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Archival description
Collection · 1968 - 2007

Lakehead's Alumni Association Magazines: Alumni Magazine, Nor'Wester Magazine, Lakehead University Magazine, Lakehead University Alumni Magazine.

Collection · 1965 - 2017

Programs for Lakehead University Convocation, scanned as PDF. Programs include lists of graduates, as well as information on honorees and ceremonies.

Collection · 2018

Web material related to the 2018 municipal elections in municipalities across Northwestern Ontario.

Sites crawled include those of municipalities, candidates, news sources, and third party groups making endorsements or recommendations.

The Argus
Collection · 1966 - 1969

The Argus is the student newspaper of Lakehead University.

This collection consists of scans of the first three years of the Argus, from September 1966 to March 1969.

Fonds · 2020

Documents the public information-sharing of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning March 2020. Daily updates relate to the hospital's readiness and operations, and testing and detection of COVID-19 in the Thunder Bay region. The records include text updates and video interviews with hospital leadership and others.

Silver Islet Collection
Collection · 1870 - 1910

Photographs and documents from the Silver Islet Mine and Silver Islet Store, including ledgers and a chart.

A rich deposit of silver was discovered on Silver Islet in 1868. A small island at the tip of the Sibley Peninsula, the mine was built deep below the waterline, and relied on breakwaters and pumps. Silver Islet was mined until 1884, when pumps failed, and the mine was flooded. The small community built on shore to support the mine is still inhabited.

Bill Addison fonds
Fonds · 1967 - 2001

The records relate to Addison's advocacy work on the development and management of Provincial Parks in Ontario. Includes work with the Save Quetico Committee, the Coalition for Wilderness, and Parks for Tomorrow. These three groups were often in direct correspondence with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the records contain many MNR and other government reports.

Fonds · 1911 - 1981

Records of the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö [Finnish Organization of Canada], Vapaus Publishing Company (responsible for publishing Vapaus and Liekki and other publications), Suomalais-Canadalaisen Amatoori Urheiluliiton [Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation], co-operatives, and more.

Includes meeting minutes, reports, financial statements, and correspondence related to the operations and administration of these organizations. Also includes a variety of document and pamphlets related to socialism, communism, and the peace movement in Canada and worldwide.

The Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada) is the oldest nationwide Finnish cultural organization in Canada. For over a century the CSJ has been one of the main organizations for Finnish immigrants in Canada with left-wing sympathies and, in particular, those with close ties to the Communist Party of Canada. Through the early to mid 1920s, Finnish-Canadians furnished over half the membership of the Communist Party and some, like A.T. Hill (born Armas Topias Mäkinen), became leading figures in the Party. Beyond support for leftist political causes, the cooperative and labour union movements, many local CSJ branches in both rural and urban centres established halls – some 70 of which were built over the years in communities across Canada – that hosted a range of social and cultural activities including dances, theatre, athletics, music, and lectures. The CSJ is also known for its publishing activities, notably the Vapaus (Liberty) newspaper.

The CSJ underwent several changes in its formative years related to both national and international developments. Founded in October 1911 as the Canadan Suomalainen Sosialisti Järjestö (CSSJ; Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada), the organization served as the Finnish-language affiliate of the Canadian Socialist Federation which soon after transformed into the Social Democratic Party of Canada (SDP). By 1914, the CSSJ had grown to 64 local branches and boasted a majority of the SDP membership with over 3,000 members. One year later the organization added two more local branches but membership had dropped to 1,867 members thanks, in part, to a more restrictive atmosphere due to Canada’s involvement in the First World War and an organizational split that saw the expulsion or resignation of supporters of the Industrial Workers of the World from the CSSJ.

In September 1918, the Canadian federal government passed Order-in-Council PC 2381 and PC 2384 which listed Finnish, along with Russian and Ukrainian, as ”enemy languages” and outlawed the CSSJ along with thirteen other organizations. The CSSJ successfully appealed the ban in December 1918 but dropped ”Socialist” from its name. The organization operated under the name Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö until December 1919. The SDP, however, did not recover from the outlawing of its foreign-language sections, leaving the CSJ without a political home. Stepping into this organizational vacuum was the One Big Union of Canada (OBU), founded in June 1919. The CSJ briefly threw its support behind this new labour union initiative, functioning as an independent ”propaganda organization of the OBU” until internal debates surrounding the structure of the Lumber Workers Industrial Union affiliate and the OBU decision not to join to the Moscow-headquartered Comintern led to its withdrawal shortly thereafter. In 1924, CSSJ activists including A.T. Hill helped to found the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada (LWIUC).

Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution that toppled the Tsarist Russian Empire in November 1917, and following the founding of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) as an underground organization in May 1921, the CSSJ rapidly became an integral part of the nascent Communist movement in Canada. Reflecting this change, in 1922 the organization was renamed the Canadan Työläispuolueen Suomalainen Sosialistilärjestö (FS/WPC; Finnish Socialist Section of the Workers’ Party of Canada) – the Workers’ Party of Canada being the legal front organization of the CPC. In 1923, Finnish-Canadian Communists formed a separate cultural organization, the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada Inc.), to serve as a kind of ”holding company” ensuring that the organization’s considerable properties and assets would be safe from confiscation by the government or capture from rival left-wing groups. With the legalization of the CPC in 1924, the FS/WPC became the Canadan Kommunistipuolueen Suomalainen Järjestö (FS/CP; Finnish section of the Communist Party of Canada). Between 1922 and 1925, membership in the CSJ through its various transitions also doubled as membership in the Communist Party. This arrangement ended in 1925 when the FS/CP was disbanded following the ”bolshevization” directives of the Comintern. These directives demanded that separate ethnic organizations in North America be dissolved in favour of more disciplined and centralized party cells. It was hoped that this reorganization would help attract new members outside of the various Finnish, Ukrainian, and Jewish ethnic enclaves that had furnished the bulk of the CPC dues paying membership in Canada. From this point onwards, the CSJ officially functioned as a cultural organization but maintained a close, albeit sometimes strained, association with the CPC. The 1930s represent the peak of the CSJ size and influence, occuring during the Third Period and Popular Front eras of the international Communist movement. During this period CSJ union organizers assisted in the creation of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union – a unit of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of the American Federation of Labor, successor to the LWIUC – and the reemergence of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in Sudbury and Kirkland Lake. CSJ activists also helped to recruit volunteers for the International Brigades that fought against nationalist and fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Finally, in the 1930s some 3,000 CSJ members or sympathizers embarked on the journey from Canada to the Soviet Union to help in the efforts to industrialize the Karelian Autonomous Soviet. Hundreds of Finns in Karelia would later perish in Stalin’s purges.

Despite the CSJ’s active support for the Canadian war effort, the organization was still deemed to be a threat to national security by the federal government and again outlawed in 1940. All FOC properties were seized and closed. The Suomalais Canadalaisten Demokraattien Liitto (SCDL; Finnish-Canadian Democratic League) served as the FOC’s main legal surrogate until the organization was legalized in 1943. The rapid decline of the FOC following this period is apparent from the fact that of the 75 locals in operation in 1936, only 36 remained active in 1950.

Further reading:
Edward W. Laine (edited by Auvo Kostianen), A Century of Strife: The Finnish Organization of Canada, 1901-2001 (Turku: Migration Institute of Finland), 2016.
Arja Pilli, The Finnish-Language Press in Canada, 1901-1939: A Study of Ethnic Journalism (Turku: Institute of Migration), 1982.
William Eklund, Builders of Canada: History of the Finnish Organization of Canada, 1911-1971 (Toronto: Finnish Organization of Canada), 1987.

Fonds · 1933 - 1990

The fonds consists of minutes, membership lists, newsletters, correspondence, a photograph and four negatives, bird census data, and other records associated with the activities of the club. The fonds consists of the following series:

  1. Constitution and Bylaws
  2. Minutes
  3. Treasurer
  4. Club History
  5. Membership Lists
  6. Newsletter
  7. Research and Information
  8. Lobbying
  9. Conferences
  10. 50th Anniversary
  11. Ephemera
Ken Armson slides
Collection · 1952 - 1995

Photographic slides of various archaeological digs from around the world and in Northwestern Ontario. Slides of various forestry field studies in several regions from 1952-1995. Includes images of trees, equipment, erosion, fire damage, forest management audits, land use, geology, and genetics and tree improvement.

Armson, Ken
Paul McRae fonds
Fonds · 1974 - 1984

The correspondence, government employment program material, reports, and minutes for Paul McRae's years as Liberal MP for Fort William and then Thunder Bay-Atikokan. The records cover both national and local issues.

McRae was first elected in 1972, and served four terms in Parliament until 1984.

Northern Woman Journal
Fonds · 1973 - 1997

Northern Woman Journal began as a newsletter covering feminist issues for readers in Northwestern Ontario, and developed into a journal featuring political stories at the location, provincial, national, and international level, fiction and artwork, personal stories, letters and opinions, and information on local events.

The Journal's creation was closely linked to the community of feminists including Margaret Phillips and the management of the Northern Woman Bookstore.

The records include:
A complete run of the Journal from 1973 to 1995
Administrative records, including meeting minutes, correspondence, and accounting
Editorial records, including graphics and submitted pieces
Other related publications

Dr Walter Momot fonds
Fonds · 1950-2005

Records relate to water quality and fish research in Northwestern Ontario.

