Federation of Russian Canadians : The Federation of Russian Canadians (FRC) was a cultural organization made up of immigrants to Canada from Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine, and their descendants.
The FRC was the successor to the Maxim Gorky Russian Workers and Farmers Clubs (RWFC), an organization founded in 1930 by immigrants who had largely come to Canada from western Byelorussia and western Ukraine following the Russian revolution of 1917. The organization was considered by some to be militant and radical, supporting exploited workers' struggles and at times playing a leading role in acting on their behalf. At the same time however, the clubs were also engaged in building their organization to preserve their culture while developing as members of Canadian society. They began publishing the newspaper Kanadsky Gudok, conducting classes in political education, building libraries, organizing drama groups, song groups and social activities. By 1934 they had 47 branches. At the outbreak of WWII, the Canadian government banned the RWFC for being a subversive organization with suspected ties to the Communist Party. By 1941 however, immigrants of Russian origin began organizing committees across Canada to aid the motherland, and by 1942 these committees had become the new Federation of Russian Canadians.
This new organization applied for a government charter and began to implement a broad program of cultural activity similar to that of the Russian Workers and Farmers Clubs. At its height, the FRC had 15 branches across Canada and published a newspaper, Vestnik. In 1944, the organization had around 4000 members. Throughout the war the organization carried on an active campaign to raise money and other supplies to assist the Soviet Union in the fight against fascism. In addition, the organization fostered cultural activities such as choirs, folk-dance groups, orchestras, Russian-language libraries and Russian language schools. In the later 1940s and early 1950s, the FRC promoted a youth organization with branches in Vancouver, Winnipeg, London, Windsor, Montreal, Toronto and other locations. During the Cold War, the membership fell to approximately 2700 members, and by the late 1980s the FRC had less than 800 members. As of 2010, the FRC had branches in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto. At the 2011 convention the decision was made to dissolve the national organization.
