New World

According to the words of Steve Pliakes who is a proud Canadian of Macedonian descend, Canada is the “land of the future”. It is a country with a population of over 35 million people, mainly from English and French origin. However, there are over one hundred other nationalities, including about 150,000 Macedonians from all parts of Macedonia. It consists of the following 10 regions, or provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, New Scotland, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan; and two independent territories: Yukon and the North-West region on the Arctic (French) Archipelago. Official languages are English and French. Members of various nationalities speak their native languages and have their own schools, churches, and associations...

The capital city is Ottawa with a population of about 800,000. It is located in Ontario, and it is a home for other big and important metropolises such as: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec, Calgary, Halifax, Windsor, and others. Canada has a continental climate, sub-arctic in the south and polar in the north. The best-known rivers are the St. Lawrence, McKenzie and Nelson River. Of the lakes we know the Upper Lake, Huron, Erie, Ontario, Winnipeg, and others. The best-known mountains are the Rocky Mountains, which stretch across the western part of Canada.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, Canada was populated mainly with Iroquois Indians and Eskimos. It is believed that the Normans arrived, for the first time, in the 11th century. However, it is believed that Giovanni Cobato, an Italian sailor working for England, first discovered the east coasts and the Labrador Peninsula in 1497. The first immigrants from Europe were the French, who founded Quebec in 1608, led by Samuel Chaplain. In 1620 Canada was known as “New France”. In the abovementioned year they founded a special company in order to colonize the new land and to exploit its enormous natural resources.

During the 17th century the English colonists also arrived in Canada. They also fought with the Iroquois and slowly conquered territories expanding towards the west. At the beginning of the 18th century, the French-English war in Europe caused certain conflicts in Canada as well. As the conquest policy in Europe, led by Lui XIV, somehow neglected Canada, the dominance began shifting from the French to the English. During the war for the Spanish inheritance the English managed to take over some territories. With the Utrecht Peace Agreement in 1713 they were acknowledged the right to the territories around Hudson Bay. During the seven-year long war, the English conquered the entire territory of Canada and it was granted to them by the Paris Peace Contract in 1763. During the 19th century there was a great migration and expansion of the colonists towards the west, which led to formation of the Canadian confederation with the status of a dominion in 1867.

Steve Pliakes as a man of the Canadian business and progress says: “Till the end of the 19th century Canada was an agricultural and cattle breeding country whose basic wealth consisted of forests and huge areas of land growing the renowned Canadian wheat which is exported. Farming dominated in this economic structure, as was the case in USA. However, industry began developing towards the and of the 19th century. Excellent conditions for industrial development enabled this significant commercial branch to develop tremendously. Hence, presently Canada is and industrial and agricultural global power in which foreign capital particularly that of USA has a huge influence. Canada possesses great water energy resources and highly developed food, metal, automobile, timber, leather, and chemical industry, oil refinery, and other branches. It also has highly developed agriculture, hunting, and fishing. After Russ it is second in the world in its wealth of coniferous forests, It also has highly developed railway, automobile, air, lake, and road transport.

Today Canada is considered a world example of multicultural society. Since the Second World War in this democratic and multinational country there have been many significant cultural and economic changes. This meant great transformation in its ethnic structure. It was the first country in the world to officially recognize the multicultural diversity and to support the constant and consistent non-discriminatory policy. Hence, they declared multi-culture as the policy of the Canadian government. This means that every person has the right to free conscience, religion, opinion, expression, peaceful gathering and socializing, freedom to nurture their own culture, propagandize and practice their own religion, and use their own mother tongue.

The legislation and the multicultural policy of Canada is especially tolerant towards all national church communities, including the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The Macedonian church communities have become real bridges for comprehensive advancement of the relations between the Macedonians and other nationalities living in Canada”, states Steve Pliakes.

Therefore, Canada is often referred to as the “Promised Land” for Macedonians, especially from the Aegean part of Macedonia, who enjoy every human right in Canada. On the other hand, in their own country, they are treated as foreigners; they are denied their national identity; they are subject to assimilation, denationalization and systematic extermination from their own land. It is this reason that Macedonians in Canada rightfully and proudly sing the hymn “O, Canada…”

IMMIGRATION TO CANADA

In the publication “The Macedonians in USA and Canada”, “Makedonska iskra”, Skopje, 2002, 1-380 (in Macedonian and English) by the author of this text, it is said that the Macedonian migration basically coincided with developments in the Balkans and it depended, even more, on the developments in Macedonia. As a result, the rate of moving away and going abroad to earn a living was conditioned, above all, by difficult economic hard ships, and in very few cases of national and political character. The miserable, difficult, and often impossible conditions of living and the constant struggle for survival forced many Macedonians to opt, among other things, for leaving their own country in order to settle somewhere else.

The process of going abroad to earn a living and moving away from Macedonia to the United States and Canada respectively was characteristic of the traditional migration areas: regions of Lerin, Bitola, Prespa, Kostur, Ohrid, Voden, Prilep, Struga, Solun, Tetovo and other parts of Macedonia.

