Imanta Latvian Society Of Edmonton

December Newsletter

imantaedmonton — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:06:38 +0000

…tik balts un kluss…
Krīt zemei pāri mirdzošs zvaigžņu pakars
Un, siltām rokām skaudams zemes telpu,
Nāk senais, mīļais Ziemassvētku vakars.
(Valda Mora)

The Edmonton Latvian Society Imanta is ending another year of activities and events with many thanks to the members and volunteers who continue to support and encourage us. Best wishes to all for 2012!

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus un Merry Christmas laimīgu jauno gadu from Imanta’s novēl Imantas valde: Executive: Ena, Edgars, Liesma, Linda, Helen, Aija, Anita, Mārtiņš, Jim un Ruta.

The Latvian Christmas service in Calgary will be on Sunday, December 25th, at 1 p.m. at St. Edmund’s Anglican Church, 8340 – 34 Ave. NW. The service will be led by Reverend Dace Caune from Hamilton, Ontario, and will be followed by a social afternoon.

Remember: Taxi vouchers are always available for senior members for travel to appointments, church, shopping, social events. Please call Ena at 780-468-2728 if you need vouchers.

IIHF Hockey: A Latvian team is playing in the World Juniors’ hockey tournament starting on December 26th in Calgary. The meeting place for Latvians before, during or after any of the scheduled games in Calgary is Toques International Lounge, uptown 17th Avenue, 1504 –16 Ave. Information & updates will be posted on Facebook. Hockey info is at www.hockeycanada.ca/2012juniors

Athabasca University Project: Imanta will continue working with AU in 2012 to record the experiences and history of Latvians in Edmonton. Our research assistant, Michaelle, will be hosting a panel discussion for teens and young adults in January. Please contact her at (780) 394-4885 or michaelleh5@gmail.com or via Imanta on Facebook.

NAIT Scholarship: The next deadline for application for our scholarship at NAIT is January 31, 2012. Please go to www.nait.ca and search The Edmonton Latvian Society for more information.

Looking ahead: There will be a song festival in July 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Further information available at www.latviansongfest2012.com

November News…

imantaedmonton — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:50:59 +0000

IMANTA cordially invites you to the commemoration of the 93rd anniversary of Latvian independence on
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Edmonton Lithuanian Hall, 11629—83 Street, Edmonton
Reception                   4:00 pm
Opening                      4:45 pm
Dinner                         5:00pm

Musical program by Latvian musicians Latvian history project presentation by Athabasca University.
Tickets:
Members                     $20.00
Non-members             $25.00
Children 6-11              $10.00

Please RSVP by November 12, 2011 to imantaedmonton@gmail.com.

This year we changed venues for our November celebration because the Royal Glenora Club was not available for our dates. We also changed to an early evening function in order to accommodate all our members. Please remember to reply by November 12th because we must let the caterer know how many guests to expect for dinner!
Transportation for Seniors: This is available to seniors through our casino funding. Please take advantage of it! Phone Yellow Cab at 780-462-3456 for a ride. If you have no vouchers, they will be available at the hall and the driver will come in with you to fill one out. You will be given another voucher to use for your return trip.
Thank you to all our members who have participated in our project with Athabasca University! There will be a presentation by AU at our November celebration to show you the early results. It’s exciting to see the collected information take shape through stories and photos.

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If you haven’t already, please follow our page on facebook. It’s a great way for us all to share news about Latvia and Latvians in our community!

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Last year IMANTA established self-administered annual scholarships using some of our casino funding. Congratulations to this year’s successful applicants:
Celeste Birzgalis, Kathryn Cotton, Tarryn Ann Klapper, Karl Korns, Kassity Lalonde, Andrea Murrle, Felix Murrle, Braden Pleckaitis, Kelsey Pleckaitis, Jillian Richards, Andrew Rudzitis, Julia Rudzitis.
A special thank you to Bob Brayman, John Neilson and Linda Payne, whose guidance and work on the application review committee made this possible once again.
We are also happy to recognize this year’s winner of the IMANTA scholarship offered at NAIT. Congratulations to Sarah Birzgalis, who is studying in the Chemical Engineering Technology Program.

