The town of Kirkland Lake
once had a vibrant and
thriving Jewish community.
Its origins were found in the
great waves of migration to
Canada in the early twentieth
century from the area of east
Europe known as the Russia
Pale.
One of the earliest
| settlements of Jews in
northeastern Ontario was in
Krugerdorf, where a farming
colony was established with
the assistance of the Baron
de Hirsch Institute of
Montreal, an organization
that helped Jewish immigrants
to Canada.
With the development of
| northern Ontario's mining and
other resource-based
industries, new opportunities
arose, bringing more
immigrants to the region and
attracting many of
Krugerdorf's early settlers
to the new towns and cities,
including Kirkland Lake.
The Kirkland Lake
| community prospered for many
years but when the regional
economy suffered after World
War II, the Jewish
communities of northeastern
Ontario dispersed. Over the
past 40 years, the Jewish
presence in the town has
dwindled to virtually nil.
This exhibition keeps
|