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Cracks in the community and St. Peter’s Recently, a lot has been dis cussed regarding the fact that the St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church’s congrega tion is in dire straits and on the path to insolvency. There is a lot of interest within the community about this and discussions are ongoing among various groups as to how best to deal with the crisis. For some, saving the church building is more important than finding the best way to ensure that the congregation can continue to meet its primary purpose for existence which is to serve the Lord. As a result, there is division among the membership. This division is symptomatic of the general rifts present in our community. Some groups, ideally, wish to preserve all of the institutions established by the original Estonian refugees who arrived just after WWII, although as to how they will accomplish that is unclear. Another group feels the best way to save their institution is to assess the assets and try to find the best way to leverage them to maximize life expectan cy while staying true to the original vision of the specific organization. Many of those plans are also still evolving. Yet others are joining forces to set a new course for the future of the community (e.g. the Estonian Centre). Some community members have grand ideas and hopes and dreams but no money nor plan as to how to realize their vision, while others with access to re sources and a clear vision are pressing on with theirs. One serious challenge in the community is how to find the best way to save St. Peter’s. Although the St. Peter’s council has been warning its members in various ways for over ten years that membership, atten dance at services, and donations have been declining, and have called upon everyone to support their efforts to reverse this trend, the number of supporters has continued to dwindle. The greatest damage was done by the pandemic. With widespread lockdowns and fear that was spread within the community, attendance dropped close to zero for months. Despite government support and continued income from the church’s main tenant, expenses and upkeep did not abate and the drop in resources continued. It is very expensive to maintain a large building like the church, and without a steady stream of continuous substantial member support the congregation seems to be inevi tably facing insolvency in the near future. What are the alternatives that have been proposed? This is the problem! Up until the most recent general meeting at St. Peter’s, there had been no substantial opposition to the
EESTI ELU reedel, 22. juulil 2022 — Friday, July 22, 2022
proposal of the church board to put the building up for sale so that the congregation can liqui date its assets and prepare for the future. This harsh reality finally hit home for some mem bers when the requirement to move the Columbarium to a new location was presented at a subsequent meeting. A few members quickly formed an opposition group and started their activities by publishing a series of articles in the Estonian media in Toronto, publicly questioning every aspect, both true and imagined, of the coun cil’s activities. Each subsequent article intensified the criticism, bordering on the vindictive, but offered no constructive propo sals. Things are quiet for the sum mer. However it is for certain that come September, the activi ty will return. Will there be any new proposals offered? Will there be any sudden increase in church attendance and dona tions? In the meantime, the expenses are continuing. (The church’s financials are available to all members of the congrega tion and have always been made available at all general meetings.) Lurking in the back ground are the imminent loss of the financial life support brought by the leaving of the church’s main tenant, the huge cost to re-erect the cross, main tain the roof, move the colum barium, cover the substantial legal expenses forced onto the church by the group calling themselves the “Friends of St. Peter’s” and the increase of the price of everything due to the accelerating rise of inflation. And to top it off, there is the anonymous application for Heritage Designation that has the potential of wiping out the value of the property and leaving the congregation without any means of survival. These costs have only spiked up the cash outflows, thus shortening the time to insolvency and, with no one left capable of paying for anything, the abandoning of the church. The clock is ticking! OLEV MAIMETS
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This stark difference in social media consumption between those who believe versus those who don’t believe in this and other persistent claims stresses the importance of doubling down on efforts to combat mis information in online spaces, especially misinformation seeded by foreign adversaries. The perils of pro-Kremlin propaganda are real, and we should not underestimate its potential to shape public per ception in Canada. The aim of an information operation is not necessarily to make everyone believe. It is often sufficient to sow doubt and confusion, as well as to delay or derail consensus amongst one’s adver saries, their allies and bystan ders.