The immigration waves from these parts increased after the 1903 Ilinden Uprising, but they became more intense after the Balkan Wars and the First World War, which, instead of bringing liberation from the five-century old slavery, led to the triple partition, oppression, assimilation, denationalization and physical destruction of the Macedonian identity and culture. All this was done by Macedonia’s just liberated neighbours: Bulgaria, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Greece and Albania.

What happened in the previous period during several centuries and what happened after the First World War led, for a relatively short period, to great migration movements and ethnic changes in certain parts of Macedonia that had disastrous consequences for the Macedonian population.

Consequently, according to a report dated May 13, 1949 of the UN Special Committee for the Balkans, 232,000 Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, including the families of Steve and Lilly Pliakes moved away, and the Greek authorities populated and colonized Aegean Macedonia with refugees from Asia Minor in their place.

The period after 1960 was also specific. As a result of the opening of SFR Yugoslavia to the world and its inclusion in the international division of labor, along with the creation of an urban population in cities and liberalization of the policy of going to work abroad, many workers and intellectuals from the former SR Macedonia moved away and settled in North America. Immigration waves from Macedonia to all corners of the world continue even today, but the intensity varies depending on the economic and political moments in Macedonia, the Balkans, and globally.

Some more realistic estimates indicate that, from the mid 19th century to the present, more than one million Macedonians from all parts of Macedonia have moved to different countries In the absence of complete statistical and other data, it is very difficult to accurately determine the exact number, but it is estimated that about 500 thousand Macedonian immigrants live in the U.S., Canada and Australia, out of whom about 150,000 live in the U.S., approximately 150,000 in Canada, and more than 200,000 in Australia and New Zealand. It is estimated that more than 150,000 Macedonians live in Europe and other countries. It is also estimated that about 50,000 im- migrants of Macedonian origin live in South America, Egypt, Great Britain, South Africa and Eastern European countries, as well as in Turkey, where there are more than 300,000 Macedonian-Muslims and ethnic Turks from Macedonia.

According to Steve Pliakes the early Macedonian immigrant workers in the past and Macedonian expatriates later came mostly from rural backgrounds and lived in a more difficult economic situation, having less education and low professional qualifications, unlike today’s immigrants who mainly have got higher education and are professionally trained. Hence, the main purpose of immigration was to provide a basic livelihood and earn money for their family. The number of immigrant workers who left their homeland for political reasons and just for the sake of tradition to go abroad to earn a living was very small.

However, among recent generations, as well as among the newcomers from more recent times, especially from the Republic of Macedonia, there are more and more highly educated immigrants with a higher cultural and social status that has set a new structural level in the Macedonian Diaspora. Thus, there are intellectuals among them from different areas of activity that have established themselves not only in Macedonia but also worldwide.

Steve Pliakes says: “The lifestyle of Macedonian emigrants in the Diaspora has gone through a partial transformation due to changes in their economic, social, education, qualifications and increased monetary potential. Moreover, many of them, especially from the Aegean part of Macedonia made their way into higher society where they live. But in regard to political life in their new environments and societies, the Macedonian settlers lag way behind other ethnic groups, as is the case with immigrants from other Balkan countries. However, their achievements on an economic, spiritual, educational, cultural and sports level contribute more and more so they are not treated as second-class citizens, but as an integral and important factor in the new communities in the Diaspora, especially in multiethnic societies as it is Canada”, and continues.

“The earliest forms of gathering of Macedonian expatriates date back to the time of their massive arrival in new environments when they brought with them their culture, traditions, religion and customs. As a result of that they formed their religious and cultural associations, as well as associations for mutual assistance. Their goal was to preserve Macedonian culture, customs and religious traditions, to provide money to socially disadvantaged Macedonians, and to raise funds to construct churches, schools and other facilities in their new environments and in their birth places in Macedonia as well”.

The largest population of Macedonians came to the former Soviet Union during the Civil War in Greece and settled in the Caucasus regions. The number of Macedonians from Belomorska Macedonia was about 7-8,000 in only Tashkent and surrounding areas from 1949 onwards. That number later dropped rapidly due to the large number of returnees to Greece, Macedonia and other countries.

Today several thousand Macedonians, mostly from Aegean Macedonia, live in the former Eastern European countries: Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and other countries. In addition, there are numerous immigrants coming from mixed marriages of Macedonians from all parts of Macedonia.

In addition to the overseas countries, European Union and other countries, the Republics of Croatia and Slovenia, are countries where all rights are guaranteed to Macedonians as a national minority. They are countries where their governments, through material and financial assistance, help the development of minorities to promote their national, cultural and linguistic values. Thus, the Macedonians serve as a bridge for developing friendly relations among Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia, promoting these two countries as democratic and civil society countries. The destiny of Macedonians in Serbia and Montenegro is similar if not identical to that of Macedonians living in Croatia and Slovenia. But here, due to the problem with the Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonians don’t have their own religious temples; but they are organized in cultural and artistic societies and other associations.

