From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Estonians/Karl Aun
By 1965 many Estonians were prosperous, mostly by advancement in professions and occupations. Immigrants had good education; many had learned new skills or occupations in Sweden or Germany, and so adaptation to Canada was but a continuation of the process; the group was relatively youthful; and members helped each other through exchange of information, joint enterprises in construction, cooperative housing, and manufacturing, as well as through creation of the Estonian Credit Union.
Other factors assisted the Estonian immigrants. First, growth of the Canadian economy during the 1950s led to a boom in construction and manufacturing opportunities, particularly in plastics and textiles. Rapid post-war urbanization led some Estonian agronomists to establish truck-farming enterprises and nurseries to serve suburban amateur gardeners. Secondly, in the huge influx of immigrants from Europe during the 1950s, Estonians arrived first and set up consumer, particularly food-oriented, businesses to serve the newcomers. Thirdly, the drain of professionals to the United States during the 1950s created many openings for Estonian engineers, physicians, chemists, and professors. Fourthly, professionals could upgrade their qualifications through part-time study.
Estonian entrepreneurs are found in manufacturing, construction, and sales and services. The few stores and service agencies sold specialty products primarily to Estonians. Many Estonians worked in service and retail sales.
Historically, the cooperative movement in Estonia was the only means available to raise funding in a small society devoid of investment capital, and it became a powerful force in the 1920s and 1930s, raising the living standards of the Estonian middle class to European standards and carrying out half the volume of all banking operations in 1939. New immigrants to Canada set up the Eesti Ühis Pank, or EÜP (Estonian Credit Union of Toronto) in 1953. The EÜP soon realized that it could not succeed unless it was able to could issue cheques and have them cleared through the banking system, and so it strongly supported the Ontario Co-op Credit Society (later renamed the Ontario Credit Union League) in the pursuit of that privilege. Under credit union legislation passed by the federal government in 1955, the EÜP became the first credit union in Toronto with chequing privileges and the first to provide automatic and free insurance and term-deposit service. Its main attraction has been the ease of making transactions: the community’s social and psychological cohesion permitted the EÜP to extend loans based only on applicants’ and cosigners’ personal credibility and also led to punctual repayment – reputations were at stake in a tightly knit group. The EÜP was an integral part of the community fabric.
Of the original immigrants, about one-third of all professionals were able to continue their former professions immediately in Canada. More important, after a period of manual or other work, about another third rejoined their ranks by upgrading their qualifications or by learning new professions. Only about one-third dropped permanently out of professionals’ ranks.
