‘Whose are you? Τίνος ίσι συ;[i]’
By Angelo Laskaris
[i] ‘τίνος ίσι συ’ or the variation ποιανού είσαι εσύ is a saying that translates to ‘whose are you’ and is commonly asked by Greek villagers to younger descendants of Greek immigrants when visiting their ancestral homeland.
COMMUNITY AT A CROSSROADS
The Greek community in Toronto is at a crossroads, both as an organization and an ethnic group. The Greek Community of Toronto Inc. is embroiled in another financial crisis and is on the verge of insolvency. Yet, this latest crisis is a symptom of a much older disease: the unwillingness to acknowledge the transformation in Greek Canadian consciousness/identity coupled with the social hold of religion in community politics. These issues are complex and sensitive for any Greek or Canadian of Greek descent. They have driven the Greek Community of Toronto, a registered charitable organization, to launch a fundraising campaign to avoid selling one of its four churches to pay off its debts. One cannot disentangle the transformation of Greek Canadian identity and the GCT's debt crisis; they are deeply entwined.
This piece presents a history of ethno-community relations at the municipal level in Toronto. It attempts to reconstruct a story of an immigrant past while displaying the unwillingness to accept a modernizing Greek Canadian identity of succeeding generations. The current conflict is not new within the Greek community here in Toronto. Disagreements on conjoining a Greek ethnic consciousness with the Greek Orthodox faith have caused tensions amongst Greeks in Toronto since the 1920s. Since the first Greek Orthodox Church (1909) and later a language school (1921) were established at 170 Jarvis Street, divisions within the community have been a recurring problem. The issues illustrate that the immigrant Greek ethnic consciousness, while being entrenched in both a cultural and religious structure, makes this synonymous equation problematic to continue here in Canada. I do not wish to neglect the importance of Greek Orthodoxy in shaping a Greek identity. However, outside of Greece, the Orthodox Church and the community must be separated and kept in their respective lanes of authority. The Canadian archdiocese should focus on its churches and religious programs, while community organizations oversee culture, heritage, and language programs. Early pioneer immigrants underwent tremendous struggles and sacrifices to build a community to ensure future generations have a connection to their ancestral homeland. Their mistake was transferring community institutional structures with them from Greece; by intertwining culture and language with religion and maintaining the Church as the central authority of community politics. At this present moment, if the community at large does not accept the changing Greek Canadian consciousness—indeed, embrace it—and separate religion from community politics, the situation will only polarize the community even more.
During the early decades of the twentieth century, a few hundred Greeks were active in building a community in Toronto while even supporting fundraising campaigns back in their homeland. Following the Second World War, an influx of Greeks built, educated, and established themselves successfully, forming a distinct Greek Canadian identity and culture within Canadian society and its 'multicultural mosaic.' The local Greek community organized their affairs and united themselves, using the Church as its hub to collectivize in community affairs and events. This stems from the Greek state interlinking its nationalist policies with the Church since the nineteenth century. When analyzing past trends in the history of Greek diaspora and community building, religion cannot be underemphasized to other important liaisons, such as cultural, political, economic, and social phenomena.[1]
The Greek community is still structured to serve the needs of Greek immigrants who have settled for more than fifty years in the city, disregarding the fact that there are second, third, fourth, and even fifth generations of Canadian-born Greeks. Furthermore, the needs of mixed marriages and non-Greek Canadian philhellenes are also neglected. This deep-rooted traditional patriarchal hold on the community neglects to accept the changing dynamics of this intergenerational identity of what it means to be a ‘next generation’ Canadian-born descendant of Greek ancestral heritage. The consequence will be an eventual decline in community participation amongst the younger and successive generations.
