Undertaking the creation of a Danish Canadian Umbrella Organization

Undertaking the creation of a Danish Canadian Umbrella Organization
 
The story of the Danish Brotherhood in Winnipeg in the 2019 Heritage 
Book is an account of the efforts to create a national umbrella 
organization for the Danes in Canada. The Danish Brotherhood in 
Winnipeg was formed in 1913, prior to the outbreak of the First World 
War. From the beginning the aim of the Winnipeg Lodge was to establish 
lodges across Canada, and in 1929, it established a Danish Brotherhood 
Lodge in Toronto.
 
In 1931 the Lodge Dansk Samarbejde i Canada (Danish Cooperation in 
Canada) was founded in Calgary. Its aim was to promote cooperation 
among the various Danish organizations in Canada. The following year 
Odin Kuntze, a Danish editor who had recently arrived in Canada, 
launched the newspaper Danske Herold, a paper with a mission. Right 
from the time it was launched the quest for a national Danish Canadian 
umbrella organization was addressed and discussed in every issue of 
his newspaper. In 1933 Odin Kuntze started travelling across Canada to 
promote what he called Dansk Canadisk Samfund (the Danish Canadian 
Society). Branches of the Danish Canadian Society were established 
across Canada and in Calgary and Montreal clubs were amalgamated into 
the Danish Canadian Society.
 
Like the account of the Danish Brotherhood in Winnipeg, the story of 
Odin Kuntze and his efforts to establish the Danish Canadian Society 
as a national umbrella organization is told, accompanied by photos, in 
the 2019 Heritage Book.
 
- Rolf Buschardt Christensen