Varapuhemiehen raportti 2018
Chairman’s Report 2018
Calgary, June 10, 2018

Finnish Expatriate Parliament Session 2017
The June 16-17 session was held at the University of Helsinki. A total of 186 delegates and 74 observers, representing 193 member organizations, attended. The Canadian delegation consisted of 15 members. In the Chairman’s and Vice Chairman’s absence Irina Ilmokari and Niilo Saari represented Canada. Many thanks to both of them. Over 70 initiatives were submitted and at the end 55 resolutions were passed. They are posted at www.usp.fi. Copies were presented to Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, who has sent them for comments to the appropriate ministries.
Speakers Council meeting was held on 12-13. 4. The key items that were discussed consisted of preparations for the April 2019 mail vote with officials from the Justice Ministry, obtaining legal status for the USP / FEP, meeting with Yle regarding improving expatriate access to Areena. Other discussion items included tracking of the passed resolutions, updating USP operating policy and a survey by Deputy Speakers of the youth programs in their regions.

Finland 100 / Canada 150 Celebrations
With heavy promotion by Suomi-Seura and USP / FEP, about 40 events were organized by Finnish-Canadian organizations. They ranged from Suomi-koulu festivities and veterans events to luncheons and gala evenings. Finnish-Canadian authors published over two dozen publications, a highly respectable output for a relatively small group. A list is available on the Canada Region website www.usp.fi -> region = Canada.

Suomi-Seura ry Awards
Suomi-Seura marked the Finnish centennial by awarding 30 medals to Finnish-Canadians, namely 8 Gold, 13 Silver and 9 Bronze awards. The majority of the nominations were made by USP / FEP. A few additional deserving candidates have been identified for recognition in 2018.

USP/FEP Membership
The number of member organizations has been stable at 61 for a number of years. A campaign aimed at the over 30 non-member Finnish-Canadian organizations has produced two new members thus far. A large membership is beneficial to USP/FEP in its representation of the nearly 2 million expatriates to the government of Finland, and for keeping the largest possible number of Finnish-Canadians informed about items of concern to them.

Finnish Presidential Election
A total of 611 (4.9%) Finnish-Canadians voted in the January 2018 presidential election. The reasons for the very low turn out were the long distances to advance polls and the very limited hours of operation, mostly from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a single Wednesday. The number of votes cast were as follows:
Toronto 196 Vancouver 152 Montréal 92 Ottawa 51 Calgary 47 Thunder Bay 43 Sudbury 30
According to the Finnish Population Registry, there were 12,453 eligible voters in Canada. A total of 5,887 notifications were mailed. The remaining 6,566 potential voters were not sent any information, because the registry did not have a mailing address. The number of returned notifications due to an inaccurate address is unknown. It is obvious that Finnish-Canadians need to check the accuracy of their mailing address at the Population Registry. (www.Maistraatti.fi or www.Suomi.fi)

Suomi-Seura Newsletter
The new revised format of the Suomi-Seura newsletter has refreshed communication between Suomi-Seura ry, Finnish Expatriate Parliament and their memberships. I have continued to translate it into English, adding news of interest to the North-American Finns.

Veli Niinimaa
Chairman, Canada Region Veli@nucleus.com

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