Paper short abstract:

This paper reflects on legacies of extractive industry and settler colonialism from the perspective of Finnish settlement in Northern Ontario forests. It draws on examples from fieldwork to analyze forest-human temporal entanglements.

Paper long abstract:

The forest plays a crucial role in the early-twentieth-century history of Finnish migrant-settlers in Northern Ontario, Canada, but, likewise, Finns have profoundly shaped the recent history of these forests. Finns cleared forest to make their homes and found work in the lumber and mining industries. Finns’ work and life in the “bush” has provided an important part of their collective identity and history. Such activities were key parts of the Canadian state’s plan to build its economy and power through extractive industry and to dispossess First Nations people.

In the contexts of deindustrialization, economic depression, climate crisis, and calls to dismantle settler colonial structures, how are our understandings of forest-human relationships and histories changed and can they offer us new ways of confronting the challenges we face? As the forest reclaims its space and leaves histories of Finnish settlement and extractive industry buried beneath, what approaches allow us to unpack these entangled legacies?

This presentation engages with the theme of “Forest, Time, and Society” by sharing experiences and analyses from fieldwork conducted in August 2022. I will outline the history of Finnish migration in the forests of Northern Ontario, and draw on scholarly dialogues on settler colonialism and historical research on extractive industries. I will also share photographs and soundscapes that I made as part of my fieldwork, and reflect on how they are a tool for better understanding the overlapping temporalities of forests and humans.

This research is part of my ongoing Kone Foundation-funded project “Placing Finnish Migrant-Settler Histories”.