In 1986, the International Joint Commission’s Remedial Action Plan for the Great Lakes designated four Canadian areas of concern (AOC) in Lake Superior. The following areas were identified to have water quality impairments, Thunder Bay, Nipigon Bay, Jackfish Bay, and Peninsula Harbour (Marathon, Ontario). Pulp and Paper mills were identified as a major source of pollution. In Thunder Bay, the inventory and assessment projects were initiated as Stage 1 and completed by 1991. Stage 2, remedial strategies, completed in 2004. General issues: unpleasant foam, oily residue, and odour in waterways, high levels of chemicals in sediment and fish, loss of fish and wildlife habitat, impacts to sediment-dwelling organisms, and impacts on fish populations. Specific fish habitat concerns were water quality degradation, loss of wetland, degradation or loss of spawning substrate, and habitat destruction by dredging. Important fish population problems have occurred over time due to fish habitat loss from both physical and chemical changes on Lake Superior and its tributaries.
Many government agencies were involved with Lake Superior remedial action plans including the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Department of Fisheries Oceans (DFO), Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Lakehead Conservation Authority. Lakehead University was tasked with portions of the fish and fish habitat inventory in Stage 1 and providing an external review of the stage 2 plans for remedial action. Lakehead University sought Dr. Walter Momot, Professor of Ichthyology with this responsibility.

This collection is divided into three series involving the International Joint commissions Remedial Action Plans of the Canadian Portion of Lake Superior.
1) Kaministiquia River Project
a. Kaministiquia River External Reports
2) Northwestern Ontario Fish Inventory Collection
3) Remedial Action Plan Reviews

Further Reading;
• Cullis, Ken I., et al. Fish Community and Aquatic Habitat of the Kaministiquia River, 1987. Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources, 1987.
• Cullis, Ken I., et al. Fish Community and Aquatic Habitat of the Kaministiquia River, 1987. [Thunder Bay Remedial Action Plan], 1990.
• Dean, J. F., et al. Geofisheries: A New Concept for Determining Fish Habitat Suitability as Applied to Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis). Lakehead University. Dept of Biology, 1991.
• Hartviksen, Connie and Momot, Walter T. Fishes of the Thunder Bay Area of Ontario a Guide for Identifying and Locating the Local Fish Fauna. Thunder Bay Salmon Association. 1987.
• Hartviksen, Connie, and Walter T. Momot. Fishes of the Thunder Bay Area of Ontario: A Guide for Identifying and Locating the Local Fish Fauna. Wildwood Press, 1989.
• Momot, Walter T. Review and Recommendations Concerning Delisting Criteria and Beneficial Use Impairments for the Four North Coast of Lake Superior Areas of Concern. Dept. of Biology, Lakehead University, 2005.
• Momot, Walter T., and S. A. Stephenson. Threespine, Gasterosteus Aculeatus, and Fourspine, Apeltes Auadracus, Sticklebacks in the Lake Superior Basin. 2000.
• Momot, Walter T., and Sam A. Stephenson. Isostatic Rebound and Its Effects on Fish Colonization and Distribution in the Western Lake Superior Basin. National Research Council., 1993.
• Momot, Walter T., et al. Reproductive Guilds of Percids : Results of the Paleogeographical History of Ecological Succession. s.n.], 1977?
• Momot, Walter T., and Sam A. Stephenson. Atlas of the Distribution of Fish within the Canadian Tributaries of Western Lake Superior. Lakehead Centre for Northern Studies, 1996.
• Picard, Christopher Robert, et al. Effectiveness of Using Summer Thermal Indices to Classify and Protect Brook Trout Streams in Northern Ontario?
• Stephenson, Sam A. The distribution of fishes in the Thunder Bay area of northwestern Ontario since deglaciation, with special reference to the darters (Genus Etheostoma) and the Sibley Peninsula. Thesis (M.Sc.)--Lakehead University. 1991
• Stephenson, Sam A., and Walter T. Momot. Sibley Fishes. Lakehead Centre for Northern Studies, 1994.
• Stephenson, Sam A. Food Habits and Growth of Walleye (Stizostedion Vitreum), Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui) and Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) in the Kaministiquia River, Thunder Bay, Ontario. s.n.], 1989.
• "FOR THE RECORD SALMON THREATENED." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada], 20 Feb. 1989, p. A12. Canada In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A164803910/CIC?u=ko_acd_con&sid=CIC&xid=329c59cd. Accessed 24 May 2019.

Momot, Walter
Fonds · 1913 - 1955

The collection consists of architectural plans and drawings for construction projects (primarily grain elevators) in Ontario and Manitoba.

Marshall Dean family fonds
Fonds · 1868 - 2000

Marshall Blanchard Dean was an early physician in Fort William; his son Marshall Macdougall Dean had a career with the Canadian Coast Guard and a lifelong interest in history and genealogy. Collection includes correspondence, photographs, and research materials.

Fonds · 1929 - 1947

Correspondence and papers of the Pigeon River Lumber Company, primarily in the 1930s and 1940s. Includes the original Letters Patent. Many of the records relate to lands in the Township of Pardee.