Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A Historical Geography of the Finns in the Sudbury Area

J.H. Galloway is a professor of geography at the University of Toronto.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place is a record of the experience of a
distinctive immigrant group, the Finns, in the Sudbury area of Ontario.
The author, a member of this community, has made a thorough study of
sources in a wide range of public and private archives. The Finnish
press in Canada and interviews with prominent local personalities have
also proved valuable sources of information.

An overview of Finnish settlement in Canada is provided in the first
chapter, while the second chapter presents a detailed study of the
geography of Finnish settlement in the Sudbury region. The third and
perhaps the most interesting chapter is a discussion of dissension
within the Finnish immigrant community. There were bitter divisions
between communists, socialists, and conservatives, and between Lutherans
and anticlericals. Saarinen traces these divisions back to conditions in
Finland, notably the powerful role of the Lutheran Church and the 1918
civil war that immediately followed independence from Russia. Two
further chapters cover the types of employment the Finns found in
Sudbury and their cultural and athletic activities. The book concludes
with an expression of concern about the ability of Finnish identity to
survive.

The intended audience for Between a Rock and a Hard Place is unclear.
Saarinen is an academic, but his book is not linked, as historians and
social scientists might expect, to the extensive literature on migration
to Canada. The short biographies of local worthies and the lists of
names of pastors and businesspeople are reminiscent of local history and
suggest a book aimed at the local Sudbury market. The question of
readership aside, Saarinen’s book is a major source of information on
Finnish migration to Canada.