Toronto, February 14, 2017 – Though photos, documents and life stories, Sharing our Stories: The Baltic Diaspora at Home in Canada profiles the age-old story of people forced to leave their homeland due to war and political oppression and start a new life elsewhere. This exhibit is based on a series of interviews with seniors from Ontario’s Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Baltic German communities. Their personal 'snapshot stories' shed light on what it means to be Baltic, and on the universal experiences of migration and settlement.
“Seniors are keepers of cultural history and the generation of post-war immigrants in Canada is rapidly aging. We are at a critical moment for capturing and sharing the rich cultural knowledge that this generation has to offer,” says Petra Grantham, president of the Canadian Baltic Immigrant Aid Society.
The exhibit launches on Saturday March 4, 2017 at 2pm at VEMU/Estonian Studies Centre, 310 Bloor Street (entrance on Madison Avenue). It will run from March 4 – March 29 and is open to the public from 10am-5pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. From 10am-7pm on Wednesdays and 12-4pm on Sundays. Admission is free.
The project partners are the Canadian Baltic Immigrant Aid Society, VEMU/Estonian Studies Centre, Lithuanian Museum Archives of Canada and the Canadian Latvian Archive and Museum (Latvian National Federation in Canada), who are working together as a collaborative known as Baltic Canadian Imprints. The ‘Snapshot Stories: Learning and Legacy Through Visual and Oral History’ project is funded by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program.

Contact: Piret Noorhani
VEMU / Estonian Studies Centre
piret.noorhani@vemu.ca
416-925-9405

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