Hard Work Conquers All

Above the entrance to the Finnish Labour Temple, in what was once Port Arthur in northern Ontario, is the motto labor omnia vincit – “hard work conquers all.” Since 1910, these words have reflected the dedication of the Finnish community in Canada.

Hard Work Conquers All is a social history of Finnish immigration and community building in Canada during the twentieth century. Each successive wave of immigration imbued the relationship between people, homeland, and host country with the politics, ideologies, and cultural expressions of its time.

The story of Finns in Canada dovetails with the larger literature on Canadian immigration and enriches the history of socialism and ethnic repression in this country. Hard Work Conquers All explores the nuanced cultural identities of Finnish Canadians, their continued ties to Finland, intergenerational cultural transfer, and the community’s connections with socialism and labour movements. It offers new interpretations of the lasting influence of Finnish immigration on Canadian politics and society.

Michel S. Beaulieu is the chair and an associate professor in the Department of History at Lakehead University and an associate of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University. His recent publications are The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior: A History of Canadian Internment Camp R (2015), Celluloid Dreams: An Illustrated History of Early Film at the Lakehead, 1900–31 (2012), and Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism and Politics, 1900-35 (2011). Among other awards, he has received the Northwestern Ontario Visionary Award (2016), the M. Elizabeth Arthur Award (2015), the Gertrude H. Dyke Award (2015), and the City of Thunder Bay Heritage Award (2011).

David K. Ratz is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oulu, Finland, and teaches in the Department of History at Lakehead University. His various publications explore the military history of northwestern Ontario and various aspects of Finnish Canadian history.

Ronald N. Harpelle is a professor in the Department of History at Lakehead University. His publications include Language and Power: A Linguistic Regime for North America (2013), Pulp Friction: Communities and the Forest Industry in a Globalized World (2012), Le CRDI: quarante ans de recherche pour le développement (2011), and Long-Term Solutions for a Short-Term World: Canada and Research for Development (2011). Ronald is also an award-winning filmmaker whose documentaries focus on history, development issues, and human rights.

The book’s greatest successes come in painting a complex history of Finnish-Canadian life, one that highlights the diversity of Finnish immigrants’ experiences.