Toronto Estonian centre needs more than 2 million euros

Ellen Valter, a leader of Toronto’s Estonian community, says community ties are the foundation of Estonian life abroad. In an interview with ERR’s Vikerraadio, she said a new cultural centre under construction in downtown Toronto still needs about four million Canadian dollars, or more than two million euros, to be completed.

Valter said she feels she can best support Estonia and Estonian culture from Toronto, where she grew up. She said the community’s long-term strength grew from the creation of an Estonian-owned bank, which at one point was the only bank in the world owned by Estonians. Valter chaired its supervisory board for 10 years.

She said cooperation was essential for survival in the 1950s, when some community members could not speak the local language, and that collective activity continues today.

Valter is leading efforts to complete the new cultural centre, which will be open to everyone, not only Estonians. It will host concerts and cultural events, and its rooms will also be available to rent for events or work. Valter said the building could help Estonians contribute to discussions in Canada and potentially on global issues.

Construction fell behind schedule after raccoons chewed through wooden crates holding six-and-a-half-metre-high glass panels. The panels had been made in Spain and stored in a Toronto-area warehouse for three years. Because the animals’ droppings were highly acidic, each panel had to be inspected; the process took three months.

Valter was in Estonia for additional folk-dance training for groups abroad ahead of the 2028 dance festival. She leads Nou Pois Äläud, an Estonian folk-dance group based abroad, and said the training broadened her understanding of Estonian folk dance.