''Vapaus'' (Freedom) was a Finnish-Canadian communist newspaper, published in Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

from 1917 to 1974.C.M. Wallace and Ashley Thomson, ''Sudbury: Rail Town to Regional Capital''.

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, 1993. . ''Vapaus'', whose content was published in the

Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedis ...

, was closely associated with the

Finnish Organization of Canada Finnish Organization of Canada (FOC, fi, Kanadan Suomalainen Järjestö) is a Finnish Canadian cultural organization. It was established in 1911 as the Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada (''Kanadan Suomalainen Sosialistinen Järjestö''). FOC ...

, an organization connected to the Communist Party of Canada. The paper was noted for the 1929 trial and conviction of editor Arvo Vaara on charges of sedition and libel. The charge stemmed from purportedly unpatriotic remarks against

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

published in the paper, although a community religious group made larger claims that the paper was "subversive of morals and good Canadian citizenship". T.D. Jones, a

United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

clergyman who led the campaign against ''Vapaus'', asserted that the Finnish community in the Sudbury area was "living in terror" of Communist intimidation, that children were being indoctrinated with seditious ideas and that the paper was undermining the sanctity of

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

by encouraging Finnish families to live in common-law relationships. Vaara was defended in the trial by Arthur Roebuck, who would later become Attorney General of Ontario in the government of

Mitchell Hepburn Mitchell Frederick Hepburn (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th premier of Ontario, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, appointed at age 37. He was the only Ontario Liberal Party leader in the 20th cent ...

. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. In 1974, the newspaper merged with the Finnish-Canadian literary magazine '' Liekki'', moved to

Toronto 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 anch ...

and was renamed '' Viikkosanomat''. Later the paper took up its old name ''Vapaus'', and continued publication until 1990. Its role was continued partially by the magazine ''Kaiku'', published by the Finnish Organization of Canada since 1990. ''Kaiku'' is predominantly in English, with pages in Finnish as well.

References

External links

Multicultural Canada website
digitized issues of Vapaus, 1921–1930, 1948–1974 1917 establishments in Ontario 1974 disestablishments in Ontario Defunct newspapers published in Ontario Defunct weekly newspapers Finnish-language newspapers Finnish-Canadian institutions Multicultural and ethnic newspapers published in Canada Newspapers published in Greater Sudbury Publications established in 1917 Publications disestablished in 1974 Weekly newspapers published in Ontario {{italic title