SWEDISH IN QUEBEC

QUEBEC IS SWEDISH!
The Normand Samuel Champlain and his friends sailed from the harbour of Honfleur in Normandy, France to North America in 1608 with the intention of founding a colony there. They landed in eastern Canada and named the land they claimed Quebec. They brought the name from their home in Normandy, just like other emigrants had done before them, and have done since then. What the settlers probably did not know was that the name Quebec has Scandinavian origins, having been brought to France by the Vikings in the tenth century.
(The very interesting book "The Frenchmen from the North" by Clas Brunius has a detailed account of the existence of many Nordic names in Normandy, stemming from the time when Vikings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden took possession of this province. Language analysts like the Dane Jakob Jakobsen have also uncovered some fascinating information about this).
The Viking chief Rollo rewarded his men by giving them land in Normandy. At the same time he started imposing a tax on the farms and the estates. They therefore had to be registered and this was done by French clerks knowledgeable in Latin and in writing. They tried to transcript the unfamiliar Nordic names in Latin. The "Kallebäck" from the western part of Sweden was then written down in Latin as "Calidusbeccus", later transformed into French as "Caudebec". Skånish Ivetofta eventually became Yvetot.
Similarly "Kvillebäck" (the Kville creek) became Quebec. And there we are! Quebec is Swedish, more precisely the name comes from Bohuslän, the western-most province of Sweden situated to the north of Gothenburg. The Vikings emigrating from the place called "The Kville Creek" took the name to Normandy when they settled down there 1 000 years ago. The community and parish Kville still exists in Bohusldn, Sweden.

GULT & BLATT
is the five times a year newsletter of the Swedish Club in Montreal. Even though Montreal does not have as many Swedishspeaking people as centers like Toronto and Vancouver, Gult & Blått manages to serve up a wide array of Swedish-related activities. The Swedish Club arranges midsummer at Fritz Farm, a crayfish party and Lucia besides a number of other activities. It also sponsors a Swedish School with three classes for children up to 19 years and a play group for children 3-6 years. For those who speak Swedish around Montreal the Swedish Club (Mem-bership information Ann-Marie Fenster phone 514923-1162 or 939-3468) is a must.

MAGNUS ISACSSON
is a documentary film-maker in Montreal focused on third world development, environmental and human rights issues. His National Film Board "thought-provoking and shocking" film URANIUM created a huge controversy when it was shown in Canada and received the Golden Sheaf award for best documentary film in 1991. The film details the havoc radio active contamination from Canada's uranium mines has created especially among the native population. Isacsson's most recent documentaries is "Out of the Ashes" about war, famine and development issues in Ethiopia and "Great Whale" about the Cree Indians' fight against a hydro-electric dam in Northern Quebec. Magnus started his broadcasting career as a radio producer for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation. His father Arne Isacsson and his uncle Torsten Rehnquist are two of Sweden's most famous contemporary artists. At age 28 Magnus started working for the English and French networks of CBC in Montreal producing reports for such popular programs as "The Fifth Estate" and "Le Point". Eventually he felt stifled by the comfort and indifference of network television and set out on his own showing that it is possible to successfully defend your ideals camera in hand.

STUDIO SUEDOIS
provided a unique opportunity for Swedish artists to get to know, be inspired by and work in central Montreal. Working on the same principles as for a similar establishment in New York, the Swedish Konstnärsnämnd selected candidates for the half year stay at the studio but the idea was scrapped in 1994 because of lack of funds. About the same time the Norwegian Seamen's Church, which had always been a popular meeting place for all Scandinavians in Montreal, also closed its doors. The Swedish Consulate also scaled down from a fully paid career consulate to an honorary one and moved to a small office (Suite 3400, C.P.242, Montreal PQ H4Z 189 phone 514-866-4019) managed by Gun Huber who has been with the consulate for 35 years. The present Consul General for Sweden in Montreal is Marie Giguere who was selected because her predecessor, ex liberal MP Karin Ahrland, insisted on a woman and Ambassador Håkan Berggren was convinced that Sweden would be best served by a lawyer. Marie Giguere was a good combination of these two requirements and the fact that she had never set foot in Sweden then or since or displayed any particular interest for Sweden did not seem to matter much. It is not only Sweden that is scaling down its presence in Quebec, the province has also closed its offices in central Stnekbolm at Nybrokajen 7.

