Macedonian Canadians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Macedonian Canadians |
|---|
 |
| Total population |
|
37,055 (Canadian census, 2006) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Ontario, Quebec, |
| Languages |
| English, Macedonian |
| Religions |
| Predominantly Orthodox |
|
The Macedonian Canadians are mostly descendents of ethnic Macedonian immigrants to Canada. The majority arrived in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903.[citation needed] According to the Multicultural Canada, immigrants and their descendants from various parts of historic Macedonia have been influenced by the attitudes and policies of the various regimes that have ruled and that continue to rule their homeland. It is, therefore, not surprising to find Macedonian Slavs from the same region, the same town, even the same family describing themselves with different national or ethnic identities – Macedonian, Greek, or Bulgarian.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
Before WWII most immigrants from Macedonia declared themselves as Bulgarians or Bulgaro-Macedonians [2]. A considerably smaller number however, declared themselves distinctively as Macedonians, and an internal group census in 1910 found about 1090 Macedonians in Toronto [3], mainly from the Kostur and Lerin regions, areas which were once vilayets of the Ottoman Empire and are today in northern Greece. By 1940 [4] readers of various Macedonian political and nationalist almanacs [5] were informed that there were upwards of 1200 families in Toronto. The exodus of ethnic and Greek Macedonians from northern Greece was to continue in the aftermath of WWII and the Greek Civil War (1947-49). Immigration from Vardar Macedonia and Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria also began in the postwar period.
The most recent Canadian census (2002), which provides for self-declaration of ethnic origin records 31,270 Macedonians in Canada - the sum total of individuals making single- or multiple-group responses, mostly in the province of Ontario. However, community spokesmen have claimed that there are actually 100,000-150,000 Canadians of Macedonian decsent. Centered in Metropolitan Toronto, small groups of Macedonians could also be found elsewhere in Ontario in Cambridge, Guelph, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Markham, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thornhill, Thorold, Windsor, Burnaby, as well as in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Many early Macedonian immigrants found industrial work in Toronto, either as factory hands or labourers in abattoirs, local sheet metal industries, or iron and steel foundries, particularly centred around The Junction area. From these jobs, they quickly progressed to the ownership of a great number of restaurants, grocery stores and butcher shops. Macedonian entrepreneurs and their descendants eventually employed their numerical strength within the food service industry as a catapult into a variety of larger and more sophisticated ventures. The majority of Macedonians today are employed in the professional, clerical and service sector of the economy.
[edit] Social Life and Community
The social life of early Macedonian immigrants revolved around mutual and benevolent societies established on the basis of village or place of origin. Such Macedonian brotherhoods and benevolent organizations such as Zhelevo, Banitsa, Buf, Oshchima and numerous others operating in Toronto became valuable storehouses of comradeship, job information and worksite strategies.
In the postwar period the Macedonian mutual benefit societies and brotherhoods evolved into social and national clubs, playing a role as centres of immigrant culture as members' working conditions and incomes became subsumed under the headings of social insurance and workers' compensation.
Since 1970, Macedonian ethnocommunity group life has grown and now serves a number of special interests and needs. A number of business and professional associations have been established including the Canadian Macedonian Restaurant Co-op, which was founded in 1979; the Canadian Macedonian Business and Professional Association (1992); and the Macedonian Canadian Health Professionals' Association, formerly the Macedonian Canadian Medical Society (1992). Youth and student groups include the Macedonian Association of Canadian Youth, which was founded in 1992; the Ryerson Association of Macedonian Students (1992); and the Association of Macedonian Students at the University of Toronto, which was granted official recognition as a university campus group in 1989. Also the most active group of recent times has been the Macedonian Student Association of York, or MSA as it's commonly know. It's based out of York University campus in north Toronto.
[edit] Religion, Cultural Life and Education
Macedonians belong to the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. They established SS. Cyril and Methody Church in Toronto in 1910. It united immigrants from many different villages into a single religious community.
The early immigrants to Toronto and their descendants founded 2 additional churches that are either under the spiritual jurisdiction of the patriarch in Bulgaria or are part of a Bulgarian diocese within the Orthodox Church in America. They are St. George Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which was founded in 1941, and Holy Trinity Macedono-Bulgarian Church, which was founded in 1976.
Postwar arrivals to Canada subsequently founded Macedonian Orthodox parishes under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Metropolitan and Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Skopje. They are as follows: St. Clement of Ohrid, which was founded in Toronto in 1962; St. Dimitria of Solun, which was founded in Markham in 1992; St. Ilija, which was founded in Mississauga in 1979; St. Nedela, which was founded in Ajax in 1993; St. Naum of Ohrid; which is located in Hamilton; St. Nicholas in Windsor; and St. Atanas in Montreal, Quebec.
The community has also created a number of group newspapers, radio and television programs, folkdance troupes, sporting organizations and historical and literary societies.
Newspapers include Makedonska Tribuna (Macedonian Tribune), the weekly voice of the Macedonian Political (Patriotic since 1952) Organization, which was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1927; United Macedonians, the quarterly of the United Macedonians of Canada Organization, is published in Markham; and the monthly, Makedonija (Macedonia), was founded in 1984 and is published in Scarborough; and Makedonski Vesti (Macedonian News). Macedonian Life Magazine is the latest publication launched in May 2006 in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Currently Macedonian Life is published six times a year in full colour.
Radio programs include Glas od Makedonija (Voice of Macedonia)[6], Makedonski Glas (Macedonian Voice), Makedonski Svet (Global Macedonia), Obedinata Makedonija (United Macedonia) Makedonski Zrak (Macedonian Ray), and Mak Radio. Television programs include Makedonska Narodnost (Macedonian Nation), Macedonian Edition, and Makedonski Koreni (Macedonian Heritage).
The children of Macedonian immigrants are integrated in the mainstream of Canadian cultural life, and also figure prominently in the professional fields of law, medicine, science and technology, education, sports and recreation, and the arts and entertainment industry.
The Macedonian language belongs to the South Slavic group of languages. Various dialects of the language are spoken and maintained in the home and the literary language is taught to children in community and school heritage language classes.
[edit] List of Notable Macedonian Canadians
- Steve Stavro, businessman, founder of Knob Hill Farms and former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs
- John Bitove, Sr. - Businessman and former owner of the Toronto Raptors
- John Bitove, Jr - Businessman and CEO of Canadian Satellite Radio
- Jose Theodore - NHL goalie for Colorado Avalanche
- Ed Jovanovski - NHL player for Phoenix Coyotes
- Steve Staios - NHL player for Edmonton Oilers
- Dan Jancevski - NHL defenseman for Dallas Stars
- Steven Stamkos - Top prospect for 2008 NHL Draft
- Lui Temelkovski - Canadian Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Oak Ridges—Markham
- Ziya Tong - Television personality in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Thea Andrews - Actress and TV personality
- Boris Stoicheff - Physicist, professor emeritus U of T
- Lauren Karatanevski - Olympic Diver
