Canadian Slovenian Historical Society ~ Vol. 11 ~ Spring 2021

SLOVENIA ~ Celebrating 30 years of Independence
Putting Slovenia on the Map
Reflections on Slovenia's Independence:
A Toronto Perspective
by Dorothy Lenarčič

At first it was exciting. Then suddenly, it was
alarming.
After years of economic and political turmoil in
post-Tito Yugoslavia, Slovenia democratically voted to
become an independent state. Pride and celebration
quickly morphed into shock, as Yugoslav tanks rolled
out.
It was in these circumstances that I joined
concerned Canadian Slovenians in the church hall of
Marija Pomagaj in Toronto. How could we help our
relatives back home? One way was to draw attention to
the dire situation and win support from our fellow
Canadians and government. We would get the
message across through the media. Having worked in
public relations and marketing, I volunteered for the
task.
Immediately, Leander Skof and I established the
Slovenian Information Centre. I lived close to
Brezmadežna parish in west Toronto and there was a
room available for an office on the property.
Telephone and fax lines were installed. There was no
internet, no email, no social media back then. It was a
slow process researching, writing press releases,
phoning and faxing media organizations.
Media were interested in the local angle,
wanting to know who we were (Slovakia? Slavonia?)
where and how many of us - anything about
Slovenians in the Toronto region. I provided
background information and community contacts who
provided comment and context.
I recall expressing concern about the protest
planned for the provincial legislature, Queen's Park,
because leaders didn't want to have it on a weekday.
Understandably, Slovenians wouldn't want to miss
work, but it was when politicians, people and traffic
would be there and take notice. On Saturday it would

be completely quiet. We would need a significant crowd
to compensate. Members of the Croatian community
joined us and with signs, speeches and song, we gained
the air time I'd hoped for. Similarly, I was pleased with
the turnout and coverage we received at Toronto City
Hall for a vigil honouring those who died in the violence
in Slovenia.
Convincing downtown media to drive 45 minutes
out of the city, on a Sunday, to the Slovensko Letovišče,
I still shake my head when I think back to that
challenge. As television is about visuals, I emphasized
this was the biggest event of Slovenians in Canada,
highlighting our cultural heritage through dance, song
and costume, ideal for the cameras. Also, we had a
cabinet minister from the government of Slovenia who
would be speaking, adding importance to the day. To
clinch it, there would be plenty of home made Slovenian
food to be enjoyed by reporters. In an era before GPS
and Google Maps, I made certain accurate instructions
and map drawings were sent. Thankfully, the day of the
event was sunny and warm. The four major stations sent
crews to cover us and we were all over the television
news that night. Mission accomplished.
As quickly as the crisis in Slovenia began, it was
over. A ceasefire was declared and calm prevailed.
Behind the scenes work would continue, with
fundraising and eventually diplomatic recognition by
Canada. My time at the Slovenian Information Centre
came to a close by the end of July.
I look back on that
summer as one in which we
all came together, groups and
club affiliations, young and
old, to support a monumental
event in our history. Finally,
our cultural heritage could be
identified on a map, an
independent country called
Slovenia.

Jože Slobodnik
G. Jože Slobodnik je v preteklem letu
praznoval 80. letnico svojega rojstva. Za ta jubilej
je ga. Marija Ahačič Pollak zbrala njegove
življenjske podatke in jih spretno ubesedila v
biografijo, ki je izšla
lanskega septembra, a
zaradi sedanjih razmer ni bila javno predstavljena,
kot je bilo zamišljeno. Jožeta domala pozna
vsakdo v slovenski diaspori, ne samo v Torontu,
ampak po vsej Kanadi, saj je deloval in sodeloval
na
področjih
javnega,
družbenega
in
gospodarskega življenja, kar je predstavljeno na
stotih oziroma dve stotih straneh dvojezične
knjige. Opremljena je z neštetimi fotografijami, ki
nazorno dopolnjujejo besedilo. Prof. dr. Janez
Bogataj, slovenski etnolog svetovnega slovesa, je
zgodbo g. Jožeta uvrstil med izjemne, saj je pri
vseh svojih uspehih tudi dejavno in podporno
ostal zvest svojim koreninam. Prof. dr. Anton
Stres, nekdanji ljubljanjski nadškof, ugotavlja, da
je g. Jože “vzorčni primer” poslovne uspešnosti
vodene s korporacijsko družbeno odgovornostjo v
svobodnem okolju in pri tem ne izključuje svoje
pripadnosti narodnosti in politično odgovornost za
državo ali svoje katoliške vere. Dr. Rozina Švent,
bibliotekarka v NUK-u, pa v svojem uvodniku
poudarja njegovo lojalnost in vsestransko
dobrodelnost. V svojem javnem in osebnem
življenju je g. Jože navezal neštete stike in
nekatera so se razvila v močna prijatejstva. Dr.
Božo Cerar, veleposlanik RS v Kanadi od leta
1997 do 2001, se je z njim srečal kmalu po
svojem prihodu na novo službeno mesto. Kaj
hitro je opazil njegova vsestranska prizadevanja
pri graditvi medsebojnih odnosov in ga je prav
zato predlagal za častnega konzula RS. G. Jožetu
je hvaležen za njegov doprinos v diplomatski
službi, ki je gotovo veliko pripomogel tudi k
uspehu njegovega veleposlaniškega mandata, še
bolj pa ceni njegovo iskreno prijateljstvo do
današnjih dni. Enako se g. Jožeta s hvaležnostjo in
zahvalo spominja g. Tomaž Kunstelj, sedanji
veleposlanik RS v Italiji, ki je od leta 2006 do leta
2011 v isti funkciji zastopal Slovenijo v Kanadi.