THE VIKING SKI CLUB
is one of the most enduring ski clubs in North America. It was started by a group of Norwegian ski jumpers in 1929. Eventually jumping gave way to cross country and today a summer program of running and orienteering is also offered at the club house in Morin right in the center of the Laurentian snow belt. Today the Viking Club is most known for its classic crosscountry event held in March each year. Swedes have always played a major role in the club and two races - the 20 km Jack Wahlberg Loppet and the 10 km Jan Nordstrom Loppet - are named after Swedes. Jack Wahlberg arrived in Montreal from Sweden as a 21-year old in the mid-forties just when cross-country was starting to surpass ski jumping as the main club activity. In 1948 Jack became the club's first North American champion when he won the 18 km race in New Hampshire and two years later he represented Canada in the world championships in Lake Placid. Jack died in his 80s. He had an enviable winning streak for over 65 years winning an award in cross-country or running each year. In his retirement he also started to compete on the world masters circuit as a kayak paddler. Jan Nordstr6m who now lives in a retirement home in Sweden was the club's master "trail cutter". He spent days on end all alone in the woods clearing trails for major events such as the Canadian ski marathon. The Viking Ski Club has its own club house in Morin Heights complete with waxing facilities, changing rooms, showers and saunas as well as a lounge, dining room and a wonderful sun deck and it welcomes more Swedes to join (call Marily Geddis at 514-486-7912).

RENE PANKALLA
To make a name for yourself in the culinary world of Montreal is not easy. Ren6 Pankalla has done just that in this city which is home to some of the best chefs on the continent. He is the caterer par excellence in Montreal and much of what he knows about food has been acquired in Sweden. Ren6's ties with Sweden are still strong and are manifested in a house in Räfsnäs in the Stockholm archipelago that he tries to escape to whenever he can, abandoning his beautiful brownstone in Montreal. He is a Polish-born cosmopolitan who started his culinary career at age 18 in the kitchen of Zurich's luxury hotel Bord au Lac. In 1960 he started working as a chef at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm where he was discovered by Sweden's legendary culinary "professor" Tore Wretman who employed Ren6 at both Riche and Stallmästarg Arden. On the recommendation of Wretman and King Gustav Adolf, Ren6 was able to get a position at the king's favourite restaurant Le Grand Vefour in Paris. With a lot of new skills, Ren6 returned to Sweden in time for Wretman's opening of Operakällaren. There he worked on the floor as trancheur and was the first chef in Stockholm to prepare food right at the table. One favourite at this time was Rognon flambé with a sauce of three mustards. René remembers particularly one occasion when he was preparing this dish. It was on a November evening and word came that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Everybody stopped eating and left the restaurant. In 1967 Ren6 was ready for new territory and he left Sweden to work in restaurants in New York, Boston and Montreal. He stayed put in Montreal where he started a catering business with two Greek partners. He prefers to work as a caterer to working in a restaurant as he likes to dazzle his clients with beautiful and extravagant settings. A dinner also has to be a feast for the eyes, according to Ren6 and clients such as the Mulroneys and Jean Chretien can vouch for that.

ASTRA PHARMA INC
the Canadian pharmaceutical subsidiary of AB Astra had an important ground-breaking ceremony in Saint Laurent on May 30. It was the first spadeful for a $33 million Astra Pain Research Unit on about 11 acres of land set to open in 1996. The unit with 42 employees is already engaged in research to find new chemical entities for the treatment of moderate to severe pain and inflamation. Five of the pioneers are from Sweden. By the end of 1997 the laboratory will have 125 employees with 70 researchers in the fields of peptide chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology. The strategy is to be close to the four universities in Montreal as well as many major hightech research companies which should attract top-notch researchers and encourage scientific interaction. The research facility is Astra's first major initiative in drug discovery research outside of Europe and comes as a result of Canada's new drug patent protection registration that allows innovative pharmaceutical companies a longer period to recoup their R & D investments (before generic drugs are allowed on the market). The decision to go with the Ville de Saint-Laurent campus rather than with company headquarters in Mississauga outside Toronto where Astra inaugurated a $ 40 million manufacturing and laboratory facility only two years ago may also have been influenced by economical incentives. The non-profit CITEC (Centre d'Initiative Technologique de Montreal) that created the "Technoparc" where the Astra lab will be located was set up to
attract foreign investment.