“There are Macedonians who live in Pakistan as well and who consider themselves descendants of the soldiers and generals of Alexander of Macedon (the Great)”. This we stated with Michael Keathley. “In the Himalayas, in the eastern part of Pakistan, there is a tribe which differs from the others. They are tall with a white complexion. They have their own autonomous territory which they call Hunza or Hunzacut, they speak Burushaski, and identify as Macedonians. The sun on their red flag has eight gold rays. Recently they accepted Islam, but retained the old Macedonian traditions.

In addition, there are Macedonians in Israel whose fate is similar to that of the Jews. Their hard life, overall conditions, strong love for their religion, nation, country, past and future have made Macedonians and Jews establish their sovereign and independent states. One of them is me who has learned from the Jews how painstakingly difficult is and how much sacrifice is needed to establish a state: how it is even more difficult to achieve freedom, and how the newly established state, Republic of Macedonia, is to be defended, built, protected and developed loftily, with strong faith, great love and best hope” states Steve Pliakes.

NEWMARKET – THE LIVING AND BUSINESS PLACE

The family of Steve Pliakes have moved from Toronto to Newmarket, the town in York Region in the province of Ontaria. The town of Newmarket was a new, but future town of Steve Pliakes and his family. It is populated with about 80.000 people, where for 77% English is the mother tongue, then Italian, French, Russian, Spanish and Macedonian are spoken. It is located on the Holland River long ago made the area a natural route of travel between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe, on the elevation above the sea level of about 250 meters.

According to the written documents, in June, 1800, Timothy Rogers, a Quaker from Virginia explored the area around the Holland River to find a suitable location for a new Quaker settlement. Some of the United States Quakers were interested in moving northward, disturbed by the violence they were expected to take part in during the American Revolution. In 1801 Rogers returned along with several Quaker families who had left their homes in Vermont and came to the new place in Canada.

Then by the Christmas of 1801, Joseph Hill had constructed a mill on the Holland River, damming it to produce a mill pond that is now known as Fairy Lake. The town of “Upper Yonge Street” sprouted up around the mill, which explains why its primary downtown area was centred on the Holland River, and not on the nearby Yonge Street. Hill also built a tannery just to the north of the mill, and the first store and house, as well as additional mills. By 1802, Elisha Beman had begun to establish businesses and buy land in Newmarket. A mill was first and other businesses soon followed. The town continued to grow through the early 19th century, along with the formation of Aurora and Holand Landing, and a market held in the current downtown location gave rise to the name “Newmarket.

Armitage was the first settlement of King, named in honour of its first settler Amos Armitage. He had been recruited by Timothy Rogers, a Loyalist from Vermont, who in 1801 had travelled along Yonge Street and found the area appealing, and so applied for and received a grant for land totalling 40 farms, each of 200 acres (0.8 km2).

The John Bogart House on Leslie Ave is the oldest residential structure in Newmarket, and the oldest two storey residential building north of Toronto. It was built in 1811 and still serves as a house today. For much of the 20th century, Newmarket developed along the east-west Davis Drive axis, limited to the area between Yonge Street on the west and between Bayview and Leslie Street in the east, and running from just north of Davis on the north to the Fairy Lake area on the south. By the 1950s, Newmarket was experiencing a suburban building boom due to its proximity to Toronto. The population increased from 5,000 to 11,000 between 1950 and 1970.

By the early 1980s, the original historic Downtown area suffered as most businesses had built up in the area around Upper Canada Mall, with additional strip malls developing directly across the intersections to the south and southeast. A concerted effort to revitalize the historic Downtown area during the late 1980s was successful. A great investment was made by the Town in 2004 in streetscaping and infrastructure improvements to roads and sidewalks in the historic Downtown. The historic area of Downtown’s Main Street is once again a major focal point of the Town.

The arrival of Highway 404 reversed the westward movement, pulling development eastward again, and surrounding the formerly separate hamlet of Bogart town at the intersection of Mulock Drive and Leslie Street. Since then, Newmarket has grown considerably, filling out in all directions. The town limits now run from Bathurst Street in the west to Highway 404 in the east, and from just south of Green Lane to just north of St. John’s Sideroad, taking over the former hamlet of Armitage at Yonge Street south of Mulock Drive. The outer limit of the Town is contiguous with Aurora to the south.

In Newmarket is located Lilcris Industries Limited, which has been in business since the mid 1970’s. Steve Pliakes proudly stresses that this company is the first in industrial leasing space in Newmarket. With an ascertained need for small business space in the Town of Newmarket, his founders proceeded to purchase an acre of land on Twinney Drive and build the first 14,000 sq ft building with industrial units of approximately 1000 sq ft each. Predictably, all units were leased while still in construction. Further land was purchased and more buildings built as the need for industrial, commercial and office space increased in this thriving community. Today, Lilcris Industries Limited have 6 properties in Newmarket, 4 in Orillia and 1 in Gormley, with over 130 units catering to needs ranging from small storage units, retail, executive offices to large industrial. Steve Pliakes also says that in-house property management team provides responsive and efficient administration and maintenance. With over 30 years of experience, they offer assistance to potential tenants in determining their space requirements.

Edited with permission from: Steve Pliakes Monograph by Slave Katin