An ethnic diasporic community is a social construction in which individuals of a shared cultural or national background unite to preserve and promote their culture, heritage, language, and religion. While they vary in organizational structures, size and locations, The Greek Community of Toronto (G.C.T.) as a registered administrative body and people of Greek descent can be classified as a 'community of practice.' Anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger coined the term as a learning model to better serve communities and see past the more formal structures of associations and communities.[2] Their definition states, "communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."[3] The significance of this social approach emphasizes the member's role, their commitment to a shared interest, their engagement in activities and their shared experiences, which assist in addressing recurring problems.[4] The Greek case in Toronto will demonstrate how the Church's dominating influence and authoritarian power structure creates more division than unity, which is the main factor in community fragmentation and intra-generational ethnic conflict.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF GREEKS IN TORONTO
By analyzing census records, the early decades of the twentieth-century Greek transatlantic migration to Canada was an offshoot of Greek migration to the United States, which began in 1891.[5] The 1901 Canadian census recorded 291 Greeks in Canada; in 1911, 3,594; in 1921, 5,740 and in 1931, 9,444.[6] The first known Greek to migrate to Toronto was Dr. Petros Constas (Constantinides) in 1864. Graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England, and degrees from the Royal College of Physicians from Edinburgh and Paris, Constantinides migrated to Toronto and took a degree from the University of Toronto before starting his career. He was one of the first operating surgeons of Toronto and amongst the oldest general practitioners in Ontario.[7] George and Constantine Letros, brothers and business partners, established the first Greek restaurant in Toronto and became forerunners of the Greek hospitality industry, mentoring new Greek immigrants that soon followed. Under the leadership of George Letros and the small number of Greeks in the city, there were efforts to establish a Greek Orthodox Community. In 1909, at a local Y.M.C.A., two hundred Greeks came together and constituted themselves into a corporate body known as ‘The St. George Greek Orthodox Community of Ontario.'[8] The importance of this initiative was the need to create a community under the Church and unite Greeks of the Orthodox faith. In 1912 the Kay’s house at 170 Jarvis Street was bought and became the first Church in the city. By 1917 the mortgage was paid off through the collective efforts of a fundraising committee and donations by Greeks throughout the province.[9] On April 3rd, 1930, The Toronto Daily Star had a page dedicated to the 100th-year liberation of the Greeks by the Ottoman Turks. The small yet vibrant Greek community in Toronto held weeklong celebrations. With over 1,200 Greeks in the city, W. Merzanis, President of the community, stated, "most of [their] children are Canadians. They live scattered throughout the city, and the easiest way to ‘canadianize’ themselves was to take part in Canadian life and avoid cliques.”[10] A city representative partaking in events described how “Greeks love their own country…but loving Greece does not mean that they love Canada less.”[11] While being small in numbers, the early Greeks of Toronto were able to lay the foundations for a permanent Greek presence in the city, despite it being under the authority of a church, which to them seemed like the necessary structure to centralize new immigrants within the city.
By 1926, the Church on Jarvis Street was becoming too small to cater to the needs of the growing immigrant population. In 1937 the community, under the leadership of Chris Georgas of Owen Sound, bought the present Church at 115 Bond Street, which was converted from a Synagogue into an Orthodox church.
With only one Church in the city, weddings and christenings alone kept the clergy performing services until midnight.[12] Another fundraising committee began with fifty of the most prominent Greeks collaborating to build a new church with the guidance of then Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America in 1951. Eight years later, with $275,000 raised, the community became divided between two factions; Frank Bezos and his supporters called to start construction immediately, and Peter Bassel, who led the other faction that wanted to control all the funds.[13] While one of the first of many clashes in the history of the Greek Community of Toronto, this event would repeat itself throughout many new projects and fundraising campaigns. In 1961, the North Parkdale United Church was purchased by the Greek Community of Metropolitan Toronto to become the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and in 1962 construction commenced on Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. Later in 1965, the attached Polymenakion Cultural Centre was built. Two more churches would join the Greek Community of Metropolitan Toronto; St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Scarborough (1981) and St. Irene’s on the Danforth (1986). There are an additional six churches in the City of Toronto, but they are under the power of the Metropolis. Division, polarization, fragmentation and political clashes have characterized the community since the early days of the first Church being established. In the 1970’s, Metro Greeks began another feud calling on the Church to relinquish some of its traditional powers in Canada and let Metro Greeks run the community's business.[14] For decades, the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada was administering the affairs of ‘the community.' While this functioned for the early years of Greek immigration, 'the community' and who was a part of it changed with new, younger, Canadian-born generations. While the desire to attach Orthodoxy to the Greek culture was not under attack, the issue for this new community stemmed from the Bishop having too much authority over non-clerical affairs. The second and third generation born were not like their parents as they became educated and started professional careers. They could dedicate the time, power and knowledge to enhance community heritage, language and cultural programs without the blessing of a bishop.
