A new Web site based in Chicago, velesanas.com, has been established by supporters of the Jaunais laiks (New Era) party to raise awareness of the Oct. 7 parliamentary election in Latvia.

“Many Latvian citizens who live outside of Latvia have expressed that they lack enough information to make an informed choice regarding the 19 slates of candidates,” Editor Artis Inka said in an Aug. 27 press release.

The Latvian-language site offers information about the election process outside of Latvia, including how to vote by mail. The site also offers background on Jaunais laiks. The party is fielding a total of 86 candidates, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

The site is run by Artis Inka and his brother, Aivars, but other members of the Chicago support group of Jaunais laiks offer material and advice, the editor said.

Jaunais laiks has support groups in three countries outside of Latvia—three in the United States and one each in Canada and Ireland.

Every other Wednesday evening the Latvian Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto has a barbeque dinner. People gather there to sample Ingo Kārkliņš’ charcoal-broiled dishes. Among the guests attending the Aug. 9 dinner were 27 former World War II refugees and residents of the Displaced Persons camp Insula at Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Velga Zaļais-Jansons and Igors Svistunenko organized the evening of Insula residents and their relatives. The former Insula residents came not only from Toronto and vicinity, but also from the United States—from as far as Alaska. Among them was Andris Spura of Montréal, who along with his mother had spent the last few months of the war at Berchtesgaden. Both had survived the aerial bombardment by the Allies of Adolf Hitler’s Berghof on April 25, 1945.

Former Insula residents had their first reunion in Berchtesgaden in 2003. In May 2005 their memoirs were compiled and edited by two brothers and former camp residents, Ventis and John Plūme. The first printing of Insula Displaced Persons Assembly Center: A Latvian Memoir sold out in January, but copies of the second printing of the 346-page work are available from John Plūme, who may be contacted by e-mail at plume62@aol.com. The book includes a nearly complete listing of the 650-700 residents of the camp.

During the Aug. 9 dinner, the Plūme brothers presented the library of the Latvian Canadian Cultural Centre with a copy of the book. Last year, they presented the book to several libraries in Latvia.

Several people from younger generations were among those who shared memories. Stories and discussions continued to a late hour, when tables had been already cleared and other guests had long gone home. 

(Editor’s note: Information for this story is based on Latvian text contributed by Harijs Jansons and translated by Ventis Plume.)

During the past two years, immigrants from Latvia have made up 6 percent of the total who have moved from the new European Union countries to the United Kingdom in search of work, according to a new report from the Home Office.

Immigrant workers from Latvia numbered 26,745 from the second quarter of 2004 through the second quarter of this year, according to the most recent Accession Monitoring Report released Aug. 22. The number represents only the Worker Registration Scheme applications approved by the government, not the total number of applicants.

Workers from Poland led the way, making up 62 percent of the more than 427,000 immigrants to Great Britain and Northern Ireland to come from the new EU countries. Immigrants from Lithuania were 12 percent of the total; from Slovakia, 10 percent; from the Czech Republic, 5 percent; from Hungary, 3 percent; from Estonia, 1 percent, and from Slovenia, less than half a percent.

Latvia and the other countries, as well as Cyprus and Malta, joined the EU in 2004. Citizens of Cyprus and Malta may freely travel and work in the United Kingdom, the report notes, but those from the other new EU member states are restricted through the the Worker Registration Scheme.

The number of migrants from Latvia whose applications to work were approved hit a peak of 4,165 in the second quarter of 2005, but has since leveled off to about 2,500 per quarter.

Workers from the new EU countries are overwhelmingly young. Of the total, 43 percent are ages 18-24, while another 39 percent are ages 25-34.

Over the past two years, the largest number of workers from Latvia—9,675—found jobs in administration, business and management services, according to the report. Another large group—6,835—found work in agriculture. A total of 3,370 worked in hospitality and catering, while 2,205 worked in manufacturing.