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Alberta Art Days in early October was a great success, with an excellent turnout for all events. Latvian history and art were showcased and our piragi were much enjoyed and appreciated . Many thanks to the hard working committee organised by Helen Richards and the Laurier Heights Art Club and Community League. An extra thank you to all the volunteers, especially our scholarship winners Jillian & Ryan Richards, Braden & Kelsey Pleckaitis, Andrew & Julia Rudzitis, and Felix Murrle for their enthusiastic support and work on Sunday afternoon.

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The 2012 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will be coming to Edmonton and Calgary in December 2011. Latvia will be participating and playing all of its games in Calgary, starting on December 26th. IMANTA is considering hosting a reception for the Latvian hockey players in Calgary. If anyone has ideas or would like to help with this, please contact Ed Rudzitis at audentia@telusplanet.net.

Please note that there have been some changes in our membership fee categories which were discussed and voted on at the AGM in March 2011. Annual memberships will be available at the door on Saturday, November 19th, 2011. Please email imantaedmonton@gmail.com to request a membership form.

Alberta Arts Days

imantaedmonton — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:44:10 +0000

Join us at Laurier Heights Community Hall on October 1 and 2 for lots of Latvian art and activities!

August 2011 Newsletter

imantaedmonton — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:19:30 +0000

Edmonton Latvian Society Imanta

Edmontonas Latviešu Biedrība

Edmontonas Latviešu Biedrība IMANTA, Kanādas visvecākā aktīvā latviešu biedrība, tika dibināta 1947. gadā. Musu oficiālā darbības valoda ir angļu valoda, lai labāk iesaistītu un informētu visas latviešu paaudzes.

The EdmontonLatvian Society IMANTA, Canada’s oldest active Latvian society, was founded in 1947. In order to accommodate and include all Latvians and those of Latvian heritage, our official language of business is English.

August 2011

Summer is almost over and as we slowly start into fall, here is the latest news from the Edmonton Latvian community:

We had another well-attended but rainy Ligo celebration in June. Many thanks to all, especially to our visitors from Oregonand Calgary! There are still unclaimed dishes and tent pegs in the lost & found. If you are missing anything, please contact Ena at imantaedmonton@gmail.com by Sept. 1^st before the items are donated elsewhere.

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The Latvian History project we are funding through Athabasca University is ongoing. Michaelle Haughian, our research assistant, has interviewed several of our community members and will be working with IMANTA until mid-December. The purpose is to record and preserve the history of Edmonton Latvians and their different organisations, churches and activities in Edmonton and area over the past decades, as well as their contributions to Canadian life. The result would become a historical resource for the future, similar to Alberta Estonian history at
http://www.albertasource.ca/abestonians/

With your cooperation, our rich history will be well-documented and preserved. Please contact Michaelle if you have not yet heard from her.
She can be reached at 780-394-4885 or michaelleh5@gmail.com

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Donation requests: If you are involved with a non-profit group seeking donations, please submit a request form by November 1st. This form is available by contacting Liesma at imantaedmonton@gmail.com.

A message from the Tarksis family:

Over the last year, Lily and George Jurikass have had some health issues and have not been able to maintain their home. They were moved to the Devonshire Long Term Care Facility in early January 2011, where they live together in a semi- private room. Along with the staff at theDevonshire, George is looking after Lily’s needs and, given her age, she is doing quite well. George is very well liked by all the caregivers as he is quite a gentleman.

Lily and George have entrusted Ed and Deb Tarksis to dispose of their assets. George has generously donated their Latvian books and albums to Imanta to distribute. Their other collections of Art, Vases and Classical music will be on display and available for purchase on September 18^th at the Tarksis residence betwee 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm, at1090 Wedgewood Blvd. Anyone needing directions please call 780-481-1318.

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Earlier this year, IMANTA received a government grant to host a venue for the fourth annual Alberta Arts Days in October. Plan to attend – everything is free!

ALBERTA ART DAYS 2011

Discover Experience Celebrate

Sept. 30, Oct. 1 & 2

Scholarship Applications – Deadline Aug.31.

imantaedmonton — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:36:12 +0000

The deadline is approaching! Scholarship applications will only be accepted until August 31, 2011! For more information and an application form, please check out the June Newsletter posted earlier.

Ligo 2011!

imantaedmonton — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:36:30 +0000

Hello Imanta friends! Check out a few of these photos from last week’s Ligo celebration.

