Community Life

Early Greeks who came to Canada lacked organized communities. With the growth of Greek immigration, and especially the arrival of women and children after 1905, settlements began to develop a sense of ethnic community. Cultural and patriotic associations were established to help immigrants adjust to the new society, combat prejudice and discrimination, and preserve language and culture. By 1905 Patris (Motherland) and Anagenisis (Regeneration) were organized in Montreal. Other associations formed later included the Saskatoon Greek Society, the Panhellenic Union in Ottawa, the Annunciation Benevolent Greek Society in Winnipeg, the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) in London, and the Hellenic Patriot Association in Vancouver. Such bodies generated interest in formation of parishes like those in the United States: the first was organized in Montreal in 1906 and the second in Toronto in 1909. Later parishes were established in Winnipeg, Fort William, and Ottawa. By 1980 Canada had more than forty.

Culture shock, discrimination in the early years, and Greek Orthodox leadership during the Turkish occupation (1453–1828) spurred development of the small, cohesive, and homogeneous Greek-Canadian communities around the church, which also organized social and cultural activities. An elected parish council administered financial matters, the Greek school, and auxiliary organizations.

The influx of new immigrants during the 1950s and 1960s transformed Greek-Canadian communities. The newcomers arrived from different backgrounds and even from other countries, especially Cyprus, Egypt, and Turkey. The new immigrants soon started to participate in cultural affairs, bringing ideas for change and reorganization. By the 1960s academic, occupational, cultural, and athletic groups started to emerge outside the parish community, which could not meet the needs of the new immigrants. By the end of the decade the newcomers were challenging the established structure of the parish, especially the power of the clergy, which was reinforced in 1964 by the clergy-laity conference of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America in New York. After many confrontations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, civic leaders of the Greek communities in Toronto and Montreal curbed the power of the clergy, particularly in non-ecclesiastical matters, including the Greek school, buying and selling of property, social services, and hiring of staff. Now a board of directors would administer these activities on behalf of the general assembly. Many Greek Canadians, especially in smaller communities, still favour the old system.

In the 1980s a secular model of Greek community structure appeared in London, Markham, and Sarnia, Ontario, and in Edmonton: in an ethnocultural community without church affiliation power rests in the general assembly and its elected board of trustees. These bodies are incorporated under provincial legislation and can form and direct auxiliary organizations. For example, the Greek-Canadian Community of London City and Vicinity, incorporated in 1983, set up and ran the Athletic Association, the Greek School of London, the Women’s Association, and a youth organization.

Local organizations (fraternal societies) appeared as soon as a large number of immigrants from a particular Greek village, city, or province had settled in a Canadian city. Their main objective was to collect money for improvements in poor villages and towns the immigrants had left behind. The funds helped finance the building of schools and churches and the reconstruction of electricity plants, waterworks, and roads destroyed during World War II and the civil war.

One of the largest non-sectarian Greek organizations – the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) – expanded its influence in Canada in the late 1920s. In 1928 its Lord Byron Chapter was organized in Toronto, and a year later the Lord Nelson Chapter was set up in London. In 1993 twenty-two AHEPA chapters in Canada had about 1,300 members. Their main objectives were to promote mutual understanding of Greek and Canadian cultures and encourage participation in civil and commercial life. The AHEPA attracted mostly businessmen and professionals and appealed little to workers. Auxiliary organizations include the Daughters of Penelope – mainly wives of AHEPA members – and the Sons of Pericles – males of Greek descent between the ages of fourteen and twenty-three. In 1993 the two groups had approximately 2,100 members.

Other secular organizations appeared in large Canadian cities during the 1960s. In 1969 Greek parents set up the Hellenic Federation of Parents and Guardians of Montreal to deal with their children’s academic problems. The Greek Canadian Labour Association also appeared in Montreal in 1970 to keep immigrants informed about labour laws and civil rights, help unemployed immigrants find jobs, and encourage workers to join labour unions. In 1976 the Centre of Social Services for Greek Canadians was established in Toronto to provide immigrants with essential social services, including family counselling and information on social and legal matters, organized, like those in Montreal, by relatively young, educated, progressive Greek Canadians.

With the increase of immigration from Cyprus after 1963, Greek-Cypriot organizations also appeared. Greek Cypriots have established their own organizations in Canada to lobby and provide political and economic aid to their homeland. The largest is the Cypriot Federation of Canada, which in 1993 included Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener, Winnipeg, and Vancouver’s Cypriot communities – chartered organizations administered by an executive council elected every two years, with subcommittees responsible for educational and cultural programs, fund raising, and youth and ethnic-dance groups. Greek Cypriots also participate in religious and cultural activities such as parades, local “caravans,” church festivities, and even political protests sponsored by other Greek communities. They attend Greek Orthodox church services and patronize the same Greek media (newspapers and radio and television programs) as other Greeks do.

The Pan-Macedonian Association of Ontario is an offshoot of the U.S.-based Pan-Macedonian Association. The association was established in 1960 in Toronto, and in 1975 it became an umbrella organization of other Greek-Macedonian societies within Ontario; at the end of 1993 it had fifty-one chapters, sixteen with women’s auxiliaries. In 1993 Quebec had an active Greek-Macedonian organization in place, and British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba were establishing theirs. Membership consists mainly of individuals who came from Greek Macedonia (northern Greece) and identify themselves with Hellenism and the Greek community in Canada.

The Pan-Macedonian Association sponsors and organizes lectures, seminars, cultural activities, and fundraising events. It has organized protests against supporters of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia based at Skopje, which uses the name “Macedonia” and ancient Macedonian symbols. On many occasions Greek and Slavic Macedonians in Ontario have confronted each other over ethnocultural claims and even skirmished. (See also MACEDONIANS.)

With the increase and diversity of the Greek immigrant population the potential for internal conflict has also grown significantly. Hostilities, clashes, and cleavages affect social and cultural life. A major contributing factor is the power struggle between the clergy and secular leaders over administration of the parish. Influential liberal Greek Canadians challenged the power of the clergy and introduced more egalitarian structures. Power struggles among interest groups (or cliques) also lead to conflict – ideological or personal. Some ambitious Greek Canadians with limited access to positions of political and social power in the host society may find the community’s organizational posts viable alternatives. Conflict, however, may also democratize the community, bring community problems and issues into the open, and facilitate adaptation to the new society.

In 1981 the Hellenic Canadian Congress was founded in Montreal as an umbrella organization for all Greek-Canadian communities and associations and to provide a united voice on ethnocultural affairs. Membership is direct or through provincial organizations (the Hellenic Canadian Federation of Ontario, the Hellenic Canadian Congress of Quebec, and the Hellenic Canadian Congress of British Columbia). The congress’s mandate is to encourage, carry on, and participate in cultural, educational, humanitarian, and social activities.

The congress, with the cooperation of its constituent organizations, has sought to raise the profile of Hellenism in Canada through conferences on the community and its role in Canada’s economic and cultural life. Within the Canadian Ethnocultural Congress it works with other groups to ensure multiculturalism and peaceful coexistence. In 1993 the congress was composed of about 250 Greek-Canadian associations and communities throughout Canada.