From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Bulgarians/Mariela Dakova
From the beginning of the century, Bulgarian immigrants in Canada often lived together in small groups so that they could share rent and other living expenses. Their small communities later provided the beginnings for ethnic organizations. Fellowship societies helped newcomers, as well as those who had lost jobs or experienced other misfortunes. These societies could discipline, even expel, members whose behaviour did not correspond to appropriate norms.
The mutual aid society Sveti Gerasim (St Gerasim) was founded in Toronto in 1914. With money raised through cultural events, it helped people in cases of sickness, accidents, or death. The society Bansko was set up in Kitchener in 1917, and the Bitolja society was established in Toronto in 1918.
Bulgarians also organized cultural societies. Prosveta (Enlightenment) and Balkanski Unak (Balkan Hero) ran Bulgarian-language classes, educational meetings, and sports programs. Both groups worked with Toronto’s SS Cyril and Methody Church. The William Gladstone Society was established in Toronto in 1929 by Dr Malin and John Grudeff. Its founders helped Bulgarians in Ontario to build an ethnic community on the basis of their common culture and attempted to lessen their political differences. Along with its efforts to preserve the language, this association offered lessons in English and familiarized its members with Canada’s legal system and cultural traditions. In January 1930 the educational society Progress was founded in Kitchener, headed by George Chakarov. However, by the late 1930s these societies were giving way to organizations of a more socio-cul-tural type.
A Bulgarian-Canadian Society was founded in Toronto in 1957 by about forty people spearheaded by John Grudeff, Christo Marinoff, and Konstantin Ovcharoff. Its belief that “good Bulgarians make good Canadians” still motivates members today. Conferences, meetings, cultural festivities, parties, picnics, scholarships, and plaques are its major activities.
Bulgarian Canadians in Montreal founded a society in 1959 as a branch of the Bulgarian League for the United States and Canada; it aimed at changing American and Canadian public opinion about Bulgarian participation in the two world wars. The league helped make it known that during World War II, despite Bul-garia’s being a German ally, Bulgarians saved over 30,000 Jews.
In 1972 Bulgarians tried to establish their own Eastern Orthodox church community in Montreal but were blocked by disagreements with the archdiocese in the United States. They later set up the Association Socio-Culturelle Bulgare, in 1976.
Bulgarians in Vancouver launched the Bulgarian Home Society of British Columbia in 1984. Dr Nikola Guntscheff donated a site on which “to erect and administer affordable suites and houses for senior Canadian citizens and low-income families.” He had set up the Bulgarian Home Society of Ontario in 1980, to which he had donated $500,000.
Bulgarians have been active in the 1990s. In Vancouver, where the community has more than doubled (to over 100 families) since 1990, members have become socially active and organized, inspired by Guntscheff’s example. In 1991 a Canadian-Bulgarian Society was founded in Ottawa. About 200 members attend community celebrations, including 3 March (Day of Bulgarian Liberty). A folk-music group has played Bulgarian music at some of these events. In November 1992 a Canadian Bulgarian Association was founded in Toronto. Many of its members are professionally engaged in cultural and artistic activities. The association arranges cultural and educational exchanges between Bulgaria and Canada. It also works in government relations in cooperation with Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bulgarian embassy. It is becoming as well a centre for commercial exchanges between the two countries.
Of the many Canadians of Bulgarian origin active in the arts, four deserve special mention. Maryon Kantaroff is a sculptor, teacher, and critic, and Nasko Pelev and Vassil Popov exhibited in Canada, Europe, and Japan. The movie director Ted Kocheff has worked on numerous TV shows and feature films which have received international prizes.
