VII. Challenges and Conclusions

It is clear that Greek people in the Maritime Provinces have adapted well to a new country, and have prospered in Eastern Canada. In earlier years many of them came from terrible conditions caused by war and poverty in Greece. In Canada their diligence and their willingness to work at time consuming, often exhausting jobs have created good lives for themselves and their children. In many Maritime households we now find second and third-generation Greek people who were born in Canada, and who live in cities and towns to which their parents and grandparents came years before. So they are well established and comfortable in their lives, but their favorite designation for themselves, even among many young people, tends to be “Greek Canadian”.

The lives of the Greek Canadians in the Maritimes differ very much according to the provinces in which they reside, and even the area of the province where they live. There is no Greek community on Prince Edward Island, and those Greek people living on the Island whom we were able to identify and interview prefer to blend with the local non-Greek population. They maintain a Greek identity in their private lives by visits to Greece and their contacts there or in other parts of Canada where there are large Greek populations. In New Brunswick the nucleus of a Greek community exists in Saint John around St. Nicholas Church. The older people know one another very well, but the younger people live their lives largely in a non-Greek world. In regions beyond Saint John it is only possible for the outsider to identify Greek Canadians by looking for local restaurants with an obvious Greek flavor, or by occasional, chance contacts. Greek Canadians in other parts of New Brunswick regard St. Nicholas’ Church as both their spiritual and their community centre. They visit it and their Greek friends in Saint John as frequently as possible. Nova Scotia has a relatively large Greek population with most Greek people living in Halifax and Cape Breton. The Halifax Greek people are well established and well respected by the non-Greek population. Cape Breton Greeks have a long, proud tradition centered on Ss. Anargyroi’s Church. The difficulties for the Cape Breton Greek community are largely those of wider Cape Breton, where chronic unemployment causes many young Cape Bretoners to leave home.

Even in the relatively large Greek community in the Halifax area the people are facing choices and decisions which will affect their future and change the community. Many Halifax Greeks would certainly prefer to maintain the status quo, and look askance at possible changes. The work and expense which went into the new St. George’s has resulted in a beautiful, well appointed building containing both a traditional Byzantine church and all the facilities for a well used community centre. Expenses to maintain that building are on going, and push the congregation to focus on the church property and sometimes ignore other, more complex issues. Mr. Takis Kostopoulos, former head of the annual Greek Festival, recently queried whether the nature of the Festival in Halifax might change from its major emphasis on food and entertainment to something, which could offer the wider non-Greek community a more in-depth look at Greek culture. He said, "Why not, for example, have a whole week of activities when each day is dedicated to one aspect of our heritage? One day we could concentrate on Greek cuisine, another on history and art etc.” But this would mean tampering with a very successful and very lucrative fund raising activity for the church, and naturally some church people worry about those implications. When Mr. Steve Giannoulis, President of the Church Council from 1993-1996, raised the idea of establishing a Greek nursing home, or at least providing Greek speaking staff and familiar Greek food within one of the existing nursing homes in the Halifax area, his idea was not taken up by the Council. Greek tradition has always taught that family members provide total care for one another’s needs. That premise rests on the reality that there are family members, usually women, who are at home to provide twenty-four hour care when it is needed. Today most active Greek Canadian women are either occupied with their young children or have busy careers outside the home. Many fortunate Greek seniors do reside with family members. That gives them security, and they, in turn, often play a major role in running the household while other family members are away from the home. However, that optimal situation is not always possible, especially when intense, full time nursing care is required. Some Greek seniors now live comfortably in local nursing homes, but their Greek families are aware that, in spite of all their efforts at visiting, in large part their loved ones are cut off for most of the time from their language and culture. Larger Greek communities in Toronto and Montreal have gone some way to provide special care facilities with a Greek atmosphere for those who want and need them.

Greek language and cultural education are other areas for real concern. Even given the general desire to see the Greek language flourish among young people of Hellenic descent in Atlantic Canada, the various Greek communities will have to decide how much increasing effort, time, and money they are willing to put into Greek language education. In a period when there are more and more marriages between Greeks and non-Greeks, English is likely to be the dominant language in those homes. Greek schools, as Callie Iatrou points out, cannot do the whole job of teaching the Greek language to their children. Then too, not all adults married to Greeks can, or are willing, to put the immense effort into acquiring reasonable fluency in an admittedly difficult language. While some individuals are prepared, even eager to promote their Greek spouses’ rich heritage, one must ask whether they will continue to be comfortable in an environment of church and community where they do not understand much of what is being said and written. What will be the consequences for the continuation of the Greek language in the Maritimes? How much will Greek churches be willing to increase the use of English in the regular church services in order to accommodate those whose Greek is weak or non-existent?

The author thinks that the most crucial area for Maritime Greeks is the decisions which the young people will make about their continued involvement with the Greek communities, and the values which they want those communities to preserve. Younger people on the brink of taking over the leadership in the older Greek communities are bringing along new ideas about the development and future of those communities. As we have seen, the young Greek Canadians are marrying non-Greeks in increasing numbers. Many of them have thought carefully about what this means for themselves, their families, and the whole Greek community. If they marry in the Orthodox Church and have willing spouses who are interested in Greek culture, they are actually expanding the base of the Greek community in the Maritimes. This has been the experience in the United States where, instead of fearing marriages to non-Greeks, the Greek people increasingly see such marriages as a positive feature for the future. They bring new blood, new ideas, and enthusiastic converts into the Greek fold. In this regard Rev. Theodore Efthimiadis of Halifax has done much to calm the worries of older Greeks who used to fear potential marriages between their children and the non-Greek population. However, a marriage conducted outside the Greek Orthodox Church between an Orthodox Christian and another non-Orthodox person means that the sacraments of the church and leadership in church organizations are forbidden to an individual who was brought up in the Orthodox faith. Thus formerly active members of the Greek Church and community can be lost. In areas, especially outside Halifax, Saint John, and Cape Breton, where Orthodox churches do not exist, marriages between Greeks and non-Greeks almost certainly will mean the eventual weakening of the Greek ties and the sense of Greek identity.

