Sigge (Alf Sigvald) Björklund was born in Lappfjärd, Finland on February 15, 1926. He immigrated to Vancouver in 1956. Upon arriving in Vancouver he lived with his sister Linnea and worked as an electrician. Being an avid cross country skier from Finland, he loved the mountains of the west coast but couldn't find any suitable cross country skis to buy here. Sigge sprang in to action and started to import skis and sold them out of his garage. This venture eventually became “ Sigge's Sports Villa”, a retail store specializing in cross country ski equipment and clothing.

Sigge also frequented some of the Swedish societies and there met Elene Eastman whom he married in 1960. Elene came from a Swedish immigrant family and spoke fluent Swedish. She was also an accomplished pianist. Sigge took Elene on a 10month honeymoon, travelling throughout Europe in a red sports car! In 1962 Sigge was instrumental in forming “The Vancouver Skiers Cross-Country and Touring Club”. From an initial 30 members, membership increased to 500 in 1972. Determined to to showcase all the wonders of cross country skiing Sigge was involved in forming the Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructors (CANSI) in 1976 and the Nordic Ski club in 1980. Sigge was very generous with both his time and support for sponsoring young skiers.

Many Vancouverites will remember Sigge from the many bus trips he organized with the Vancouver Ski club, to Manning Park,Mt Seymour, Hollyburn (Cypress), Whistler and later to the interior of BC. Sigge was always on the bus to Manning Park and brought out the wine and cheese on the return journey back to Vancouver!

Starting in 1972 the Vancouver Skiers Club hosted 25 races a season at Mt Seymour, including 5 Olympic trial races. The Cariboo marathon started in 1976. To provide support for the racing community the Nordic ski club was started in 1980. Sigge Björklund was the life and soul of all this activity and seemed to love every minute of it. His son Anders took over the store after Sigge, but after 47 years in business “Sigge's Sports Villa” closed in 2018.

Sigge died in November 2018 and his beloved Elene in December 2018.

Sigge was a very enthusiastic man and loved his skiing. He continued to ski well in to his old age. He will be remembered as the father of Cross-Country skiing in BC.

Irene Howard was born in Prince Rupert,B.C. on November 19, 1922 to a Swedish father and a Norwegian mother, Nils Alfred Nilsson and Ingeborg Aarvik. Her father later changed his name to Alfred Nels Nelson.

Irene had a childhood of tremendous upheaval due to her father's work in different mines in BC. They moved from mine to mine living in tents and log cabins.She had three older brothers, Art, Verne and Ed and a younger brother Freddie.Their life was all about hard work and survival in the toughest conditions. Irene's mother died in 1931 when Irene was nine, from too hard work and childbirth. Her father died of silicosis in 1948.

Irene went to UBC and got a Master's degree in English and has taught at UBC and Capilano College. She is an author of several books. Her first book was “ Vancouver Svenskar”, a history of the Swedish Community in Vancouver published by Vancouver Historical Society. Irene presented this book to the King and Queen of Sweden when they visited Vancouver in 1988. She also wrote “ Bowen Island 1872 – 1972” published by Bowen Island Historians.

Irene wrote an important biography of social reformer Helena Guttridge, the first woman elected to Vancouver city council. The book is called “ The struggle for social justice: Helena Guttridge, the social reformer” This book earned a nomination for the BC Book Prize and won a UBC medal for Canadian biography. Guttridge was a labour organizer who fought for low income housing and women's rights until she died at 88. She had emigrated from Britain in 1911.

“I had to commemorate their labour, their monumental labour. I had to tell their heroic lives”. That is how Irene Howard introduces her own monumental work: “Gold Dust on his shirt, The true story of an immigrant mining family”. An inspiring and heart wrenching tribute to her parents. Gold dust is one of the most impressive memoirs ever written about a BC working class family. This is an epic tale of perseverance superbly told.

We congratulate Irene on her 100th Birthday on November 19th!!

Peter Larson was born in Sweden in 1858. He jumped ship in Victoria,BC and in 1883 came to Gastown and worked on the construction of the CP railway between Port Moody and Vancouver. He was one of Vancouver's original crew of firemen before the Great Fire that wiped out the newly incorporated city in 1886. When the first train arrived in Vancouver in 1887 he was ready with his Hotel Norden at 23 Cordova street. Soon after he built the Union Hotel on Abbot street which was mainly frequented by sailors.

There was a tight group of Swedish Immigrants in Vancouver by the 1890's and Pete Larson, like other young immigrants, married within their community. His wife was Gerda Peterson from Landskrona in Sweden.They went on to have 4 children; Alma, Rudolph, Olga, and Henry.

Around 1900 Peter and his wife moved across the inlet to the North Shore and on the waterfront established the North Vancouver Hotel (pictured above) on Esplanade. It was a handsome structure with broad lawns, pavilion and bandstand. It came to be known as Vancouver's finest summer resort. Rates were $2.00 per day including meals!