Občuduje ga tudi kot vdanega očeta svojih otrok in
ljubečega moža soproge Darje, ki ga je vsa leta
tako nesebično podpirala pri vseh podvigih in mu
stala ob strani. Pohvalno se izraža tudi Vince
Ciccone, partner in predsednik TGM, ki je v njem
našel mentorja in vizionarja v tem tako hitro
rastočem tehnološkem svetu. Svojo pripombo je
pripisal tudi prof. dr. Laurence Hewick, direktor
razvoja GFBI, ki ga je srečal v njegovih poslovnih
prostorih, kjer je občutil spoštljive, družinske
odnose zaposlenih do predsednika in obratno,
kakor v prijateljskem krogu, kjer se je odražala
prisrčnost in
domačnost. Značaj g. Jožeta se ni
kalil v akademskih druženjih, ampak je sad pristne,
poštene, delavne in preizkušane belokrajnske
kmečke družine.
G. Jože je knjigo posvetil svoji družini, saj pravi,
da brez njih ne bi bil to, kar je.
~ Milena Sorsak ~
Knjigo lahko nabavite v pisarnah župnij v
New Torontu in Hamiltonu.
Izkopiček je namenjen radiu Glas Kanadskih
Slovencev.

RECAP OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Canadian Slovenian Historical Society (CSHS)
held its 17th annual meeting on Saturday February 13, 2021.
Due to our provincial lockdown restrictions, the meeting was
held online via the Zoom application. With 23 members
registered and quorum confirmed, CSHS board president,
Mario Ulčar, opened the meeting and welcomed all
participants including Mr. Blaž Slamič, the new Chargée
d’Affaires at the Embassy of Slovenia in Ottawa. Following
the opening remarks, the meeting’s agenda, sent to all
members registered in advance, was approved along with the
minutes from the 2020 annual meeting which were read by
Stephanie Schaeffer, CSHS board secretary.
The main part of the AGM dealt with the various
reports that summarized the core work and activities of the
CSHS throughout the past year. Board vice-president, Mary
Rožmanc, reported on behalf of the Board that the archival
activities continued throughout the year despite the challenges
of not having physical access to our premises at DOM LIPA
due to the COVID-19 shutdown. CSHS board members,
however, still managed to amass approximately 1350 hours of
volunteer time related to CSHS initiatives. We also welcomed
Heather Gardiner as our new archivist at the start of 2020.
Heather has over 20 years of archiving experience and is also
the full-time archivist at Women’s College Hospital in
Toronto.
 A major activity that was undertaken early in 2020 was the
planning and organizing of a remembrance event marking
the 75th anniversary of the “Slovenian Exodus – 1945”.
However, with the onset of the global pandemic, the
initial date of April 2020 had to be postponed and is now
tentatively scheduled for September 2021. A lot of time
and effort has been put into this project and 600 booklets
providing a summary of the “Exodus” have already been
printed.
 The “ORAL HISTORIES” program continued in a
somewhat limited capacity due to COVID-19 but with
Facetime/Skype technology, virtual interviews replaced
the live video format and Canadian Slovenians from
Quebec, Saskatchewan and even the Yukon were able to
tell their story for our archives.
 During the year, we continue to digitize the assortment of
slides, photos and other records that are provided or
donated to us.
 There was some archival training undertaken under the
auspices of the Archives Association of Ontario pertaining
to the “Rules for Archival Description” which help us
when identifying, preserving and describing material of
long-term value.
 With thanks to past president, Jožica Vegelj, CSHS still
maintains its library in Hamilton at St. Gregory the Great
Church but it is currently closed due to the
provincial
lockdown.
 The CSHS website www.slovenianhistorical.ca is
managed by Mario Ulčar and, as board president, he
represents the CSHS at the various community meetings
including those of the All-Slovenian Cultural Committee
(VSKO) and the Slovenian Co-ordination Committee
Niagara.
 Our community networking is also enhanced by the use of
social media. Stephanie Schaeffer, CSHS board member
and recording secretary, manages the Facebook page, as

