The Hoito
Encyclopedia
Finnish-Canadian
Finnish Canadians are Canadians of Finnish ancestry. According to the 2001 census number over 114,000 Canadians claim Finnish ancestry. Finns started coming to Canada in the early 1880s, and in much larger numbers in the early 20th century and well into the mid-20th century...
restaurant in Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
established in 1918 and housed in the bottom-floor of the historic Finnish Labour Temple
Finnish Labour Temple
The Finnish Labour Temple is a Finnish-Canadian cultural and community centre and a local landmark located at 314 Bay Street in the Finnish quarter in Thunder Bay, Ontario....
. The Hoito has operated continuously on 314 Bay Street, in the Finnish quarter, for 91 years and is perhaps the oldest co-operatively owned and operated restaurant in Canada. The restaurant currently employs approximately 60 full and part-time workers.
The Beginnings
In terms of the name, "Hoito" is Finnish for the word "care". The idea for the restaurant came about in a logging camp outside of NipigonNipigon, Ontario
Nipigon is a township in Thunder Bay District, Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located along the west side of the Nipigon River and south of the small Lake Helen running between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. IWW
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
union organizer A.T. Hill had come to organize the camp into the union and promote the new Finnish-Canadian socialist newspaper Vapaus
Vapaus
Vapaus was a Finnish-Canadian communist newspaper, published in Sudbury, Ontario from 1917 to 1974. Vapaus, whose content was published in the Finnish language, was closely associated with the Finnish Organization of Canada, an organization connected to the Communist Party of Canada.The paper was...
(Freedom). After winning some improvements in the camp, the workers expressed a concern that while being able to find cheap accommodation in the city of Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Ontario
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...
(now Thunder Bay), they were unable to find reasonably priced, home-cooked meals. The request to open a co-operative restaurant was taken to the board of directors of the Finnish Labour Temple and approved. 59 people pooled their money together in the form of 5 dollar “comrade loans”. Union organizer A.T. Hill was chosen as the restaurant’s first manager.
For several decades, workers in the restaurant belonged to the Industrial Workers of the World union and later to the Canadan Teollisuusunionistinen Kannatusliitto (CTKL or Support League of Canadian Industrial Unionists), the Finnish section of the union. Not, as is often mistaken, to the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
. The IWW was active in the bushcamps in Northwestern Ontario
Northwestern Ontario
Northwestern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior, and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the Canadian province of Manitoba, which disputed Ontario's claim to the...
primarily among Finnish-Canadian bushworkers, and effectively operated as a radical alternative to their rivals in the communist led unions. The Finnish Labour Temple itself was the Canadian administration for the IWW for a number of years.
When IWW organizer J. A. McDonald visited the Hoito and Finnish Labour Temple in 1926 "it was the activities of the women that he was most impressed by. According to McDonald all the waitresses were members of the IWW, and one of the cooks was a woman who had served a year in a Finnish prison for her activities on behalf of the Reds during the Finnish Revolution of 1918.".
The Food
The Hoito Restaurant is well known for its Finnish pancakes. These pancakes (lettu or lätty in Finnish, depending on what part of Finland you're from) are thin and the size of a large dinner plate. Other traditional Finnish foods served at the Hoito include viiliViili
Viili is a type of yoghurt that originated in the Nordic countries. It has a ropey, gelatinous consistency and a pleasantly mild taste resulting from lactic acid...
, karjalanpiirakka, karjalanpaisti, lohiperunalaatikko, pulla
Pulla
Pulla is a mildly-sweet Finnish dessert bread flavored with crushed cardamom seeds and occasionally raisins or sliced almonds. Braid loaves are formed from three or more braided strands of dough. The braids may also be formed into a ring. These braided strands or rings are typically coated with...
, suolakala, riisipuuro, kalakeitto, hernekeitto and Finnish weiners. Rye bread
Rye bread
Rye bread is a type of bread made with various percentages of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour...
, baked at the adjacent Kivela Bakery, is also often served with meals.
The Hoito also serves a variety of other Finnish and Canadian foods. Unique among these is beef mojakka, which is a Finnish-Canadian beef stew, and a homemade veggie burger.
A Co-operative Restaurant
Since the restaurant began in 1918, it has operated as a consumer co-operative along Rochdale PrinciplesRochdale Principles
The Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals for the operation of cooperatives. They were first set out by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in Rochdale, England, in 1844, and have formed the basis for the principles on which co-operatives around the world operate to this day. The...
. Customers can buy yearly membership cards that enable them to vote at the Finnish Labour Temple annual general membership meeting where the board of directors is chosen for the year. Workers maintain a degree of workers' self-management
Workers' self-management
Worker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
and organize their own work schedules.
The Customers
The Hoito is a very popular place with locals in Thunder Bay. There is normally a breakfast line-up of customers out on to the street on weekends. Clientele from all walks of life can be found at the Hoito ranging from students and blue collarBlue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
workers, all the way to celebrities and politicians who routinely stop in while passing through the city.
Until the 1970’s the dining room featured long communal tables and customers were able to buy meal tickets. Today, the restaurant operates in a more conventional way with individual tables and a coffee counter.