Based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the Friends of the Finnish Labour Temple takes its name from one of Canada’s most recognizable symbols of working-class and immigration history in Canada. Not only was the Finnish Labour Temple the location of the founding meeting of the Social Democratic Party of Canada, which was the foundation for what is now the New Democratic Party, it also served as an Industrial Workers of the World headquarters and has a long history of connection to the working-class.

Although the Friends of the Finnish Labour Temple might appear to be an organization focused on all things Finnish, we are actually more generally focused on labour and immigration in Canada.

The mandate of the Friends of the Finnish Labour Temple is:

To advance education by providing publicly available scholarships, bursaries, and other forms of financial assistance to university students;

To advance the public’s appreciation of the arts by producing high quality educational media and performing arts such as reports, books, articles, plays, films, and music, and making these available to the public; and

To advance education by conducting research projects regarding the historical and cultural legacy of immigration to Canada and disseminating the results of the research to the public.

Visit our website for more information about what we do.