From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Swedes/Christopher S. Hale
Most people of Swedish background in Canada are well educated and would be considered to belong to the middle class. They have also intermarried with and assimilated readily with the general Canadian population, so that the preservation of their ethnic identity has not been as easy as it has with some other groups. Since immigration from Sweden essentially ended in the early 1970s, those who belong to the older organizations, such as the Vasa Order, are for the most part members of the second or third generation, and it is often difficult to interest younger people in joining. Accordingly, membership has decreased in many associations, and some have had to disband. For example, five Vasa lodges have closed in as many years, membership in Alberta’s Medicine Hat lodge has dwindled from 100 to 10 since the late 1980s, and the average age of the Vancouver lodge is over seventy-five.
Some of the more recently founded urban organizations, such as the Swedish Women’s Educational Association in Toronto, the Svenska Klubben i Montreal, and the Svenska Herrklubban 77:an in Vancouver, have managed to preserve the use of the Swedish language during their meetings and have even attracted younger members. The five Swedish schools have also helped keep the language and traditions alive in the younger generation. However, many members in these groups do not live in Canada permanently, and maintaining continuity is often quite difficult. Individuals who are of the first generation and permanent residents in the country are aging, and their numbers are not being renewed. Thus the future of Swedish-Canadian urban organizations is also uncertain.
Swedes in Canada may be able to maintain some of their ethnic traditions for a while. Younger members have been joining some organizations, such as the Vasa lodge in Meeting Creek, Alberta, while the Scandinavian Home Society in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has in recent years undergone a renaissance with increased membership and activity. Vasa lodges in Red Deer, Alberta, and Abbotsford, British Columbia, were founded as recently as 1986 and 1989 respectively. Several groups, too, such as the Vasa lodge in Edmonton, have set up summer camps where children learn a little Swedish and something about the traditions of the homeland. This activity may in part be the result of a renewed interest among third- and even fourth-generation Swedes in the heritage of their forebears, and thus it will help to bolster a feeling of ethnic commitment among Canadians of Swedish ancestry.