The 1980s saw further clashes between the laity and the clergy over community politics. It was argued that Canadians of Greek origin must shake off the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church in community affairs if they want to be masters of their own destiny.[15] A conference was held to attempt to bring together Greek organizations of Ontario to examine the community's problems and discuss the formation of an Ontario umbrella group. It was agreed upon that forming a super-structure was vital for Greeks to influence the government to benefit the community[16].
Nevertheless, the problem was not the government or mobilizing participation in community affairs. The issue was attempting to make the Greek Community of Toronto and its council move away from the influence of Bishop Athansoula Sotirios, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Toronto and later Canada. The power struggle between the Bishop’s role in the community was not solved during the conference. Increasing demands that the Bishop ought to confine his role to only religious matters and leave the community's business to the G.C.T. increased over the years. In 1986 the parishioners of St. Irene’s Church handed over the building and assets amounting to $500,000 to the Greek Community of Metropolitan Inc.[17] Toronto lawyer Luis Douramakos, who was involved in this transition, mentioned, "the merger was decided because virtually every decision, program or project had to have the blessing of Sotirios. They could not sell a property had he had the final say on disposition of assets.”[18] The influence by a Bishop on community affairs was rooted early on in Greek community politics and a legacy of the uneducated Greek immigrant who left decision-making in the hands of priests and bishops.[19] This dynamic was problematic now to successive generations who wanted a more significant influence and say in community politics and decisions.
The present-day situation is a continuation of the post-war years of community building. While the Greek Community of Toronto Inc. did get their way by having control over four churches, it was agreed upon that they would donate to the Metropolis yearly while paying for the priests and upkeep of its properties. Now the organization is plagued by debt. While I agree that clerical authorities ought to be kept in their respective arenas, having the organization, which is now predominately culturally based, also focus on the upkeep of churches and religious programs is out of touch for this new generation of ethnic Greek Canadians. Especially when a multi-million-dollar Metropolis has already established and proven itself as ‘the caretaker’ of churches and Eastern Greek Orthodoxy in Canada.
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES AND INTRA-ETHNIC CONFLICT
It is evident how entrenched the Church has become in community affairs and community building; however, is its iron-hand authority over cultural, linguistic and religious spheres causing more fragmentation than unity? Ethnic communities do not necessarily need a church to be in a position of higher authority to define themselves as a public cultural institution. In the Greek case, while the Church is intertwined into its culture and was the leading institution in preserving language and culture under four hundred years of Ottoman occupation, Greeks abroad are in a proper state to manage their own community affairs without the approval of a bishop or clerical board. However, getting the Church to relinquish such authority in diasporic ethnic communities will be harder to achieve because of the monetary and public influence they have created for themselves through the community as their 'leader.'
