BULGARIANS have been arriving in Canada ever since the turn of the century. Most of the early newcomers were young men who had come, not as permanent immigrants, but as sojourners intending to return to their homeland. Overseas migration was a popular way for single and unaccompanied married men to make a living and fulfil their continuously rising expectations. The men had come to work – and work they did. As railroad navvies and road construction workers, they helped to create the infrastructure of Canada’s ground transportation system. Working in mines, factories, paper and textile mills, they also helped to ensure the rapid development of Canada’s industrial life and economy. This period of migration was interrupted by the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and the First World War. (Bulgaria supported the Central Power states of Austria, Germany, and Turkey.)

The interwar years (1918-1939) saw the attempt in Canada to establish communities. Having decided to settle in Canada, Bulgarian men dutifully made provision for brides, wives, and families to join them. Men who had been able to build up a stake often decided to go into business for themselves. The first entrepreneurial enterprises of the Bulgarians included restaurants, barber shops, shoe repair shops, tailoring and dressmaking establishments.

After the Second World War, Bulgarian immigration to Canada resumed on an even larger scale. The majority of the new immigrants, in addition to having the traditional economic motives, came as political refugees who wished to leave their homeland rather than live under the communist regime. The postwar economic boom attracted skilled workers, technicians, and professionals to Canada’s rapidly growing metropolitan areas. And when democracy began to take hold of Eastern Europe in 1989, Canada once again became of primary interest to Bulgarian emigrants. Thousands began to arrive at airport points of entry at Gander, Newfoundland and Mirabel (Quebec), in the belief that several years of hard work could secure wealth and a comfortable life.

Today, according to the most recent government indices of population, there are at least 12,390 people of Bulgarian origin in Canada while sources in the ethnic group estimate over 30,000 members in Canada, arguing that the community has been imperfectly perceived in Canadian records. There are more people of Bulgarian origin in Ontario than in any other single province. Most live in Toronto and the industrial hinterland of southern and western Ontario. There are also several thousand Bulgarians in Quebec and in British Columbia, most notably in Montreal and Vancouver. Bulgarians can also lay claim to an historical presence in Canada’s prairie provinces, early in the century, as a small but hearty group of Bulgarian farmers established homesteads in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

The Bulgarians are predominately Orthodox Christians, and their churches and parishes constitute major centres of religious, social, cultural, and recreational activities. In 1910, Bulgarians joined hands with Macedonians to found Sts. Cyril and Methody Church in Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighbourhood. The first priest of the church was the Archimandrite Theophilact, Demetrius Mallin, who had originally hailed from the Bulgarian village of Vrachesh. Mallin resigned his position as parish priest in 1921 to pursue a long-standing desire to perform medical missionary work in Toronto. After graduating from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, Mallin emerged as a fine physician, a good man who had great compassion for the ill among the working class of all nationalities. Other churches are located elsewhere in Toronto (St. George’s and Holy Trinity) and in Niagara Falls (St. Ivan Rilski). The churches offer a variety of services and activities including Bulgarian heritage language classes for children, and social, athletic, and cultural clubs for teenagers and adults. Folklore and dance groups attached to the churches also attract wide support from the ethno community.

The Bulgarians, in spite of their comparatively small numbers, created a large number of associations and clubs in this country. In 1921, Bulgarians partnered Macedonians in the United States and Canada in the creation of the Macedonian Political (later Patriotic) Organization (MPO). In 1951, Bulgarians in Canada established an important branch of the Bulgarian National Front. The BNF, founded in Munich, Germany, in 1947, promoted Bulgarian independence from Communist rule. The American-Bulgarian League for U.S.A. and Canada, founded in 1944 to lobby Allied governments in favour of Bulgaria at the end of World War II, had active chapters in Toronto and Montreal into the 1960s. The Bulgarian-Canadian Society, founded in Toronto in 1957, played a vital role in preserving group unity and ethno-cultural traditions. Its conferences, meetings, cultural festivities, parties, and picnics helped to build a newfound loyalty to Canada. In 1967, a“Bulgarian-Canadian Centennial Committee” was formed by community organizations across Canada to celebrate Canada’s centenary. It published a commemorative booklet, which won much praise for the way it expressed their attachment to Canada and their country of origin. In 1976, the community in Montreal founded the Association Socio-Culturelle Bulgare. In 1984, Bulgarians in Vancouver established the Bulgarian Home Society of British Columbia; in 1991 Bulgarian residents of Ottawa founded the Canadian-Bulgarian Society; and in 1992 the Canadian Bulgarian Association was created.

The contribution of Bulgarian Canadians to the business ranks of our country has been substantial. Among the leading members, past and present, of corporate Canada are Daniel Damov, Ignat Kaneff, Kamen Rustscheff, and Kroum Pindoff. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Daniel Damov, who studied law at the University of Paris, came to Canada in the early 1950s and became an insurance executive. Mr. Damov was President of Travelers Canada and Chairman of Zurich Canada before retiring and being elected to the U.S. Insurance Hall of Fame. Ignat Kaneff, a giant in the construction industry, has made a substantial impact on Mississauga, Ontario, by building thousands of homes and highrise units in Canada’s sixth largest city. Other serious investments include retail commercial plazas, office administrative buildings, and golf courses including the internationally acclaimed Lionhead Golf & Country Club. A philanthropist, Kaneff endowed the University of Toronto in 1992 with a building on the University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, at Erindale – the Kaneff Centre for Management and Social Sciences. The Ignat Kaneff Charitable Foundation, established in 1986, is today a key supporter of hospitals (Mississauga, Peel Memorial, and Oakville-Trafalgar hospitals), symphony orchestras, and community living centres of which Didi Kaneff is the President. As well, Kamen Rustscheff, now retired, was a general contractor in the Greater Toronto Area who was a top builder of schools, laboratories, and other institutional projects as required by all levels of government. Another influential Canadian of Bulgarian origin is Toronto music executive Kroum Pindoff, founder of Music World, a chain of 110 record store outlets that stretches across Canada. Typical of his imaginative philanthropy was his recent gift of $5 million to the Canadian Red Cross to aid victims of landmines.

The contribution of Bulgarian Canadians to the social, cultural, and intellectual life of our country has been significant in every generation. Some, such as Torontonian Paul Christie, have served in elected political offices. Many have been active in the visual and performing arts. These include ethnomusicologist, Irene Markoff; sculptor, Maryon Kantaroff; a curator and art historian at the University of Toronto, Dr. Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov; the fabulous Kotcheff brothers: television and film director, Ted Kotcheff, and his brother Tim, a television broadcast news executive. In addition, Bulgarian Canadians are also prominent in Canada’s retail clothing (Golub Golubov is a premier producer of women’s lingerie), while some are lawyers, medical doctors, and teachers at various levels in the academic community. In Montreal, Assen Nicolov Balikci was for many years professor of ethnology at the University of Montreal, famous for research work in Macedonia, Afghanistan, and Siberia (partly sponsored by the National Geographic Society), and in 1992 became Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Gloria Jeliu is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Dr. Helen Gantchev a prominent child psychologist, and Dr. Jean Tchervenkov a leading researcher and specialist in organ transplants at McGill University. Yordan Nicolov established and still heads Cinelum, a leading Montreal studio for audio and video productions. Anton Tchipeff, along with a career in business management, is well known for his involvement in community organizations (e.g. president of the Montreal Citizenship Council), national unity causes, and with the Quebec Liberal Party. Between 1986 and 1992 he was Quebec Assistant Deputy Minister of Immigration and later member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Bulgarian Canadians have contributed significantly to the growth and development of Canada and will continue to do so.