A history of fellowship in Sudbury

I interviewed Mr. Jouko Takamaa, a parish member since 1972 by telephone on October 27, 2001 and he enlightened me about the history of the St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church and its activities, as well as the state of the Finnish community in Sudbury today. I also communicated with former pastor Kari Valanne by email.

The congregation took root and grew

Finnish fellowship has a long history in Sudbury, Ontario. The meeting that established St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church was held on November 29, 1932, so that the large Finnish community in Sudbury and area could receive God's guidance in their own language. The acting chairman at the time was pastor V. Hanninen and the secretary was Hannes Koskela. The first full time pastor was Matti Lepisto from 1939-1941. The church has been at its present location since 1949, on Mackenzie Street in downtown Sudbury.

Takamaa explained that the congregation has over 1,100 members, with active members totaling some 200. The church also offers fellowship to non-members of the Finnish community in Sudbury and area. Takamaa says that as many as 3,000 non-members enjoy the fellowship of the church. He is proud to say that the church is not funded by the government; they rely a lot on fundraising activities (pulla sales and dinners) and collections from the congregation. Much of the maintenance work around the church (i.e. painting etc.) is done by volunteers. And as is done in Finland, the church diligently keeps records of all births, deaths, baptisms and marriages concerning parish members.

Abuzz with activity

St. Matthew's has seen some changes over the years. At one time St. Matthew's had a parsonage attached to the church. The church now owns a separate property to act as a residence for the pastor. The old parsonage is used for meetings, Sunday school and Bible study. In addition, English has become an established language at the church, though most activities are still conducted in Finnish. Takamaa said that the choirs and the study groups are very active and that the church is abuzz with activity practically every night of the week.

The current pastor is Rev. Hannu Savinainen. Unfortunately, he was unavailable for an interview during the time of writing this article. I did, however, manage to track down former pastor Kari Valanne, who spent two and a half years in Sudbury. He and his wife Irma came to Canada in 1962. They have spent time in many places all over North America, he as a pastor and she as a teacher and university instructor. The most interesting thing he has done (in my eyes) was being a flying pastor for an aviation ministry to remote areas of subarctic Manitoba. He is retired in Bancroft, Ontario and presently volunteers as the chairman of another flying ministry, On Eagle's Wings Ecumenical Ministry to the High Arctic in Canada. Pastor Valanne and his wife have two children and three grandchildren, and they all speak Finnish!

Finns in Sudbury and the district

Takamaa provided me with some pretty accurate statistics about the number of Finns who lived in the Sudbury area in the past. (I myself wonder how a "Finn" was defined in these statistics? That is another article in itself!). Most Finnish people who settled in the Sudbury area worked as lumberjacks, miners or carpenters. In 1921 there were over 2,500 Finnish people in Sudbury, and by 1951 this number had grown to well over 5,000. Today, numerous second and third generation Finns are still living in the Sudbury area, but the number is dwindling.

When I asked him about the state of the Finnish language in Sudbury, Takamaa said he was not aware of any push to keep it alive, although there is an established Suomi koulu. (I took my first Finnish course there in 1997.)

Finlandia Village is a residential area, designed with Sudbury's senior Finnish community in mind. It has existed for a long time and today represents a $19-20 million investment with over 100 employees. There are four distinct residential options, the 110-bed nursing home (in operation for just over a year now), Finlandia Koti (with 90 apartments), the palvelukoti in which residents have their own small apartment (46 units) and the rivitalo (16 units). The rivitalo units can be purchased, but must be sold back to Finlandia Village at the conclusion of the agreement.

The Finnish people who live in the Sudbury area have been quietly going about their business for years and lucky for me, I have been able to connect with them to relive some of my history. Judging from what Takamaa tells me, it is bound to continue for the foreseeable future!

By Carmen Boudreau-Kiviaho