The Greek Orthodox Church has attempted to unify the social and cultural homogeneity amongst Greeks through the concept of a ‘spiritual community’ (or Kinotis).[20] Through this concept, all members of a Greek settlement and the congregation of its Church become synonymous.[21] Anthropologist Judith Nagata attempts to deconstruct the structure of Kinotis within Toronto's Greek community. While we would think that the spiritual community would apply and welcome all individuals practicing the Greek Orthodox faith in the city, this is not true. The community refers to those Greeks who have paid their annual dues for formal membership in the Church. Out of the total complement of the 40,000 Greeks [in 1969] estimated to be residents in the city, a scant 1200 individuals, or approximately 3.3%, are fully paid members.[22] The current Greek Community of Toronto is facing a similar issue of membership exclusivity. Only a select few have become paid members, and their voice in committee affairs has been minimal, if recognized at all. This lack of interest in the Greek community is more complex. It stems from a degree of cultural conservatism or lack of interest in community affairs due to political schisms and a lack of transparency in administration affairs. Constant feuds between the G.C.T. and the Metropolis do not help foster a sense of community. Younger Canadians of Greek descent are also minimal in numbers, seeing that both the Church and the community are not a reflection of their changing ethnic consciousness. Services of the Church are in Greek, and many individuals are intermarrying with non-Greeks who then feel a sense of exclusion from the structure of the community. This unwillingness to understand the current transformations of ethnic Greek consciousness and neglecting to attract and cater to their needs will see a continued lack of participation in community affairs and support.
The historical role of the Church may have its claim to be the centre authoritarian figure of commitment to culture, language and heritage. Nevertheless, this influence, while over dominating, has instigated conflict within the ethnic community.[23] The administration of more extraordinary powers to clergy was approved under Archbishop Iakovos during the 17th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress. The Archbishop claimed that “I provided the priests with more rights and responsibilities and appointed them to be the heads of communities and not community clerks as were previously considered."[24] While the construction of St. Demitrios and the attached community centre created enough conflict for Archbishop Iakovos to come to Toronto himself in hopes of remedying the issue, community clerks and presidents have constantly challenged the authority of the Church over non-ecclesiastic programs, such as language. Dr. Leonidas Polymenakos, past President of the Greek Community of Metropolitan Inc., stated, "the matter for us is very simple. We do not intervene in religious or ecclesiastical matters. We have never been entangled in dogmatic disputes with the clergy of our won Church whom we respectfully recognized as spiritual leaders…however, we are not disposed to accept open or covert intervention in the purely civic matters of our community."[25] The reply by Bishop Sotirios not only stressed the antagonism within the structure of the Greek Canadian community, but his stance was also that the Greek Church has the authority to be the leader of the ethnic community. Bishop Sotirios rebutted, “The Greek community is not a civic organization; it is purely an ecclesiastical organization which unreservedly and irrevocably is under the jurisdictions of the Greek Orthodox Church…the problems of the Greek Community of Metropolitan Toronto Inc. will be solved only when the community itself consciously accepts the fact that it is an ecclesiastical organization.”[26] Both parties can define the community in ways that will improve their political situations. Yet, the issue is to reform the community with the transformations and experiences of newer and younger generations who do not have that strong of a connection to Greek culture and heritage, compared to first-generation immigrant Greeks. Further inter-ethnic conflict will continue to fragment the community until there is no desire to participate or maintain a person’s ethnic consciousness.
Aside from the Church, a second important institution of Greek culture in diaspora communities is the Greek language school. It, too, started under the directives of the Church in Toronto. The establishment of St. George's Church on Jarvis Street soon followed the creation of an afternoon/ evening program on the second floor. These pioneers of Greek migration were the first to establish themselves and understand the importance of the Greek language in shaping their cultural identity and consciousness outside of Greece.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF AN ETHNIC GREEK CONSCIOUSNESS
