Finnish-Canadian Business Project

The Finnish-Canadian Businesses in Thunder Bay Project is a multidisciplinary project that looks at the role of business people in the Canadian multicultural scene. At one time Finnish-Canadian business people catered predominantly to the Finnish ethnic community, doing extra favours in addition to their regular business for their customers, such as employment and postal services. This was necessary then because immigrants knew very little English. Over the years, the customers became more multicultural and the business people expanded to cater to their tastes. Dr. Raija Warkentin of the Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University is focusing on the multiculturalism of the Finnish businesses, while Dr. Teppo Sintonen of the School of Business and Economics, Jyväskylä University, Finland is mainly studying the "social capital" of the business owners in Thunder Bay. Dr. Carmen Mihai of the Faculty of Business Administration, Lakehead University is focussing on the business aspects. They hope to expand their research to other ethnic groups in the future.