NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA

 Conseil National de la Press et Media Ethnicques du Canada.

WORKING TO MAKE CANADA A TRUE COMMUNITY OF COMMUNITIES

 "Writers and poets have always searched for the Canadian identity; almost instinctively, Canadians have tended to say that they are French Canadians or English Canadians or Ukrainian Canadians or whatever, or simply new Canadians. But what is Canada itself? With the charter in place, we can now say that Canada is a society where all people are equal and where they share some fundamental values based upon freedom."

Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Memoirs

Classical democratic theory always viewed democracy as a set of institutions, which both promoted and depended upon the full rational development of the individual. For the political observer of the Canadian society it is clear that we are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions, bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. As we have entered the new millennium, it is more important that the place of every minority group in our democracy not be obscured by ignorance or prejudice. It is also important that members of every minority group have the ability to discuss and consider together their special problems so that these problems may find expression for the benefit of our broader society.

It is also common knowledge that the mainstream society considers with an open and sympathetic mind the problems and difficulties of the various  minority groups in order that the democratic system will benefit them to solve the problems within the social perimeter of our communities. It is obvious that the political, social and economic progress of our society in general depends upon the achievement and the well being of all sections of a multicultural community, regardless of language, ethnicity, color or place of origin.

This is exactly the role of the Ethnic Press of our Great Country to demonstrate that our liberties, our democratic ways of life, our freely elected representative government make it possible for us to participate, agree or disagree among ourselves over ideas and institutions without bitterness, in our mother tongue. This is in fact the secret that the various race or linguistic groups, which were divided abroad, are united here, in Canada. To this point the Ethnic Press of our Country has a history of more than fifty years, informing, educating and entertaining the community it serves.

The history of the Ethnic Press of Canada is long and complicated as our Country of immigrants has been evolving over the years from a society of two founding people (English and French) to such of multicultural and multilingual communities.  It is a well known fact that at the early years of mass immigration to this Country immigrants spoke mostly in their native tongue. For example in some provinces like Saskatchewan, the majority of the citizens spoke mostly  Ukrainian rather than English or French. In some areas of Ontario, German used to be the language of the majority and in some other areas the majority of the citizens understandably spoke other languages.

   It is known that the first ethnic paper "DER NEUSCHOTTLAENDISCHE CALEDAR" was published in German, in 1877. Since then, other ethnic communities have managed to have publications in their own heritage language. The Canadian Almanac for 1905 listed eighteen foreign language publications in Canada. In 1911, the Slavic Press first mentioned the existence of the Ukrainian and Polish newspapers. In 1916, more foreign-language newspapers were published in the Canadian West than anywhere else in the world. By 1931, the Croatian, Russian and Slovak Press were established in Canada.

Following the huge influx of European immigrants at the end of the Second World War, a number of educated individuals realized the need for the creation of media in order to communicate with the members of their communities and express the concerns of the communities to the respective Governments in Canada. They tried to inform their fellow immigrants of the happenings in the old country as well as interpret and advise them on the ways, habits, laws, the political system, and their responsibilities towards the new country, Canada.

In 1965, there were more ethnic publications as the Greek, Italian, and Portuguese communities established themselves in great numbers in Canada. It was at this time that the first publication in Greek appeared in Toronto. It was created by Dimitri Zotos, a Greek immigrant and intellectual who realized the importance of the existence of the medium for the advancement of the few thousand Greek-Canadians into a strong community in Toronto.

1950 was the year of the creation of the Ethnic Press Association of Ontario. On March 9, 1958, the Canada Ethnic Press Federation was founded in Ottawa. It was a joint venture of the Winnipeg Ethnic Press Club and the Ontario Ethnic Press Association.

  The first convention took place in February 1962 in Winnipeg. The convention was a "success" as editors from Montreal and Vancouver also participated. During the business of this convention, three more Ethnic press associations were formed: The Ethnic Press Association of British Columbia, The Ethnic Press Association of Quebec and the Ethnic Press Council of Canada (Ontario). The Federation according to its own statement was "An organization of ethnic language publications that united to serve common interests."

In the 1980s, the Federation organized a few national conventions in Toronto, in an effort to bring under its umbrella every single one of the 120 ethnic publications that were published in the country.

During the 1990s, the federation disappeared due to cutbacks of government expenses and the lack of leadership .The only organization that managed to survive, as a representative body of this industry, was the “Ethnic Press Council of Canada", which undertook its historical responsibilities to help build today's Canadian Multiculturalism.

Page 1 of 2