Sociologist Herbert J. Gans hypothesizes the potential 'coming of darkness' for later-generation European Americans. Suppose we use his analytical structure of formal and informal late-generation ethnicity (L.G.E.) organizations and institutions and private ethnic practices. In that case, it will seem that the L.G.E. Greeks of America would outlast other ethnic groups, such as the Italians or the Poles, for instance, because of their deep religious membership and devotion to keeping late-generational ethnicity alive.[27] However, what is currently taking place within the Greek Community of Toronto does relate to his hypothesis that "the old European ethnicity may be becoming invisible."[28] Moreover, the descendants "are far enough removed from their immigrant ancestors in time, place and social space that most probably do not even know their names."[29] While Greek immigration to the United States occurred earlier than Canada's migration waves, it is evident that the later-generation Greeks of Toronto and Canada are at a critical point that will determine their ethnic presence and foothold within Canada's multicultural mosaic. Gans lists four types of formal organizations: promotional, commercial, performing and preserving, all of which have been created by ethnic Greeks within America and Canada. Promotional organizations publicize and keep visible the ethnic population, its ethnicity, and the label by which the population is known.[30] In the Toronto context, Greek Canadian broadcasting and newspapers are their promotional link for L.G.E. to be aware of what is happening within their ethnic, social structure. Commercial organizations sell various ethnic products and symbols; examples are stores on the Danforth – Toronto's Greektown. Performing organizations Gans notes, hold festivals with folk dances, ethnic music and theatre pieces. Preserving organizations are mainly concerned with saving the arts, literature, scholarship and other forms of ethnic culture.[31] Within Toronto, ethnic Greeks have a foothold within all four structures of ethnic organizations; thus, how is it plausible to say that L.G.E.s are declining if there is involvement and support within these formal networks? To answer this question is to look at how these structures incorporate younger generations – which the G.C.T. and the Church are failing to do on various fronts, and how these organizations continue supporting an ethnic Greek consciousness. There is a complete failure on both these questions because their mentality is still moulded in the old traditional immigrant way of doing things, leaving Greek L.G.E.'s to create their own ethnic identity, limiting a united homogeneous community. If we take this analysis and look into it further, then Gans may have a point to say a coming of darkness is transcending on European ethnicities outside of Europe; "darkness is enveloping late-generation European ethnicity. Most L.G.E.s are already, or will soon be like all other Americans, the descendants of long ago-and often forgotten – immigrants…their ethnic identity or identities will be remembered and perhaps even felt and expressed when the situation demands it. However, even these situations will eventually disappear."[32]
It is essential to compare the Greek immigrants of the 1960s and '70s to their offspring, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are currently voicing their concerns within the G.C.T. While immigrants were predominately rural born with dreams of social and economic mobility, the majority worked as non-unionized wage labourers in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations.[33] While their successive generations have adapted to social change, they have further established themselves and integrated into Canadian society, more so than their parents and grandparents. However, despite the acceptance of external societal changes by living and adapting to Canadian society, what is still visible is the attachment to family and religion. The Greek Canadian identity has far removed itself from the immigrant experience to a Canadian Greek acculturation, and with the continued fragmentation of community politics solely embracing the few original ethnic Greeks left, the identity will move further to a no longer hyphenated ethnic consciousness but be solely Canadian.
The immigrant and later generations move between stages of cultural continuity and cultural change with time. The immigrant experience is rooted in the former, experiencing contact and accommodation. With time, they and the later generations experience change in acculturation (cultural pluralism with cultural integration) and assimilation.[34] Cultural continuity is when ethnic identity and traditions dominate the immigrant and their household's social, political and cultural spheres.[35] They identify as an ethnic (i.e. Greek) and become hyphenated with time (Greek – Canadian). Acculturation, while more complex, moves away from the traditions and practices being the dominant characteristics of an identity with a complete acceptance or situational adaptation of the host society.[36] Gavaki notes, "the second and third generations are hyphenated, yet the accent is on the host society’s label (Canadian-Greek). The last stage of this framework is assimilation; “when and if this stage is reached, Gavaki stresses, no dominant ethnic elements exist. No longer a hyphenated identity. Successive generations identify as solely Canadian.”[37] Fifty years later, the ethnic identity is between acculturation and assimilation.
