Twenty-five years after it regained its freedom from the former Soviet Union, Estonians are celebrating a number of historic events this year along with its emergence as a democratic republic after a half century of Communist rule.
The swearing in this month of the country’s first woman president and the opening of a national museum in the university city of Tartu marked more steps in the tiny country’s evolution since the split with the USSR in 1991. Those steps have included joining the European Union and NATO in 2004 and becoming a respected member of most of the world’s most important organizations, like the United Nations.
Last week, Kersti Kaljulaid, 46, a former EU budget auditor, mother of two and a grandmother was elected president of Estonia.
Next year Estonia will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union and in 2018 it will celebrate its 100th Independence Day on Feb. 24. Independence was interrupted by Soviet and German occupations after 1940.
In recent years, Estonia has placed great emphasis on innovation, particularly in the area of computerization and it now prides itself in operating an e-government and having initiated electronic voting in Europe and developing Skype.
Estonia also provides Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the country and two years ago initiated e-citizenship.
Residents of countries around the world can access Estonian services such as company formation, banking, payment processing and taxation. The program gives the e-resident a smart card which they can use to sign documents.
This is an electronic way of adding to the country’s tiny, 1.3 million population. Since 2014 the program has attracted applications for about 12,000 e-residents and 1,000 companies from 135 countries.
This summer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel became an Estonian e-citizen.
Canada has played an important role in Estonia’s recovery since it regained independence.
In the postwar years, thousands of Estonians immigrated to Canada as refugees from camps in Germany, most settling in central and western Canada. Some stayed in Nova Scotia, particularly in Pictou County.
In Nova Scotia, Estonia appointed an Honorary Consul to the province in 2010 and has been represented at the annual Halifax International Security Forum by various military and political leaders, including President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2015. Estonian officers trained at the former Pearson Peacekeeping Institute at Cornwallis and many public servants studied at Dalhousie University in the early 1990s.
In 2014, President Ilves awarded former federal cabinet minister Elmer MacKay of Lorne and the Mackay family the Cross of Terra Mariana medal for their assistance to Estonian refugees who settled in Marshdale, Pictou County, in 1949.
The award was presented to the family by Estonian Ambassador Gita Kalmet last November in a ceremony at Pier 21.
Canada has been a strong supporter of the three Baltic countries since they left the Soviet Union and was among the first to offer assistance, in 1991, when then International Trade Minister Michael Wilson travelled to the region only weeks after the countries became independent. Canada was among many western countries that refused to recognize Communist domination of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania after World War Two.
In an address marking Estonia’s 25th anniversary of the restoration of independence, in August, then Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand thanked those Estonian expatriates, many in Canada, who carried the legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia. She explained what had happened to the Baltic states and the importance of non-recognition policy.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): John Soosar
Quelle/Source: The Chronicle Herald, 15.10.2016
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