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New directors join Toronto Estonian House and Estonian Arts Centre boards Two new board members have joined as directors on two boards associated with KESKUS International Esto nian Centre: Pia Poolsaar was elected to the Estonian House in Toronto Ltd. (EHTL) board by its shareholders and EHTL appointed Silver Tambur to the Estonian Arts Centre (EAC) board. EHTL Board Chair Veiko Parming welcomes Pia Poolsaar to the Estonian House board, saying, “With the move out date from Estonian House now con firmed, we’re delighted that Pia will help steer the transition, including the effort to ensure that community groups have suitable locations in which to carry on activities as plan our move in to KESKUS. We are on the threshold of creating a truly remarkable space for the Estonian community in North America and around the world!” Liisa Käärid, board chair of EAC, is equally enthusiastic welcoming Silver Tambur to the EAC board, noting “Silver has creatively furthered the Esto nian diaspora’s global network for many years. His efforts align well with EAC’s objec tives to engage the community through the arts, and to share what Estonia has to offer with the rest of the world. With Silver’s runaway success with Estonian World, and the civil society discourse he generates through his “Estonishing Eve nings” series, to name but a few of his initiatives, EAC is de lighted to welcome Silver to the EAC board.” Retiring from the EHTL board is Robert Kübar, who served for three years on that board. Retiring from the EAC board is Mihkel Kütti, who also contributed to EAC’s communi cations committee. They are both thanked for their service to these boards. Meet the new board members
Pia Poolsaar Pia Poolsaar has been active in the Estonian community since she was a young child, starting out in New York City and continuing after moving to Toronto as a young adult. Currently Pia is a leader/ nooremgaider with the Estonian Girl Guides and has been an active juht, or leader, with the Põhjarada brownies/hellakesed for the past 14 years. Pia plays
Our research provides evi dence that the Kremlin’s disin formation is reaching more Canadians than one would expect. Left unchallenged, state-sponsored information operations can stoke tensions and undermine democracy.
flute with the Kõla Orkester, is a member of the sorority Korp! Amicitia and sings with Estonia Koor. Both of Pia’s daughters at tended the Estonian supplemen tary school in Toronto, Toronto Eesti kool, sang with the koolikoor at Laulupidu, and were active participants in guides/ gaidlus and at Jõekääru Esto nian Children’s Summer Camp, where they too took leadership roles. Professionally, Pia works at Desjardins Insurance in a dual role not only supporting a large national wholesaling team, but also as the executive assistant to the team’s Regional Vice-Presi dent. “Taking on a leadership role with the KESKUS project to help the community groups move into KESKUS is another way for me to give back to the community. It is a natural pro gression from my longstanding involvement in the Estonian community on both sides of the border, from childhood on up, and is an opportunity for me to use my professional administra tive skills,” says Pia. “Being Estonian has given me opportunities in life to de velop skills and friendships that have defined who I am, and I want to ensure that future generations have this same opportunity as our diaspora community evolves. My daugh ters are eagerly looking forward to meeting with their Estonian friends at KESKUS, continuing their involvement with the com munity and introducing it to their wider networks as a point of pride of what our relatively small global community of Estonians can achieve when we work together. “I look forward to working with our local community groups as we complete our new home and learn how best to use it. I am sure that the design and thinking that has and continues to go into this aspirational pro ject will elevate and inspire us in so many new ways. The future is bright and I am con fident that the outcome will be wonderful.”
Silver Tambur Silver Tambur is a cofounder and editor-in-chief of Estonian World. With over 60,000 fol lowers in the social media, it is the most popular Estonian on line magazine published in English. Approximately 75% of Estonian World’s readers are based abroad, majority of them in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. In addition, Silver has contributed to the Deutsche Welle and Radio New Zealand. After living in London (UK) for over ten years, Silver re turned to his native Estonia in 2014 and has since made efforts to make the country more inclu
Silver Tambur
Pia Poolsaar
sive and caring. He is a strong proponent for a more socially cohesive society. He is also a cofounder of Estonishing Evenings, the Tallinn-based series of Englishspeaking events hosting dif ferent speakers expressing their viewpoints and experiences on hot topics and matters concern ing both the locals and the non-natives living in Estonia. In early 2018, Silver was awarded by the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organisa tions for his work of improving Estonia’s image abroad as well as making it a more open society internally – he was named the recipient of the “2017 mission award”. In 2019, Silver cofounded the Kõigi Eesti (#myestoniatoo) citizen movement that within days gathered the support of almost 30,000 people. The movement stands for a caring, respectful, dignified, successful and inclusive Estonia, full of opportunities. KESKUS valued donors make a critical difference! Please join our growing list of capital campaign donors. The KESKUS International Estonian Centre’s donor categories are Kalevipoja laud for gifts over $100,000 (including naming rights for specific areas), Koidula gild, which is from $50,000-99,999, Viru vanemad for gifts of $10,000-$49,999, and Kungla rahvas for gifts up to $10,000. KESKUS leadership donors are listed here: www. estoniancentre.ca/capital-cam paign To make a donation, please call +1.647.250.7136 or email donations@estoniancentre.ca. Donations may be made as a family gift, or in honour of an individual or family. All do nations are issued a tax receipt. Let’s keep in touch! • Visit the KESKUS website for all the latest news • Sign up for the KESKUS monthly email newsletter • Follow KESKUS on Face book @EestiKeskus, Twitter @ keskus, Instagram @keskus.iec