In his detailed and analytical work on ‘Ethnicity without Groups’, Rogers Brubaker suggested that instead of framing an analysis in terms of ᾽ethnic groups᾽ we ought to focus solely on the concept of groups and groupness. "In other words, by raising questions about the unit of analysis – the ethnic group – we may end up questioning the domain of analysis: ethnicity itself."[38] In our analysis, the 'group' are Greeks in Canada and their Canadian-born offspring as an internally homogeneous community with links to Hellenic culture, language, heritage, and Orthodoxy. There are also Greeks who are non-practicing / agnostic or practice other faiths, and while they may be a minority, they, too, are underrepresented. While his argument reflects on structural and constructivist approaches to ethnic conflict between groups, his case has importance in discussing what we mean by ethnicity itself. “The focus is not to frame the analysis in terms of ethnic groups but to focus on practical categories, cultural idioms, cognitive schemas, common sense knowledge, organizational routines, discursive frames, institutionalized forms, political projects contingent events and variable groupness."[39] Elements within these categories are visible in a more micro level of ethnic group politics within Toronto.
CONCLUSION: SO, WHO AM I?
If we use Gavaki’s acculturation framework, I would be classified as a Canadian–Greek slowly moving to be a Canadian. While I have not reached the de-hyphenated stage, I am aware that my offspring would solely be Canadian after four generations of Greek immigration if there is a continued lack of catering to the needs of young Canadian Greeks. While the stance towards the Church and its linkage to cultural heritage may have been harsh in this paper, I understand the need, as a young Canadian–Greek, to keep the Church and the Greek Community of Toronto in their respective fields of authority. Let the Metropolis focus on preserving religion and Eastern Greek Orthodoxy in the City of Toronto, and the G.C.T. on extending cultural, heritage and language programs. Both ought to be modernizing themselves and understanding that the ethnic Greek identity is no longer the same seventy years later. The unwillingness to understand a transformation in an ethnic Greek Canadian consciousness/identity through succeeding generations and the social hold of not separating religion from culture and community politics will lead to continued fragmentation and feuds within this ethnic group. If one good thing is to come out of this global pandemic, it would be to understand that change is not a bad thing and how using technology not only connects more individuals, it attracts individuals who may not have been involved in the community or the Church before – a young, modern ethnic Greek Canadian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Source Documents:
“20,000 Toronto Greeks in $275,000 Church Split.” The Toronto Daily Star. October 30, 1959. 1425978497. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
Serge, Joe. “Metro Greeks Feud with Bishop over Control of Church Business.” Toronto Star. March 20, 1986. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
Serge, Joe. “Metro Greeks in Bitter Feud with Church for Power.” Toronto Star. May 26, 1977. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
———. “Shake off Influence of Church Ontario Greek Conference Told.” Toronto Star. May 9, 1982. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
“Toronto Greeks Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Liberation of Country from Turks.” The Toronto Daily Star. April 5, 1930. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
Secondary Sources:
Brubaker, Rogers. “Ethnicity without Groups.” European Journal of Sociology 43, no. 2 (August 2002): 163–89. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975602001066.
Chimbos, Peter D. The Canadian Odyssey: The Greek Experience in Canada. Generations, a History of Canada’s Peoples. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980.
Etienne, Wenger-Trayner, and Wenger-Trayner Beverly. “Introduction to Communities of Practice | Wenger-Trayner.” Accessed April 27, 2021. https://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/.
Gabaccia, Donna R. “Is Everywhere Nowhere? Nomads, Nations, and the Immigrant Paradigm of United States History.” The Journal of American History 86, no. 3 (December 1999): 1115. https://doi.org/10.2307/2568608.
Gans, Herbert J. “The Coming Darkness of Late-Generation European American Ethnicity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 37, no. 5 (April 16, 2014): 757–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.827796.
Gavaki, Effie. “The Greek Family in Canada: Continuity and Change and the Process of Adjustment.” International Journal of Sociology of the Family 9, no. 1 (1979): 1–16.
———. The Integration of Greeks in Canada. San Francisco: R and E Associates, 1977.
Lailotou, Ioanna. “Greek Diaspora.” In Encyclopedia of Diasporas, edited by Carol R Ember and Melvin Ember. Dordrecht; London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2004. http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=9780387299044.
Lorenzkowski, Barbara. “Languages of Ethnicity: Teaching German in Waterloo County’s Schools, 1850–1915.” Histoire Sociale/Social History 41, no. 81 (2008): 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1353/his.0.0013.