In 1909 Peter built Canyon View Hotel on the site of now Cleveland dam. Pete Larson also bought up large areas of North Shore waterfront. One of these purchases was 223 acres in West Vancouver's Gleneagles area which he bought for $319.00 ! Here he established a ranch and vacation retreat for his family. The ranch also provided fruit, vegetables and eggs for his hotels. Initially the ranch was accessed by boat only in Larson Bay. In 1914 Pete sold 11 acres to the PGE railway who in turn established “Larson Station” so Peter could access his property by railway. Peter Larson sold the ranch to developers in 1927, and it was subdivided in to residential lots and present Gleneagles golf course. The ranch is long gone but Peter Larson's orchard still remains on the golf course at the 6th hole!

Peter Larson was active in his community in North Vancouver. He belonged to the Elks club and the order of Eagles. He took charge of the North Vancouver May Day celebrations. The first of July was also celebrated at the North Vancouver Hotel in fine fashion. There was fireworks, canoe races and broncho busting not to mention the beef BBQ at which a whole steer would be roasted. Working at the hotel there was also a Chinese cook who spoke fluent Swedish as his father was a Swedish missionary! Sadly the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1929. Peter Larson passed away in 1934.

This month we would like to introduce to you our new Swedish honorary consul in Vancouver!

Carina grew up in a small village called Figeholm on the east coast of Sweden in the province of Småland. She came to Canada in 1986 and spent her first year here as a nanny to a family in Pitt Meadows, B.C. She met her future husband, Doug, at UBC in 1987. Carina enrolled in the Canadian travel School and got her Travel Diploma that enabled her to work for Thomas Cook Travel. Doug and Carina married in Vancouver in 1990. Two sons were born in 1992 and 1994 respectively.

Carina and Doug bought a food brokerage business in 1996 which they called “Summit Marketing Canada Ltd”. They together grew the company nationally and worked hard. In 2018 they sold the company after 22 successful years. Carina became involved in the Swedish societies through a Swedish friend and joined the Swedish Cultural Society . In 2014 she was chair of Sweden House Society. In 2016-2017 Carina was president of the Scandinavian Community Centre and is still a director today. She is also on the board of The Swedish Heritage in B.C.

"I still feel a strong connection to Sweden and this is the main reason I accepted the position as Swedish Honorary Consul for BC and Yukon. I am truly honoured and proud to carry on with all the great work so many people have done before me to preserve the Swedish Culture abroad and to build new connections between Canada and Sweden. This could never have happened if I had not made the decision to visit the Scandinavian Community Centre and thanks to all the wonderful people and experiences I had and continue to have at my home away from home."
- Carina Spencer

Before provincial healthcare, Workers' Compensation, and Employment Insurance provided relief from illness or accidents, which was especially prevalent among BC's dangerous manual labour occupations -- there was Svea. Svea operated as a sick benefit organization (including accidents and illness), which also helped with funeral costs, and donations to needy Swedes. Active during the years 1908-1968, it was initiated by Oscar L. Sundborg, a snuff manufacturer from Winnipeg who was later the editor of Svenska Vancouver Posten. There were ninety members in its first year and a list of members reveals that most came from a background as farmhands and labourers to work in Vancouver as loggers, carpenters, and labourers but also included such diverse occupations as waiters, a bartender, and even a civil engineer. An early rule from Svea’s statute book states that members should be Swedish-born men living in BC, with good character between the ages of 18-45. This was later amended to older members and their descendants, as well as Finn-Swedes.

To give an idea of the scope of Svea’s work, the following records indicate that from 1908-1922 (14 years) total revenue for the organization was $7,150.12 (approx. $175,700 in 2022 dollars). Keeping in mind that the pay was less than today, sick help was paid out in the amount of $2,697 (approx. $66,275 in 2022 dollars), funeral help was paid out in the amount of $300 (approx. $7,372 in 2022 dollars), and donations to needy Swedes was paid out in the amount of $414 (approx. $10,173 in 2022 dollars). A typical entry in their books on May 11, 1920 was the following: “Mr. A. Anderson presented a doctor’s certificate for the period April 13 to May 29. The society granted Mr. Anderson's claim for sick help for a period of seven weeks, $35.00”, which amounts to $464.43 in 2022 dollars.

However, Svea was more than a sick benefit organization. As soon as it was established, a "munterhetskommitte" or merriment committee was formed to organize parties and celebrations such as their first Midsummer Fest held at Pete Larson's North Vancouver Hotel. Party-goers were ferried across in a hired boat and enjoyed musicians and dancing on the spacious grounds of the new hotel. Women played a key role in donating their time and abilities to these social events, as well as fundraising activities — a role acknowledged in the Minutes by the Svea membership. Starting in 1910, there was lively debate about whether they could become members until 1921 when it was definitively voted down. One exception to the rule is the mysterious appearance of one Cecilia Wahlin, a domestic servant, registered in the membership log around the time the debate started.

Another committee was also formed in its first year. This was a political committee to improve Swedes’ political standing in Vancouver. Svea was also involved in social affairs and a committee in 1911 was formed to, “discuss if the society could do something for the suppression of the wild and unlawful life that happens in a few of the city’s pubs, where Scandinavians constitute the most prominent nationality”.

In the late 1950s, with changing government aid, Svea continued mostly to visit sick members and hold social meetings. Finally in 1968, after sixty years of service to the Swedish community in Vancouver, Svea disbanded.