In an overwhelming number of interviews with young Greek Canadians they said that they want to remain both Greek and Canadian, they want to remain Orthodox, but they expect to have their voices heard, their needs met, and they predict that changes will take place, even changes within the church. They do not necessarily accept direction from the older members of the community, simply because they are older and now occupy places of authority within the community. After all the young people have been educated in Canadian schools where they have been taught to think for themselves, and to take on value systems which may be radically different from those of their parents and grandparents. Over and over again young individuals told our interviewers that their parents had left Greece in the 1950s and brought with them the standards and values of Greece at that time. But those are not today’s patterns of behaviour either in Canada or modern Greece, and the young people who have visited Greece so often, resent the fact that they are being asked to live in a sort of artificial time bubble. Interviews done about ten years ago with young, second-generation Greek Australians recorded the same complaints. Young Maritime Greeks would like to see a greater variety of youth centered activities. They note that very few young people, even in their thirties and forties, have been elected to the important Church Council. Some have suggested that trained Greek Canadian counselors should be at hand when sensitive topics such as parental authority, couples living together without marriage, and changing attitudes to women need to be addressed. While we need to give voice to these issues which have been raised by young Greek Maritimers, at the same time we should acknowledge that some young Greek Canadians have been willing to speak in interviews to those whom they regard as sympathetic listeners, but they are often unwilling, and slightly afraid to voice those same ideas publicly. That would mean possible confrontation with well-established power structures in the church and community. Then, too, the young people do not want to hurt older members of the community whom they have loved and admired for so long, even though they would like to begin a dialogue about subjects that are often difficult for their elders to hear.

In spite of the challenges facing Greek Canadians in the Maritime Provinces, as a people their lives exemplify many very positive and attractive qualities. For the author, herself a non-Greek, those positive features in Greek Canadian life have always been very apparent, and indeed, are the reason she initially agreed to undertake this study. At a time when we are seeing divorce rates in North America approaching 50%, divorce among Greeks on this continent remains a rarity. In general Greek Canadians commit fully to marriage and to one another as partners for life. They raise their children to regard the family as the most important unit in society, and family members as their most important friends, loves, and allies. This came home to the author most recently when she was invited to a large house party, mostly attended by Greek Canadians, but with a handful of non-Greeks also present. The occasion was a happy one for this family- two university graduations, a name day celebration, and a birthday. All the favorite Greek foods spread over the dining room table and were replenished over and over again. A full size lamb, which had been roasting all afternoon on the outside grill, was the dinner’s main dish. Most of all I noticed the affection constantly being displayed among the extended family members, old and young, male and female. They gave each other spontaneous hugs and kisses with no sense of self-consciousness. The grandparents had just returned from Greece and all the grandchildren delighted in their presence. I came away thinking how blessed this family is for the warmth and affection they all share – and I recognized that each family member makes a strong effort to foster that sense of collective unity and support. They are all people with individual lives and careers, but the warmth they have as a family reaches out to embrace not only each other, but also those guests and friends who are fortunate enough to be invited into their circle.

In addition to the strong commitment to family, most Greek Canadians in the Maritimes are notable for the way they identify Greek church and Greek community. They are very willing to give generously of their time, efforts, and money to support the Orthodox churches here. Even people from outside the Metropolitan areas send financial support for the Greek churches. Over and over again in the interview we heard “to be Greek means to be Orthodox.” While there are always some exceptions to a general rule, Greeks in the Maritimes who are not Orthodox often socialize with other Greek Canadians, but they seem to stand apart from the Greek communities which are so identified with the churches. In other areas such as Toronto and Vancouver there are Greek communities distinct from the life of the Orthodox churches. This is not the case in the Maritimes. It is not only for purpose of identification with the Greek community that many Greek Canadians continue in their Orthodox faith. An outsider, who admires the beauty of the Byzantine style churches and enjoys occasional participation in the elaborate, almost mystic church liturgies, can miss the deep spirituality which for many Greek Orthodox is the essence of their religion. For a devout Greek Orthodox Christian their living faith which traces its roots back to apostolic times is an unshakable, permanent rock in an otherwise impermanent world.

No one can help admiring the strong work ethics of most Maritime Greeks. In their attitudes to hard work Greek Canadians are like so many other immigrant peoples who take on any task, however onerous, in order to build good lives for themselves and their families. I have never heard the slur that Greeks take jobs away from other Canadians. Indeed, their hard work and their strong business sense have allowed them to develop all sorts of prosperous business operations, which often employ large numbers of non-Greeks.

As a Classics professor in Halifax I cannot help being partial to a people who represent a living link with the history of ancient Greece. I first met many of the Halifax Greeks years ago when I was invited by Father Charalambos Elles to give some talks on a few aspects of ancient Greek art, history, and literature in St. George’s Community Centre. Father Elles was concerned that his parishioners should learn something about the achievements of their famous ancestors. In those afternoon sessions I soon discovered how much the local Greek people already knew about their history, and how eager they were to share their cultural heritage with others. As I got to know them better, I came to understand that the Greeks in Canada, and especially in the Maritimes, were themselves making contributions to Canadian life in ways that enrich us all. I have gained a deep respect for them and a sense of gratitude that they would allow me, as an individual from outside their community, to examine their lives, however briefly, and endeavor to say something about them to a wider audience. To be put under some sort of public microscope is not easy for the subjects, but I hope that the results have been somehow rewarding.