www.lnak.net – 2025 Update
Thanks to the Latvian Society Integration Foundation’s (SIF) financialsupportthis year, the Latvian National Federation in Canada (LNAK) has continued to develop and update its website www.lnak.net. We invite you to take part in the project and to follow along!
On the home page you can find the most recent news from LNAK and other Canadian Latvian organizations. There are announcements about LNAK activities and new projects, information about funding available to organizations, news from the World Federation of Free Latvians (PBLA) , news from organizations, and links to basic information about LNAK. There are links to the video gallery, photo gallery, Sparkles and Sparkles (more on that later), SAN (Public Relations Portfolio) Manager Jānis Lielāmers’ Week in Review, and the onlain calendar. In addition to local events, the calendar also includes online events such as Spotlight Latvia’s online business seminars and the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ informative online seminars.
We would like to emphasize that every Canadian Latvian organization is welcome to add information, articles, and photo galleries about their organization. You can do this by clicking on the “Organisations” link at the bottom of theweb page. More than 30 organizations have contributed to the content so far.
Letts Jump into Latvian
2024. Last year, the Letts Jump into Latvian resource section was created under the leadership of Aija Mazsīle, with Mirdza Avens as technical assistant. The resources are used regularly and it is interesting to see which pages get the most hits. As much as they say that “Tika tika grammatika, maziem bērniem nepatika” (“Who likes grammar? Not little kids!”), apparently that is not the case for adults anymore , because “latvian-for-adults/lietvardu-locisana-un-darbibas-vardu-konjugacija-2/” (verb conjugation and noun declension) is consistently one of the most popular pages. Also “Sparks for Adults”, a monthly calendar with language activities and interesting cultural linkcultural links, is very popular.
In January , there was a hybrid Live/Zoom event where Aija Mazsīle showcased the resources that had been collected. This meeting brought together a good group of adults who would like to learn or improve their Latvian. As a result, the project moved out of the virtual world and into the physical world, as participants expressed a desire to learn in person. Following their suggestion, two workshops were held in Sidrabene in the spring. Thanks to the organisers and all the enthusiastic participants!
Also on request, in September in-person Latvian language lessons began at the Canadian Latvian Centre in Toronto, under the guidance of Anda Libere. The classes takes place on Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 13:00. If you are interested, please contact jumpintolatvian@lnak.org. All levels are welcome.
Also, if you are interested in helping to teach Latvian, please write to us. Thanks to Leah Houston and Patricia Robertson who take care of the administration, thanks to Anda, and thanks to the Latvian Centre for the facilities.
We know that there are others who live in Hamilton or elsewhere in Canada who cannot make it to the Centre on Saturday mornings and who also have a desire to learn. In the resources section you can find some suggestions for online tutors, but we are also looking at how we can expand Letts Jump into Latvian to other cities to better support all learners.
Latvian for babies
In addition, the https://lnak.net/latviesu-valoda-zidainiem-un-pirmsskolas-berniem/ resource sections for parents and grandparentsare regularly updated with new resources andmonthly“Sparks”. This year the project is led by LauraSmite(Montreal). The most popular resources are songs, printed materials and the monthly “Dzirkstelītes”. New for “Dzirkstelītės” is that from October Laura has redesigned the format to make the calendar easier to use on a mobile phone: https://lnak.net/oktobris-dzirkstelites/
Another new initiative this year is a series of interviews with Canadian Latvians about learning and maintaining the Latvian language in today’s families. Valdis Jevtejevs (Toronto), Baiba Bumbiere (Montreal), Gabriella Bumbiere (Montreal), Kaiva Sukse (Toronto) and Aija Plūme (North Bay) shared their thoughts on why and how to maintain the Latvian language in their mostly bilingual or even trilingual families. Books and songs play an important role within the family, but outside the family Latvian school, the Friday evening Zoom highschool, and the Tērvete children’s camp play a significant role in preserving Latvian identity and promoting a sense of community. Many thanks to Laura Hoffman (Ottawa) who carefully prepared and conducted the interviews! All interviews can be found on the LNAK YouTube channel @LNAK-LNFC. They can be watched or listened to as podcasts.
There is also still time to take part in the October Latvian language promotion competition. The challenge this month is to share Latvian words orphrasesused by your family on a daily basis. Various apt expressions have already been submitted – “What are you sitting like a manor that’s been sold”, “Eyes shut like a soup lid”, and “Clear as a Soviet morning”.
Business and professionals section
Do you want to know how to get in touch with a Latvian musical duo, jeweller, piano teacher, web developer or therapist? On the LNAK website you will find an online version of the former Latvian Credit Union Bank calendar, where Latvian companiesand professionals can advertise their offers. Unlike the bank calendar, businesses do not have to pay for their advertisements.
If you own company or provide a service, please post your free ad. It can be in one or more languages. Currently Zane Kaņeps isassisting with this initiative, helping to add information. Please write to admin@lnak.org.
Virtual Museum
A large part of the SIF project this year is to create a virtual museum reflecting Latvian Canadian society. Dace Veinberga, project manager of the Virtual Museum, is working hard with Beate Augustane to create five online galleries. LNAK invites you to help by sharing your archival materials! Photos and documents can be uploaded on the website museum.lnak.net. To contact Dace about the museum, please write to muzejs@lnak.org.
We would like to thank Ilze Maksina, the head of the LNAK office, who helps with the website content, as well as Arnis Mikelsons, who is always ready to solve any technical issues.
We invite you to explore and use the content of lnak.net, to give your feedback, and to contribute to the content yourself, either as a representative of an organization or as a business or individual.
The LNAK “home page” is truly like a home, not just with basic LNAK information and news, but a place where we can inform, learn, find each other, network and strengthen our community together!
