It is now more than two decades since the Baltic nations regained independence. Much has changed, yet some things remain as it was under Soviet occupation. With that is meant that there are still some who wish to gain from the aftermath of Soviet occupation: the loss of land, property and wealth by those who fled the Red Terror, attempting to benefit from the struggles to reassert legal ownership of land lost during the war. Others made claims with regards to the legal testaments of those living in Canada.

In the period leading up to, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the restoration of democratic rule in the Baltics, there was a need for both translators and interpreters, who had the necessary command of both English and the Baltic language. The undersigned was among those Toronto Estonians who met the approval of translation bureaus and performed such tasks as needed. This type of work was mostly one of support for compatriots, both Canadian Estonians and those living in Eesti, as it did not pay all that well, was sporadic, and required an understanding of the Soviet system. Dictionaries were usually not of sufficient help in translation projects; interpretation required more that getting the gist of what was said or what clearly needed to be answered. Often the lawyers were themselves Canadian Estonians with good if not excellent command of the language – there was little room for error. The jobs were never simple, nor easy.

Some problems were created when dealing with legal specialists from Estonia – who at the time had little understanding of western ways or the Canadian systems. This, coupled with Soviet training, could lead to impasses, especially when wills were contested or the establishment of kinship was attempted. Not only had more than 55 years passed since the end of WW II, but paperwork was often spotty, or lacking. I recall one case where a demand for a share of the last testament of a Canadian Estonian was made, with a claim (not submission) of DNA evidence of relationship to the deceased being the foundation for the claim. No regard for the fact that the claimant was not in the will. It was almost as if being left in Estonia was enough for a “moral demand” for part of the wealth of a distant relative.

But such absurdities were rare. Some interesting cases did raise eyebrows among the translating/interpreting fraternity, who were also under oath to not reveal anything that transpired behind closed doors – in court, in hospital – as well as when translation pertained to notarized documents. They were not all immigration issues, as one might expect. One colleague bemoaned the numbers of young men who came to Canada or the U.S. solely with criminal intent. Once caught, they required interpreters to navigate the legal system, courts and even jails. They were, fortunately, among the minority of those requiring qualified interpreters, but let us not forget the grisly fate of Californian Viivi Piirisild, murdered by young Estonian men who she had taken under her wing.

A recent email from an Ottawa-area Estonian underlined that the problem still remains. There are still unscrupulous lawyers and their clients in the Baltics who wish to cash in on the wealth built over the decades by their Canadian relatives, no matter how distant. Especially so, when the relative is elderly.

(To be fair, this is not geographically a Baltic issue. Older people worldwide are frequently the target of scams, bilked, conned and yes, abused. Consider only the large advertisements on public transportation shelters in Toronto, warning about elder abuse and what steps concerned relatives can take. Or the difficulties experienced by those placed in nursing homes, best exemplified perhaps by the sad case of Dan Heap, former NDP MP and a very conscientious crusader for human rights, whose declining, Alzheimer affected years are not nearly as pleasant as a man of his stature should have to endure. And this all due to government regulations. However, some situations are more egregious than others.)

Fraud and land claims
The following is a brief summary of the email, sent to a number of people of Baltic origin. It outlined a case of attempted elder fraud, focusing on ancestral land claims. The sender is still attempting to piece together all the details; the case pertained to the sender’s grandmother-in-law. The woman is in her late 80s and suffers from dementia, which means that she is an ideal target for fraud.

This elderly lady was born in a region on the border of Estonia and Latvia. Years ago she thought she gave up the rights to her father’s land in Latvia but there is nothing on paper that anyone has seen. Recently a woman identifying herself as a lawyer from Latvia contacted her. This woman told her she was interested in the land, but did not leave her name or a phone number. The grandmother-in-law believed that this woman was interested in buying the land and did not know that she was a lawyer. Although my grandmother in law told the Latvian lawyer that the land was no longer hers, the Latvian lawyer insisted that the land was under her name and asked if she would sell it. At this point in time my grandmother-in-law was told that the Latvian lawyer would take care of all the costs and details. A couple of days later the Latvian lawyer called her again to set up a visit the next day from a local notary that the sender’s grandmother-in-law believed to be the Latvian lady’s lawyer.

At the same time the Latvian lawyer found a local Canadian notary on the internet, told the notary that she was my grandmother-in-law’s client, that she would pay all of his fees and that she wanted the Canadian notary to have my grandmother sign a blanket power of attorney for any dealings with the land. On this same power of attorney there was allowance for a yet to be determined third party to assume the power of attorney at a later date. The lawyer in Latvia noted on the power of attorney that she would also pay for any costs associated with transactions involving this land; however, there was not discussion of fees in the power of attorney. The Latvian lawyer was pushing the Canadian notary to get the signature as soon as possible and even had the Canadian notary call the Latvian ambassador in Ottawa to speed up the Latvian government approval of the recognition of the power of attorney. Only two days separated the first contact the Canadian notary in Canada had with the Latvian lawyer to the Canadian notary arriving at the elderly woman’s door in Canada. The emailer notes that there is a copy of the email trail of all correspondence between the lawyer in Latvia and the notary in Canada.

Relatives found out about this after the email sender’s grandmother-in-law met with the Canadian notary. Fortunately the documents needed a signature from the Latvian consulate, which was closed for the weekend by the time the notary could make it there. Once the Canadian notary was made aware of the situation (regarding misrepresentation by the Latvian lawyer) he immediately sent an email to the Latvian lawyer withdrawing his services and provided us with all of his documentation and contacts regarding this case. Since then we have been able to find out that the land is still available for my grandmother-in-law to claim, but that is all relatives in Canada know about the story so far.

The emailer emphasizes that this may not be an isolated case, and encourages those on the email list to talk to the elderly in our Baltic community and remind them not to sign anything without speaking with their family and consulting their own lawyer.

Finally, if any reader has questions regarding this incident please contact the emailer at The Consulate General of Estonia in Toronto is also very well qualified to provide necessary help if needed. From past experience it would not be surprising to hear about other, similar attempts to access the ancestral lands or Canadian accumulated chattel and monies of our elderly.

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