Scholarship information available in the June newsletter.

imantaedmonton — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:06:53 +0000

Newsletter June 2011

Click the link above to read our June newsletter and find out about the scholarships available through IMANTA.

May 2011 Newsletter

imantaedmonton — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:15:22 +0000

Newsletter May 2011

Click the link above to see the May 2011 Newsletter

Election update!

imantaedmonton — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:21:24 +0000

The latest news…
Short version:
One month pre-election in Latvia: a political discussion program on Latvian TV this Saturday, September 11, streamed live at www.vissnotiek.lv. It will start at 10am Alberta time and involve 7 North American cities via Skype, including Edmonton. Anyone with internet access can watch it at home.
If you know any seniors who don’t have internet access and who would like to watch this, please let them know and maybe help them arrange something…?

Long version:
Hansamedia TV in Latvia is organizing a political forum for this Saturday, September 11th, allowing 7 North American communities to participate in discussions with election candidates from 5 political parties in Latvia. This will be done using Skype and will be streamed live on the internet. A similar forum with Europeans, ie: Latvians not living in Latvia, took place on September 4th.

LNAK (Latvian Nat’l Assoc in Canada) chose Toronto and Edmonton as the two Canadian participants. I think they wanted to show and recognize that not all Latvians in Canada live in the east. The other participanting cities are San Francisco, Detroit, Boston, Minneapolis and New York.

There are 3 pre-determined topics which all political candidates will answer and discuss:
1. How many persons of Latvian heritage and how many Latvian citizens live outside Latvia? How important are these Latvians to Latvia? In the interest of future strategic planning, can we agree on a realistic number for this population?
2. What, if anything, is being done now to allow Latvians abroad to return to Latvia? What are future plans/strategies to encourage this return? Does Latvia want these Latvians to return? Maybe it’s more convenient for Latvia to have this diaspora?
3. What is Latvia doing and how is it taking care of the Latvians and Latvian citizens who have chosen to stay abroad, at least for the next few years? How do we help them maintain contact and exercise their rights as citizens? Comments on dual citizenship? Changes in the voting law to allow voting via internet?

The program starts at 7pm Latvian time or 10am Alberta time. It will be 90 minutes long. Because of time constraints, each of the 7 above-mentioned cities will only be allowed to ask one question.

I’ve spoken to 8 people and so far noone wants to be involved. It looks like I’ll be asking the question from Edmonton. However, if one of you would absolutely love to do this in my place, please let me know by Wednesday at the latest and it’s all yours! We are also collecting questions to ask the politicians. One question will be chosen but we’ll need backups in case of duplication so please send me ideas.

Finally – anyone who wants to vote in the October Latvian election has until September 10 to register for an absentee ballot by submitting their application and passport to the Latvian embassy in Ottawa.

Spring Newsletter

imantaedmonton — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:02:09 +0000

After another winter hiatus, our newsletter is back with updates on events in our Latvian community.

Our AGM was held on March 7th. The members of your executive for 2010-11 are Aija Galeviuss, Anita Clark, Edgars Rudzitis, Ena Rudovics, Helen Richards, Inta London, Jim McDonald, Juris Kononovs, Liesma Mithrush,

Linda Payne, Martin Osis and Ruta Vitins. We thank Janis Braze for his contributions to the executive over the years, most recently as auditor.

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The documentary film The Soviet Story (www.thesovietstory.com) will be shown to the general public on Thursday, May 13th, at 7pm at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex at 9615—153 Ave. This event is co-sponsored by the Edmonton branches of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the League of Ukrainian Canadians

& the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women, Imanta, and Tribute to Liberty in Toronto.

Ticket price is $10/adult; children and students under 18 are free. This film is incredibly well-documented and well-written. The director, Edvīns Šņore, is coming from Latvia for screenings of his film in New York and

Ottawa. He will also be in Edmonton for our event. There will be a reception and discussion following the film.

Please share this information with anyone who might be interested.

IMANTA is hosting a family picnic on Sunday, May 16th, from 2-5pm at picnic site #3 in William Hawrelak Park. It’s the covered picnic shelter closest to the playground. We will supply burgers, wieners, beverages, fruit and veggies. Please bring children, lawn chairs, balls and kites. It would be especially great to see young families and new arrivals come out to meet each other.

