Sointula began because a group of Finnish immigrants were tired of being oppressed in the Nanaimo area coal mines at the beginning of the 1900s. These miners wanted a place of their own and contacted Matti Kurikka, a utopian socialist and journalist, to provide leadership. He arrived in Nanaimo in 1900. The aim was to create a society where property was communal, everyone shared, everyone participated, and everyone, both men and women, were equal, a quite revolutionary concept in those times.
The Finns founded the Kalevan Kansa Colonization Company, "Aika" newspaper and negotiated with the British Columbia government for land. Kurikka's friend, A. B. Makela, arrived from Finland to help in the effort.
In 1901 formal arrangements were completed and the Kalevan Kansa was ready to take possession of Malcolm Island – all 28,000 acres of it. The first work party arrived on December 15th and began to clear the land. In June 1902, the growing commune was joined by a large group of families and individuals for a Juhannus Celebration. During those meetings, Sointula, meaning Place of Harmony in Finnish, was formally chosen as the name for this new utopia. The community continued to grow. Many of the newcomers were attracted by Kurikka's ideas including decision making by consensus and equal pay for women. By 1903, they had succeeded in completing a large communal hall.
The largest tragedy in Sointula history struck on January 29, 1903. The communal hall burned down, killing eleven people, and destroying most of the community's supplies and records. But they refused to be beaten. Financial debt, always a problem, grew ominously. Then, in a poorly considered move, Kurikka bid on a bridge project in Vancouver. The ridiculously low bid was accepted. Most of the men of the commune spent weeks without pay completing the contract. Still, they refused to be beaten.
By late 1904, the relationship between the impractical Kurikka and much of the colony deteriorated. Matti Kurikka left with about half of the colony. He was never to return. The remaining pioneers, now saddled with the full debt, continued. The debt proved to be an impossible burden. The Kalevan Kansa Colonization Company declared bankruptcy in 1905.
Calling on their stoic determination, known in Finnish as "sisu," a group remained. Although most of Malcolm Island was returned to the ownership of the British Columbia government, the remaining families could keep their individual plots and homes. These residents formed the Sointula Co-Operative Store Association in 1909, making it the oldest running co-operative in BC. Initially, they supplied products to local farmers and anglers as well as providing an outlet for local goods.
Now after more than one hundred years, the Co-op remains the centre of island life supplying groceries, hardware, and petroleum gasoline as well as being the social hub of the island.
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