Chairman's update

Without a doubt, the highlight of this year's calendar of the Finnish-Canadian Society was our 30th anniversary celebration. The event demonstrated the strength and depth of the friends and supporters our society enjoys: the Canadian Embassy, the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Finnish-Canadian Business Club, and all of our members. Tremendous cooperation from the Canadian Embassy, André Chaker and his musical friends enabled us to pull it all off with fantastic success! Again, I would like to thank all those who helped and participated.

Not resting on our laurels and achievements of the past few months, I hope to take the Society in the direction of increased awareness among the community of students and professionals who have spent some time studying or working in Canada. Student exchanges and degree studies abroad are an important and life-changing experience. The Society can provide a link and a community for those with this common background, thereby encouraging others to seek a similar and valuable path.

I would like to extend a personal thanks to all the Board Members for volunteering a lot of their personal time and talents to make the Society a better organisation, and finally, to the many other friends of our Society—past, present, and future—who contribute their time and energy to the Vaahteranlehti, our website, and activities throughout the year.

By Dwayne Weleschuk

December 02

• 30th anniversary
• Under the spell of "aurinko"

• Leonard Cohen files
• Jack Walters –
starting from scratch
• Finnish-Canadian
Grand Festival