well as the CSHS Instagram account. She tries to create
new posts and content each week and actively finds
ways to encourage the younger generation to follow the
social media pages and engage with our historical
society’s mission and vision.
In her “Secretary’s Report”, Stephanie Schaeffer
outlined the number and location of monthly meetings in the
past year. Again, due to COVID-19 restrictions, only two
monthly meetings and the 2020 AGM were held in person at
our DOM LIPA location, and then after March six meetings
were held virtually online via Zoom.
The third report was presented by CSHS treasurer
Anne Žagar. She clearly summarized the financial standing
and explained the key figures comprising our revenue and
operating expenses for the past fiscal year. Understandably as
a result of COVID-19 conditions, both income and
expenditures decreased but we were able to end the year with a
positive net income of $4,625.
After the Treasurer’s report, our new archivist,
Heather Gardiner, briefly outlined her initial work in
familiarizing
herself with the Archives’ policies and
procedures, its historical collections as well as its general
layout. She also helped with digitization and acquiring other
Slovenian books from th Toronto Reference Library. Once the
lockdown came into effect last March, she was able to some
of her archival work remotely and also respond to various
inquiries /requests coming though CSHS mail.
The last report on the agenda was presented by Mary
Desanti from the Audit Committee. She confirmed the
completeness and attention to detail found in their review of
the CSHS books and financial records for the 2020 fiscal year
and she thanked the treasurer for her diligent and
conscientious work.
All the above-noted reports were adopted as presented
and duly recorded as approved.
The fifth item on the agenda involved board of
director “ELECTIONS”. This year, the term of office expired
for Mary Desanti, Mary Rožmanc and Stephanie Schaeffer.
All three were recommended for re-election by the nomination
committee, all three accepted, and as there were no other
candidates, all three were returned to the CSHS board for
another three-year term.
After the director elections, Mr. Blaž Slamič, the
newly appointed Slovenian Chargée d’Affaires in Ottawa
introduced himself and briefly spoke about his recent transfer
and
acclimatization from the warm climate of Brazil to
the cold Canadian winter. He indicated he is looking forward
to learning about our Canadian Slovenian organizations and
being of service to them. He also mentioned that Canada will
most likely have a new ambassador from Slovenia installed
by June to coincide with Slovenia’s 30th anniversary of
independence.
As the open forum portion of the annual meeting came
to a close, board president Mario Ulčar thanked everyone who
participated in this year’s virtual AGM and expressed hope
that next year, we will be able to reconvene in person.
~ Peter Markes ~

OUR VISION and MISSION STATEMENT
VISION:

To preserve the records of Slovenian immigration, cultural heritage and continued contributions to Canada and establish the legacy as
Canadian Slovenians for future generations.

MISSION:

Canadian Slovenian Historical Society will:
archive and preserve the history of Slovenian immigration, its evolutionary heritage and contributions to Canada;
gather, record, maintain and augment relevant collections of artifacts reflecting Slovenian cultural traditions, practices and contributions;
establish, save and maintain a collection of publications, reports and manuscripts in digital, printed and oral format from Slovenian
sources/organizations across Canada;
 promote academic and literary research of Canadian Slovenians in Canada;
 create/build a display setting of museum format for archives and artifacts;
 raise awareness, provide access and promote education of the workings and relevance of the CSHS, and strive for community engagement.




UP COMING EVENTS
SLOVENIAN EXODUS -1945
~ tentative September 2021

Vesele velikonocne praznike
We welcome your personal experiences, photos, or opinions regarding the 30 years of Slovenia’s independence.
Please submit these to: ourstorymcek@gmail.com

HVALA ~ THANK YOU

CSHS appreciates everyone’s support.
Your generous donations assist in the preservation of Canadian Slovenian heritage.

OUR STORY is published by:
Canadian Slovenian Historical Society
Kanadsko slovensko zgodovinsko društvo
52 Neilson Drive
Toronto, ON M9C 1V7
For information contact:
Miriam Čekuta
ourstorymcek@gmail.com

If you wish to receive an electronic version of
OUR STORY, please email us at
ourstorymcek@gmail.com
We encourage you to visit us on our website
www.slovenianhistorical.ca
or follow us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/cshzgodovina