vote!’ founded by the original claimants Gill Frank and Jamie Duong, submitted an appeal to Canada’s Supreme Court to again decide whether stripping the vote from Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years violates their charter rights.

This recent backlash against the ruling has become a topic of election debates and political discussion.There has been a corresponding media frenzy within the international expat community, with those chal-lenging the ruling looking to Embassies, foreign gov-ernments, and even to expat celebrities such as Don-ald Sutherland to support the cause.

Some sources (and perhaps urban legend) claim that Canadian citizens may be able to vote at their local re-turning office (voting station where they were last a resident of Canada), if they travel to Canada to cast their vote. There has been an abundace of mixed mes-sages and misinformation regarding the legitimacy of this claim, with some ex-pats claiming to have done so, and Elections Canada reporting its fallacy or fail-ing to respond to expat inquiries at all.

Confusing rules and an overall lack of transparency continue to raise controversy in the debate. One ex-ample is that expat employees of the Canadian gov-ernment who have been abroad for more than 5 years maintain their right to vote, but Canadians stationed abroad working for private Canadian companies are not eligible to vote.

Arguments

The Canadian Government states that they are pur-suing this road for the reason of “electoral fairness”. Justice Penny wrote in his May 2 decision “The [gov-ernment] essentially argues that allowing non-resi-dents to vote is unfair to resident Canadians because resident Canadians live here and are, on a day-to-day basis, subject to Canada’s laws and live with the con-sequences of Parliament’s decisions.” But Penny did not find this argument persuasive.

WHY IS HARPER’S GOVERNMENT SPENDING MILLIONS ON DISENFRANCHISING CANADIAN CITIZENS?

Original article by Pamela Spokes published in Vaahteranlehti, Summer 2014 edition,Update by Erin Swift-Leppäkumpu

“Recent enforcement under Prime Min-ister Stephen Harper’s Conservative gov-ernment of a long-standing law — upheld by the courts at this point — has barred roughly 1.4 million Canadian citizens who have lived outside Canada for more than five years from voting abroad via a special mailed-in ballot.”

(Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press, 09/17/2015 2:48 pm EDT. Source: www.huffingtonpost.ca)

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What’s next?

If you want to follow the action more closely you can go to: www.letcanadiansvote.comLetCanadiansVote also has an active group on Face-book.

If you want to reclaim your right to vote or to make sure that your voter registration is up to date, you can go to the Canadian government website at: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/svr&document=index&lang=e

Public posting for Let All Canadians Vote! group, reprinted with permission.

Reasons surrounding taxation have also been dis-cussed; saying that since many expats do not pay taxes in Canada that they should not have the right to vote. But as some have pointed out, students and stay at home parents rarely pay taxes but retain the vote and more extremely that people with have higher in-comes and pay more taxes don’t get more votes so it is unclear why there would be a connection between voting and taxation. In the end the Charter only con-nects citizenship and voting.

The Government also tries to claim that those who live outside of Canada for longer than five years lose their “meaningful connection” to Canada.

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JULY/HEINÄKUUCanada Day Celebration in Esplanadi Park(in partnership with the Canadian Embassy)

Lining up for waffles with real Canadian maple syrup!

Photos by Johanna Kuosmanen and Carmen Pekkarinen.

From left to right: Canadian Mounted Police Constable Kelli Hennessy (stationed near Halifax), Helsinki Deputy Mayor Pekka Sauri, Finnish-Candian Society Chair Mike Kempf, The Ambassador of Canada, Ms. Andrée N. Cooligan, and Canada Day Master of Ceremonies André Noël Chaker.

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In honour of Canada Day, a special Canadian menu was available at Kappeli restaurant in Esplanadi Park.

A buzz of activity and happy faces all around!

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A VISIT TO R/V ARANDA

Carmen Pekkarinen

The Finnish-Canadian Business Club gathered on the decks of the science research vessel Aranda in Helsinki on September 15. It was a fantastic chance to see the boat that is famed in science circles around the Baltic. Our host was Juha Flinkman, who is the De-velopment Manager for Research Vessels at the Finn-ish Environment Institute SYKE / Marine Centre in Helsinki. In fact Aranda had just opened its doors to the public on September 10 and it was by all accounts, a wild success. So Juha was quite ready to greet more visitors.

R/V Aranda was launched in June 1989 and 60m long, weighs 1734 tons and can accommodate up to 25 sci-entists and 13 crew. It is a reinforced vessel which is able to operate in all seas. Aranda was designed for sub-polar and polar research, so it is in fact an ice breaker. It has been to the Antarctic and been on the North Atlantic. Aranda is involved in Baltic and polar research and it is one of the first science research ves-sels that is truly in international use. Juha mentioned that they are always looking for more partners and opportunities for cooperation with Aranda. The next opportunities could come when he travels to the US later this year.

The number of sea days (around 200) has increased because of a recently renewed agreement for fisher-ies research by Finnish authorities and cooperation with Swedish scientists. This year marks the second year in a row that Sweden has conducted all of its ma-rine research aboard Aranda (as they have no science research vessel of their own). Aranda works all year round in the Baltic Sea and is the only research ves-sel that is considered “resident” in the sea. Juha calls the annual big winter cruise in the Baltic his “baby.” In terms of mileage, it is nearly the same as going around the world.

The design of Aranda works so well that it has been copied several times, for example, an American vessel operating in the Arctic is a carbon copy of Aranda, just 40 metres longer! We got to see all of Aranda, right from the depths of the engine rooms all the way up to the bridge. Aranda has different lab modules for research that can be easily put on and taken off the boat. Juha said that there is nothing secret on Aranda and that everything it does is public record. That was a really refreshing thing to hear.

Aranda also has the distinction of being the first re-

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search vessel that is using domestically produced bio-oil and biodiesel with little to no carbon loading into the atmosphere. “That leftover oil from French fries? We use a derivative of that to power Aranda.”

With all of the construction happening in Ruoholahti, Aranda will also be moving to a new home in the com-ing months. With the completion of a new hotel in the West terminal area, Aranda will be moving around to the other side of the peninsula and find it home near Salmisaari.

In the coming years Aranda will also go through a re-fitting process, which will extend the useful lifespan of Aranda for up to 15 years. The refit also includes plans for adding a 5-10 section to the middle of the ship, which would mean cutting it in half, fitting the new piece in and then welding it back together again. An extension on the vessel will also allow for the installation of a “drop keel.” Juha hopes the refit will enhance Aranda’s chances of being used for Arc-tic research. Research will continue during the refit through the use of a ship from a shipping company. Hopefully this work will be carried out in Finland.

As of this writing R/V Aranda is out on the Baltic Sea participating in the Baltic International Acoustic Sur-vey on herring and sprat, research that is being car-ried out simultaneously in other EU countries. Aranda will return to port on October 10.

See more about Aranda here: http://www.syke.fi/en-US/Services/Research_vessels/Research_Vessel_Aranda

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FCS Vaahteranlehti Summer 2015