The Canadian Esperanto Association ( eo, Kanada Esperanto-Asocio, french: Association canadienne d'espéranto, KEA) is a registered educational charity whose objective is to advance the education of

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

among the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

public. KEA's founding convention was held in 1958 in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, after a decision to create the organization was made by postal referendum among the known Canadian Esperantists in 1958. Its predecessor was an association of the same name founded in 1907 but voluntarily dissolved itself in 1939 in order not to distract its members from efforts towards winning

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which started in that year. The Canadian Esperanto Association is the Canadian section of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (UEA), and its youth section, Canadian Esperanto Youth (''Junularo Esperantista Kanada'', JEK), is the Canadian section of the World Esperanto Youth Organization. KEA publishes a semi-annual magazine edited in Esperanto, ''Lumo'' (= light); its current editor is Camille-Amélie Marie-Madelaine Koziej Lévesque. It also occasionally publishes books in Esperanto. The organization's leadership consists of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and up to seven (currently, four) directors. Membership is about 120. For many years, KEA held an annual convention (called a "congress" in accordance with Esperanto-movement usage), sometimes jointly with the

Esperanto League for North America Esperanto-USA (E-USA) is the largest organization for speakers and supporters of Esperanto in the United States. It was founded in 1952 as the Esperanto League for North America (ELNA) in Sacramento, California. Headquartered in Portland, Maine, ...

or during an international Esperanto congress, but with the arise of annual regional Esperanto conventions in both Western and Central Canada, the holding of national Canadian Esperanto conventions has become less frequent. KEA was chosen to host to the 2020

World Esperanto Congress The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...

(''Universala Kongreso, UK 2020'') in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

External links

Home page of Canadian Esperanto groupsOfficial CEA websiteCEA Facebook pageYahoo newsgroup for Canadian Esperanto speakers
{{Authority control National Esperanto organizations Civic and political organizations of Canada Esperanto in Canada