New Finland or Uusi Suomi is a district in the Qu'Appelle valley, the south eastern part of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.
The homesteaders found an area in Saskatchewan near Qu'Appelle River which resembled the homeland of Finland both in geography and climate.
The earliest settler arrived in 1888, and was followed by Finnish immigrants from Finland as well as from the iron ore mine regions of Minnesota and Dakota in the United States.
David Jeremia Kautonen was the first Finnish settler to arrive at the New Finland district in 1888, setting up a homestead on southwest quarter section of township 36 range 17 west of the second Meridian.
Hendrickson, immigration agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway, there were only three families living in the New Finland District in the spring of 1891.
[6] By 1882, the nearby town of Whitewood, Provisional District of Assiniboia, North-West Territories was a major stop on the C.P.R.
immigration department then encouraged Finnish settlers of the Minnesota and Dakota region in the United States to emigrate to Canada.
[8][9] With this in mind, delegates from the American Finnish districts travelled to New Finland, North-West Territories and were well pleased with what they had surveyed.
[6] As a result, several Finnish settlers of the United States abandoned their employment in the iron ore mines and immigrated to the New Finland District.
This letter was in response to articles placed in the Finnish newspapers by the United States who wished to discourage settlement in Canada.
The CPR was undertaking the transcontinental railway, and was looking at settling the Prairie Provinces, rather than running a rail line through a barren plain.
[23] The centre of the district consisting of church, hall, and schoolhouse was Section 36 Tsp 17, Rge 1 West of the 2nd Meridian.
[25]: 160 The Finnish settlers found an area which was still wooded and had historically escaped the many grass fires which blanketed the great plains.
The families were self-sufficient on the land, trapping, hunting, completing garments of skins and hides, picking berries, canning, and baking.
[10] Settlers would travel into town, a trip which took 24 hours by horse, selling logs for any additional provisions they may need.
In the early 1900s the community saw a store, blacksmith, sawmill, grist mill, and shingle making enterprises spring up.
[26] Education was provided firstly in two one-room school houses, and in a few years, six schoolhouses served the district and then ten.
[5][15] After these one room school houses were closed, students would be bussed into the larger urban communities of Rocanville, Wapella, or Whitewood for their education.
[10] "Suomalainen uskoo sanan voimaan" is a Finnish proverb which translated means that a Finn believes in the power of the word.
[34] Another custom which was adopted in the New Finland district was to establish a "temperance society" as was popular with many Finnish settlements.
[22] St. John's New Finland Lutheran Church, with an active congregation, was officially declared a municipal heritage property on May 4, 2007.
The church building was built in 1907, and then the community moved it in 1934 by steam engine to the present location 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the original construction site.