Interview by Natalie Jenkins
Canadian-Estonian youth have a new community organization. Founded by Katariina Jaenes, KENA (Canadian Estonian Youth Association), organizes local events and provides information about local and international opportunities. Eesti Elu spoke to Katariina to learn more about the initiative.
What inspired you to start KENA?
It wasn’t until I joined the Estonian Central Council/Eesti Kesknõukogu Kanadas as a board member in late 2024, primarily as a member of their youth committee, that I felt like I had the proper infrastructure and support to go forward with the idea [of building a Canada-wide youth network]. As a longstanding organization, ECC can provide the resources, wisdom, and network for KENA to grow and hopefully become more self-sustaining in the future.
That being said, KENA is still in its early stages and is very much still a work in progress. I think that it's an idea that can only be sustained if there’s a good team behind it, but I’m quite hopeful as quite a number of lovely people have already expressed interest, and hopefully will continue to do so as more people hear about us. I’ve also worked closely with Global Estonian Youth Network/Ülemaalimne Eesti Noorte Võrgustik (ÜENV) director Kaisa Kasekamp, who is also a member of EKN’s youth committee.
What has your own relationship with the Estonian community in Canada looked like growing up?
I’m in a somewhat unique position as my parents met in Estonia; My mother was born and raised in Toronto and is the descendant of refugees who fled Estonia during the Great Escape of 1944, while my father grew up in Soviet-occupied Estonia. I attended Toronto Estonian School and sang with our local choirs. However, instead of attending community summer camps, I would go spend time with my grandmother in Estonia. I’m ultimately grateful for this duality as it has given me a diversity of community, language skills, history, and a different perspective on both environments. I’m able to see the Estonian community in Canada from the point of view of someone who was born into it, and someone who was introduced to it later in life.
“There’s a wealth of Estonian cultural movements past and present that haven’t been translated to our community due to the distance of space and language created by our forced estrangement… In my opinion it is one of the main challenges that our generation of Canadian-Estonians faces going forward.”
(Katariina Jaenes)
Did your experiences shape the kind of organization you wanted to build?
Absolutely! The vast majority of our organizations were established by the generation of the Great Escape and their immediate descendants. In that sense, they offer a lens into the interests and values of that generation. While still providing great value to us, I think it's important to acknowledge the cultural founder effect of a relatively small group of refugees establishing a community during a specific point in history. There’s a wealth of Estonian cultural movements past and present that haven’t been translated to our community due to the distance of space and language created by our forced estrangement. Once disrupted, re-establishing and shaping that link is not only incredibly difficult, but it is also unprecedented territory for the Estonian diaspora. In my opinion it is one of the main challenges that our generation of Canadian-Estonians faces going forward. I think there’s great potential for dialogue between these two worlds, and potential for both to benefit on a community and individual level.
From an outsider’s perspective I can also understand that a tight-knit community with such a rich history might not always be welcoming to newcomers – I think that is a challenge that we face on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Moving forward, I believe that encouraging our organizations to be more open minded to the diversity that already exists in our community is key towards not only building a community that supports us all, but that lasts.
What is KENA’s mission? How is it different from existing community organizations?
KENA’s mission is to encourage young people across Canada to be more engaged in Estonian culture, history and language. We aim to do so by organizing events in collaboration with community members and organizations, providing information about local and international opportunities, by providing community organizations guidance on how to promote youth engagement, and by acting as a liaison between Canadian and Estonian governments and Estonian citizens in Canada under the age of 35. I hope we can build a community that includes people with various different connections to Estonia and Estonian culture and language – Not only those of us born and raised in Canadian-Estonian communities or recent expats, but also “Estophiles” and people curious about exploring their Estonian roots.
I would hope that we can help provide accessible entry points for people to develop a community around Estonian culture, history and language. We’ve put out a survey to get an idea of what barriers young people face around engagement and what might be some areas where we could offer support and opportunities.
KENA is different in the sense that it is a branch of an existing organization, EKN. A few years ago, EKN restructured and invited community organizations across Canada to join as members in an effort to promote collaboration and communication. As it follows, KENA intends to share resources and collaborate with these organizations, as opposed to moving forward completely independently. What that would look like would be co-hosting events, writing grant applications together, and advising on strategies to promote youth engagement. I personally find great value in intergenerational knowledge transfer as it gives young people the opportunity and resources to shape the community according to their needs and values.
Lastly, KENA is also the first organization that aims to target youth nationwide, as opposed to locally. While ambitious, that would mean having a wider virtual reach and provide an opportunity for insight into Estonian culture and language that we don’t necessarily get exposed to in Canada, be it from music, to film, and so on.
“I’d also like to organize virtual events, such as movie nights or group crafting or cooking workshops. Ideally, that way people across Canada, particularly people without a local Estonian community, can participate.”
(Katariina Jaenes)
What type of events will it plan?
We co-hosted a film screening of Pikad Paberid with ÜENV and VEMU and got some encouraging feedback about hosting more movie nights. Group cooking or baking sessions would be fun and relatively accessible for newcomers. Estonian traditional and folk music is a passion of mine, and so in that vein we recently co-hosted a kannel workshop with VEMU where youth across our Baltic communities could borrow an instrument and learn from local musicians. Going forward, I would like to create more opportunities to collaborate with choirs and folk dance groups, as well as with our very own Estonian Music Week. I’d also like to organize virtual events, such as movie nights or group crafting or cooking workshops. Ideally, that way people across Canada, particularly people without a local Estonian community, can participate.
I would really like our events to reflect the interests of people in our community in a bottom-up fashion. Together with ÜENV we are working with KESKUS and Kotkajärve Metsaülikool (MÜ) to create opportunities and events for Canadian youth in the lead-up to KESKUS opening celebrations August 20-23 and camp in Muskoka August 24-30. There will be Estonian youth delegates from around the world attending, and so this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to make new Estonian friends and build a global network. On August 23rd, there will be a youth congress on defence willingness that we invite all Canadian youth to attend. Stay tuned on our socials for more information and events!
How can those who are interested get involved with KENA?
You can follow us on Instagram @kenadkanadas, on Facebook @KENA, or reach out to us via email kenadkanadas@gmail.com. I also highly recommend following the Global Estonian Youth Network (ÜENV) on socials (Facebook: Ülemaailmne Eesti Noortevõrgustik, Instagram: uenv.globaalsednoored). Lastly, our survey has an option to indicate if you’re interested in working with the KENA team in the future. We welcome everyone to reach out – both organizations and curious individuals!
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This article was written by Natalie Jenkins as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.
Responses have been edited for length.
