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Fascinating Facts
Did you know?
- that the 1991 Census of Canada reported 236,660 people who claimed Swedish
descent, most of them living west of Lake Superior?
- that more than 175 place names in Canada are of Swedish origin?
- that Lord Selkirk's 1812 settlement at Red River included three Swedes?
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that the Augustana Synod established the first of Canada's
forty-eight Swedish Lutheran congregations at New Stockholm, Saskatchewan, in
1889? 
New Stockholm Church. Click HERE to
learn more.
- that a Swedish-language weekly newspaper was published in Winnipeg from 1892
until 1970?
- that you can honour an immigrant by placing his/her name in the forthcoming
history book? Visit the Donations Page.
- that noted Canadians of Swedish descent include broadcaster Pamela Wallin,
Judge Tom Berger who headed the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, architect
Arthur Erickson who designed Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and the Canadian Embassy
in Washington, and Ralph Gustafson who won the Governor General's Award for poetry
in 1974?
- that Swedish Press, North America's only Swedish monthly magazine,
is edited and printed in Vancouver?
- that the first-ever visit of a reigning Swedish monarch to Canada was in
1988, when King
Carl XVI Gustav
and Queen Silvia made an official six-day tour
of five Canadian cities - Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Victoria, and Vancouver?
- that the most prolific contributor to Audubon was naturalist Louise
de Kiriline Lawrence, a Swedish immigrant to northern Ontario?
- that a former premier of Alberta (1968-71), Harry Strom, was of Swedish origin?
- that some Swedish immigrants on their way to the United States traveled on
the Great Western Railway via Windsor, Ontario?
- that an immigrant who returned to Sweden during the 1930s, author Sven Delblanc,
wrote a frankly autobiographical novel about his family's experiences in Manitoba?
- that the hymn "How Great Thou Art" comes from a Swedish folk melody,
and that the Swedish words were composed in 1885?
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