ERICSSON
is another major Swedish company that has bucked the concern for the future of Quebec. Four years ago Lionel Hurtubuise, the head of Ericsson Canada won the internal Ericsson contract, then worth $ 176 million, to develop the cellular telephone software, the "brains" of the cellular networks. As Ericsson,has engineering capacity in 30plus countries, the competition was fierce, but Montrealer Lionel Hurtubuise managed to demonstrate that the city had "quality people at reasonable cost". Montreal also houses the Technical Assistance Center which provides 24 hour service for all networks on the continent. The success of the R & D program will likely result in further investments to develop even more advanced cellular programs. Lionel Hurtubuise is hoping for $96 million from the mother company and another $10 million from federal and provincial development funds to this end. He should have a pretty good idea of the potential being the chairman of the Soci6t6 Innovatech Montreal, a $ 300 million fund set up by the province of Quebec to support technological ventures of this kind. Mr Hurtubuise has had to fight a stiff battle to keep the Ericsson head office in Quebec, as US executives would have preferred the easier communications with Toronto. The company has a special agreement with the province to maintain English as the corporate language.

BRITTA KLINGENSTIERNA is an artist creating "one of a kind jewelry". Her rings and bracelets are little sculptures or you could call them wearable art. "My designs are usually inspired by raw natural forms that provide texture. The texture is often cradled in a loose architectural form (arch, dome or spheres) to give some structure. I like the idea of fragmentation and that nothing is ever whole, complete or finished ...I like to leave some space for this imagination..." says Britta of her
art. Like so many of her female compatriots, she left Sweden when her husband got a job offer abroad. She said goodbye to her own career in personnel administration and enrolled - being twice as old as her fellow students - in a London art school. She started off by concentrating on painting but gradually she started integrating recycled Financial Times into her art giving it a more and more three dimensional form. When she later moved to Montreal she enrolled in the EJMAM (Ecole de Joaillerie et dé Metaux d'art de Montreal) jewelers school to find a way to form the fragments stones, roots and pea pods she collected into art. In the beginning she sold her jewelry at craft fairs and out of her home but now she has a presence on St Laurent and starting to acquire a following.
There are many other creative Swedes in town. La La Human Steps is a world-famous Montreal dance company. For four years Marito Olsson-Forsberg from the south of Sweden was one of its principal dancers. Today he divides his time between Montreal and Charles Roi in Belgium where he choreographs another dance troupe. Creative people have always been drawn to Montreal. Last year composer Bengt Hambraeus (interviewed in Sw Pr Aug'95) was named Professor Emeritus at McGill University where he has been teaching the subject for many years.

IKEA
is well-represented in Quebec with two stores in Montreal and Quebec City. Here you can find many of the products Swedes crave as well as, a copy of the ingenious Swedish Round Office concept. If you want the original Round Office like the one the Swedish Embassy in Ottawa has the only outlet for it is ScanKontrakt (220 Av Labrosse, Pointe Claire 514-694-2164). Another thing you do not find at IKEA is all the neat Canadiana like Hudson's Bay blankets and loon whistles that make such perfect gifts for relatives and friends in Sweden that you find at The Worn Doorstep (324 A Victoria Ave., Westmount 514-488-8055). The owner Lesley Forrester has no Swedish connection other than that she grew up next door to the Swedish Embassy in Ottawa and loves everything Swedish. You can find a lot of Swedish goodies at Euro-Plus (279 B Bord du Lac, Pointe-Claire 514694-4728) where Fred Jansen, originally from Holland stocks up on Swedish hard-tack and cheeses. Speaking from a portable, he promises that when he opens the store that is now being rebuilt in a week or so, there will be even more emphasis on Swedish products. Koko Keusseyan who worked as a mechanic on Swedish cars for many years now runs the Swedish Auto Center (2115 Old Orchard Ave., Montreal 514-484-7834) together with his brother Moses, with sales and service of both Volvo and Saab. There are a few travel agencies, sometimes with Swedish employees, that specialize in travel to Sweden. Worth checking out are Voyages de la Montagne (415-2824345), Meridican (415-849-5665) and Via Voyage (514-728-9264). There are not a lot of places in North America with a Swedish dentist. In Montreal dentist Anna Reznik also has a Swedish assistant, Ann Falaise and Ann-Marie Fenster, also from Sweden, takes care of appointments. If you are visiting Montreal you can stay in Lena Blondel's centrally located Bed & Breakfast (Montreal Oasis, 3000 Rue de Beeslay, Montreal 514-935-2312) that is prettily furnished with prints from Vietnam and Thailand and paintings that emanate from Lena's travels in Africa. The three comfortably sized guest rooms that have housed the likes of Alice Munro, Ursula Franklin and Audrey Thomas are jammed with interesting hard-cover and paperback books. The ambience is most un-Swedish as are the gourmet breakfasts in the dining room, but you feel at home right from the start. Lena is always helpful and she ill even lend you her bike if you need it.