Nagata, Judith A. “Adaptation and Integration of Greek Working Class Immigrants in the City of Toronto, Canada: A Situational Approach.” International Migration Review 4, no. 1 (September 1969): 44–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791836900400104.
Polyzoi, Eleoussa. “The Greek Communal School and Cultural Survival in Pre-War Toronto.” Urban History Review 7, no. 2–78 (October 1978): 74–94. https://doi.org/10.7202/1019426ar.
Vlassis, George Demetrios. Greeks In Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, 1942.
Endnotes
[1] Ioanna Lailotou, “Greek Diaspora,” in Encyclopedia of Diasporas, ed. Carol R Ember and Melvin Ember (Dordrecht; London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2004), http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=9780387299044, 85.
[2] Wenger-Trayner Etienne and Wenger-Trayner Beverly, “Introduction to Communities of Practice,”, https://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/, 1.
[3] Ibid., 1.
[4] Wenger-Trayner Etienne and Wenger-Trayner Beverly, “Introduction to Communities of Practice,”, https://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/, 2.
[5] George Demetrios Vlassis, Greeks In Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, 1942), 12.
[6] Ibid., 12.
[7] Ibid., 11.
[8] George Demetrios Vlassis, Greeks In Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, 1942), 43.
[9] Ibid, 43.
[10] “Toronto Greeks Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Liberation of Country from Turks,” The Toronto Daily Star, April 5, 1930, Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
[11] “Toronto Greeks Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Liberation of Country from Turks.”
[12] “20,000 Toronto Greeks in $275,000 Church Split,” The Toronto Daily Star, October 30, 1959, 1425978497, Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Joe Serge, “Metro Greeks in Bitter Feud with Church for Power,” Toronto Star, May 26, 1977. Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
[15] Joe Serge, “Shake off Influence of Church Ontario Greek Conference Told.,” Toronto Star, May 9, 1982, Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
[16]Ibid.
[17] Serge, Joe, “Metro Greeks Feud with Bishop over Control of Church Business,” Toronto Star, March 20, 1986, Toronto Star Historical Newspaper Archive.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Judith A. Nagata, “Adaptation and Integration of Greek Working Class Immigrants in the City of Toronto, Canada: A Situational Approach,” International Migration Review 4, no. 1 (September 1969): 44–70, https://doi.org/10.1177/019791836900400104, 51.
[21] Ibid., 51.
[22] Ibid., 51.
[23] Chimbos, The Canadian Odyssey, 88.
[24] Ibid., 90.
[25] Dr. L. Polymenakos interview published in Greek Canadian Weekly, Toronto, October 22, 1976, pg. 10 (translation) in Chimbos, The Canadian Odyssey, 91-92.
[26] Bishop Sotirios’ interview published in Greek Canadian Action, Montreal, October 1976, pg. 1. (translation) in Chimbos, The Canadian Odyssey, 92.
[27] Herbert J. Gans, “The Coming Darkness of Late-Generation European American Ethnicity,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 37, no. 5 (April 16, 2014): 757–65, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.827796, 757.
[28] Ibid., 757.
[29] Ibid., 758.
[30] Ibid., 758.
[31] Gans, “The Coming Darkness of Late-Generation European American Ethnicity,” 759.
[32] Ibid., 761.
[33] Effie Gavaki, “The Greek Family in Canada: Continuity and Change and the Process of Adjustment.,” International Journal of Sociology of the Family 9, no. 1 (1979): 4.
[34] Gavaki, “The Greek Family in Canada: Continuity and Change and the Process of Adjustment,” 5.
[35] Ibid., 5.
[36] Efrosini Gavaki, The Integration of Greeks in Canada (San Francisco: R and E Associates, 1977), 18.
[37] Gavaki, “The Greek Family in Canada: Continuity and Change and the Process of Adjustment,” 6.
[38] Rogers Brubaker, “Ethnicity without Groups,” European Journal of Sociology 43, no. 2 (August 2002): 163–89, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975602001066, 816.
[39] Brubaker, “Ethnicity without Groups,” 816.