Baltic Canadian Imprints

The Baltic Canadian Imprints partnership is launching SHARING OUR STORIES: THE BALTIC DIASPORA IN CANADA, a project that brings together youth and seniors who share a common Baltic heritage to gather oral histories. Through interviews and by showing meaningful photos, documents and artifacts, the seniors will share their personal experience, cultural identity and reflections on Baltic heritage with youth in their community. Seniors are keepers of cultural history and the generation of post-war immigrants is rapidly disappearing. We are therefore at a critical moment for sharing and documenting the rich cultural knowledge that this generation has to offer.

The recordings, photos and information gathered through SHARING OUR STORIES will be used to create an exhibit launching at Toronto's Estonian Studies Centre/VEMU in March 2017. Each organization involved will also add the information and materials to their archive collections, so they are preserved for their respective communities, academics, historians and future generations.

This exciting project involves seniors as cultural mentors and will able youth to gain a new understanding and appreciation of their cultural heritage. It will also contribute to a strengthened Baltic presence in Ontario's multicultural community. For more information about SHARING OUR STORIES, to participate as a volunteer or if you know someone who would should be interviewed, please contact the project organizers:

• Canadian Baltic Immigrant Aid Society – Petra Grantham cbias.hv@hotmail.com
• Latvian National Federation in Canada/Canadian Latvian Archive & Museum – Andris Kesteris andriskesteris8@gmail.com
• Lithuanian Museum-Archives Canada – Dani Breen klma@primus.ca
• VEMU/Estonian Studies Centre – Piret Noorhani piret.noorhani@vemu.ca