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Gardening season is here! For the past two years, Imanta has donated $1000.00 to the University Farm Organic Growers (UFOG), a non-profit, collectively run community garden located on the UofA farm near Foote Field on the south side of the city. Volunteers who work in the garden benefit by receiving produce and vegetables as they are harvested. A little bit of work in the sun will give you fresh vegetables throughout the summer. If you don’t have a garden or would like to garden more, this is a good group to get involved with.

For electronic access to UFOG, one needs a Google gmail account. Simply log in to the following account http://groups.google.com/group/ufog-edm The only criteria for joining is “how did you learn of the UofA Co-op”. Indicate

you are with IMANTA. All information will be available once you join.

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More Latvians are arriving in both Edmonton and Calgary almost monthly, which is always good news! One young man has just finished a year of studies and basketball at Kings’ College in Edmonton. He’s staying here for the summer and needs to earn money for next year’s tuition. If anyone can offer any kind of part- time or full-time work, please contact him directly at janis.assers@inbox.lv

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Alija Celinskis, who passed away on April 7, 2010.

Congratulations to Kaspars Zauls, who received IMANTA’s scholarship at NAIT in February. He is finishing his studies in the Business Administration- Finance program. The next deadline for application is August 31, 2010 and application information is available at www.nait.ca/scholarships. Our scholarship is listed under “T” as The Edmonton Latvian Society IMANTA. On the last page of this newsletter is information about IMANTA’s new self-administered scholarship program. This program is the result of one year’s work and is tangible evidence of the kind of work we want to do. We are looking for benefits to members of our community and we want to involve more people. We want to encourage and support those who aim to improve themselves and, by extension, our community. We especially want to support our youth in their studies and encourage them to learn more about their heritage and be proud of it.

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Looking ahead:

Our Līgo celebration is planned for Saturday, June 26th, at Lake Isle. Details to follow in the next newsletter.

Martin Osis is organizing a vēžu balle (crayfish party) weekend at Carson-Pegasus Provincial Park on Carson Lake (near Whitecourt) for July 31-August 2. A group campsite has been reserved for IMANTA members and friends. Who knew we had crayfish in Alberta? Martin has the knowledge and talent to make any outdoor experience memorable. Please mark this on your calendar and plan to come out, even if for one day. More information in next newsletter.

Plans are underway to organize a joint Edmonton-Calgary Latvian choir. Practices would be workshop-style and time commitment would be minimal. This will be open to everyone – you do not have to speak Latvian to sing Latvian! More information to follow.

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If you wish to receive this electronically, or if you have any questions/comments about items in this newsletter, please contact rudovics@telus.net or at 780-468-2728.

Imanta is pleased to announce the introduction of our self‐administered scholarship program, funded by our ongoing casino program and governed by the regulations of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.

Available Funding

The IMANTA ‘Lāčplēsis’ Scholarship: Full Time Post‐Secondary Scholarship $2,500
The IMANTA ‘Staburags’ Scholarship: Part‐Time Post‐Secondary Scholarship $1,000
The IMANTA ‘Draugi’ Scholarship: Part‐Time Continuing Education Scholarship $500

Scholarship Eligibility

♦ Alberta residents who are Canadian citizens, non‐visitors, foreign students on visa

♦ Full or part‐time students as defined by the accredited post‐secondary educational institution

♦ Awarded on the basis of academic achievement, community involvement, and/or financial need

Application Process

♦ Applicants to submit a 1,000 word essay describing how their Latvian heritage has influenced them as residents of Alberta (previous winners to submit a 750 word essay);

♦ Deadline for applications to be received by the adjudication committee by no later than June 30th of each year

♦ Payment will be made directly to the individual upon submission of proof of attendance (i.e. tuition receipt) at the recognized educational institution.

Submit applications to:
The Edmonton Latvian Society “Imanta”

c/o 9308 – 82 Street

Edmonton, Alberta T6C 2X5

Attn: Adjudication Committee

ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS

All accredited post‐secondary educational institutions in Canada governed by the University Act or the Colleges Act or the Technical Institutes Act.

NUMBER/VALUE OF AWARDS

To be funded by June 30th, 2010:

♦ a maximum of 6 x $2,500 scholarships, 3 x $1,000 scholarships and 4 x $500 scholarships eligible for course work completed in the 2009/2010 academic year

A further $30,000 will be available for distribution by November 30, 2011.