Despite emigrating from Finland to Canada in 1952, in Hilkka Nygard’s heart, she was always a Child of Lamposaari.
Nygard’s story is one many Canadian immigrants can relate to and is as full of adventure and joy as it was sorrow and tragedy. It’s a story that Ignace’s Linda McIntosh had no hesitations about putting down on paper.
After two years of listening to Nygard’s life stories, McIntosh wrote the book Child of Lamposaari: The Inspiring Story of Hilkka Nygard.
“It’s the story of a what it was like to be an immigrant woman coming to a country that was totally new, not knowing the language, not knowing the customs, adjusting and fitting in and although very homesick, making a life for herself here so her children could have chances to succeed,” said McIntosh.
Nygard and her husband Eeli successfully ran the Nygard Bakery in Winnipeg and their two children, Peter and Liisa, were also successful in their careers. Peter is the man behind the Nygard fashion empire.
But despite the success, Nygard always held Lamposaari – an island in Finland – close to her heart.
She lived on the island with her family until she was 14 when her father sent her to Helsinki to start a life of her own. There she met Eeli; the two fell in love and eventually married.
After Peter and Liisa were born, the couple wished to start a bakery but Finland was in civil unrest with the then U.S.S.R. The Nygards decided to try their luck in Canada and arrived in Manitoba in 1952.
“The immigrated to Canada because they wanted to be in a society that encouraged entrepreneurship, where they could get ahead on their own and not be dependent on the state,” said McIntosh. “They wanted to be self-sufficient. They wanted their kids to be independent and grow and achieve.”
The Nygards first lived in an old coal shed when they arrived in Canada and lived through poor circumstances, said McIntosh. Hilkka scrubbed floors for a living and Eeli got work as a bakery assistant.
The book was originally intended as a memoir for Nygard’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but McIntosh said it wasn’t long after starting to work with Nygard that she realized it was a universal story.
“This wasn’t just a story for one family,” she said. “This was every immigrant mother’s story, in different details … everyone can understand Hilkka’s story and how brave she was.”
Nygard passed away in January 2010 at the age of 87. McIntosh said the book was mostly finished at the time.
“She was a great lady. I loved her,” McIntosh said. “I really got to know her well as we spent two years talking about her most intimate thoughts and feelings.”
Child of Lamposaari is available online, at the Finnish Bookstore and at Thunder Bay’s Nygard store.
