Commentary by Jaak Järve, Estonian House shareholer

“If I agree to dispose of any part of our land to the white people I would feel guilty of taking food away from our children’s mouths, and I do not wish to be that mean.” Sitting Bull The Estonian House in Toronto has recently been designated as a heritage property due to the original Chester Public School being built in 1890. This school house became the Estonian House in the early 1960’s for the displaced Estonians who were forced to leave their homes after the second world war. In 1962 a single story addition was added. In 1975, a four story addition was added and in 1995, a two story elevator was added.

The current Estonian House board of directors along with the board members from the Estonian Credit Union, the Estonian Foundation of Canada and Tartu College have taken it upon themselves to sell the Estonian House and move the entire Estonian Community to a high-traffic downtown yet-to-be built site adjacent to Tartu College at Bloor and Madison Avenues. This is very similar to what happened to the North American Indians when their promised reservation lands were stolen from them by the US government and sold to white settlers and prospectors.

The Toronto Estonian House has been the meeting place and home for the Estonian diaspora community for over 6 decades, It has been purchased, renovated and used by the grandparents and parents of today’s Estonian community to preserve the culture and heritage of another small tribe of nature-loving people known as Estonians. Estonians by nature are a stubborn, proud people. They are hard-working and historically are tied very closely to nature and working off the land. In fact Estonians worship nature. Saunas, smoked fish and cottage life make Estonians happy.