Arvoisat vastaanottajat / USP members,

I am pleased to share with you a year-end summary of the work done by the Finnish Expatriate Parliament (USP / FEP).
A total of 512 organizations in 38 countries are presently members of USP. Growth in USP can be expected from the numerous new Suomi-koulut and organizations from the Asian continent.
Legal status for USP has moved forward. In the fall the Speakers Council met a number of Ministers and Committee Chairmen to advance the cause. The Minister responsible for USP, Interior Minister Petteri Orpo, will meet with the Secretariat in January 2016. Undersecretary Päivi Nerg has offered to set up a multi-ministerial working group.
The financial situation of Suomi-koulut will be known on Dec. 18 when the Finnish Parliament finishes its budgetary votes. Despite the tough economic times, USP is optimistic that the Finnish language and cultural education of expatriate children will not be overlooked. There are presently 4,238 students that receive subsidies, studying in 136 schools in 37 countries. It should be noted that there are many, many more operational schools, which do not receive assistance.
The Finnish Expatriate Parliament homepage has a number of news articles at www.usp.fi -> What’s New? There is information regarding information services, blog, President’s Independence Day message, USP/FEP Jubilee full session timeline in 2017 celebrating Finland’s centennial, results of the USP membership survey in 2014 and Speakers Council fall meeting report. The 2017 timeline is printed in Finnish on the second page.
The focus in 2016 will remain additionally on the mail vote and on citizenship matters such as passport applications and its duration. More details can be found at www.usp.fi -> Activity.
Our domestic activities include monthly translation of the Sutinat from Finnish to English, translation of Liisa Kovala’s book “The Day Soon Dawns” from English to Finnish, preparation of an intensive Finnish course in Toronto in the summer of 2016, a book on the Toronto area Finns and a book on the accomplishments of Finnish Canadians across Canada, to be published in the spring of 2017 to celebrate Finland’s centennial of independence and Canada’s 150th birthday.
Many thanks to contributors to the crowdfunding of the Finnish Studies at the University of Toronto. It is the largest, most comprehensive program dedicated to the study of Finnish language and culture in North America. The program has offered high-quality courses in Finnish language, literature, culture, cinema, and immigrant experience for more than 1300 Canadian and Finnish-Canadian students.
Over the upcoming holidays you may wish to listen to a BBC program on Sibelius, mixing in a bit of Finnish history. It was presented first on the Finnish Independence Day celebrated on December 6 and will be on the website until January 6. It is an excellent program about Finland in English. The program can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r49bf Please see a synopsis on the following page.

Wishing all of you Hauskaa Joulua and Hyvää Uutta Vuotta 2016

Veli Niinimaa
Chairman, Canada region
Northern Lights: Finlandia

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