History of CECA

Ethiopians have been residing in Calgary since the early 1970s. By 1975, there were still less than ten Ethiopians living in Calgary, fortunately the city of Edmonton had a larger population. Most of the Ethiopians in Alberta were studying or working around university campuses. As the 1980s began, a large number of Ethiopians started to arrive in Calgary, mostly from Kenya, Djibouti, the Sudan and a few from Italy. As the number of Ethiopians increased in Alberta, it became very necessary to organize community associations both in Calgary and Edmonton. This necessitated the establishment of community associations in both cities. An Ethiopian community association was established in September of 1982 in Edmonton. And in November of the same year, the Calgary Ethiopian Community Association (CECA) was born.

The Calgary Ethiopian Community Association was registered as a non-profit cultural society with the Alberta Department of Consumers Affairs to serve all Ethiopians regardless of their religion, ethnicity and political affiliations. The association’s mandate was mainly to welcome new Ethiopian arrivals to Calgary and help them become integrated into Canadian society. In addition, promoting and fostering a good image of Ethiopians in Calgary and the Canadian community at large were amongst the core goals of CECA. Within its first two years of existence, registered membership reached more than fifty.

With the establishment of CECA, the Ethiopian presence made its mark on the Calgary landscape. Previously (in the 1970s), most of the Ethiopian hangouts were situated around the Caribbean and African communities. Now Ethiopian traditional dances and food became nightlife choices at Ethiopian functions in Calgary. By the mid 1980s, the Ethiopian Community Association’s local music group – the Ethiostar band, was entertaining Ethiopians in Calgary. Our Ethiopian community’s soccer club was also up and running. The old Connaught School at 12 Ave and 11 St. SW became a home field and a rallying place for the new team and an Ethiopian Sunday afternoon hangout. While the men were practicing soccer, the ladies were playing volleyball. There were more interactions between the Calgary and Edmonton communities through inter-city soccer matches.Ethiopians in Calgary had extended their hand to the motherland during the Ethiopian famines of 1984/85 by launching major fundraising events. The money raised was sent to the victims through the Red Cross Society of Calgary and the Ethiopian Drought and Famine Relief Commission in Addis.

CECA participated in the federation of Ethiopian communities in Canada, which was sponsored by the Government of Canada in 1987, in the city of Winnipeg. During the 1980s, besides staging good parties and sport activities within the city of Calgary, our community association arranged a few group field trips to Kananaskis and Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. As the 1980s were coming to a close, the Ethiopian Community Association faced its greatest challenge. The high inflation and high interest rates of the 1980s coupled with the collapse of the oil industry made Calgary a very difficult place for many Ethiopians to live. Jobs became very hard to find. While Alberta was going through some difficult times in its history, the economy in Southern Ontario was booming and suddenly Toronto became a magnet for many Ethiopians from Calgary. A good portion of the Calgary Ethiopian Community members left for greener pastures in the east. As the economy of Calgary began to improve in the early 1990s. Ethiopians from other provinces started trickling to Calgary. Large groups of people were arriving from European centers, mainly from Greece and Italy. As the numbers were increasing it became necessary for the community association to get active again. Naturally, it took time to build trust to reconnect and breath fresh air to the Calgary Ethiopian Community Association.

In the 1990s the Calgary Ethiopian Community Association with some dedicated young individuals presented our Ethiopian multicultural dances to the delight of the citizens of Calgary at the Africa day celebrations. In 1992, the CECA, with full participation of the local support group, invited the chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, the renowned Ethiopian intellectual, to Calgary. The professor addressed human rights that are dear to all Ethiopians and the issues of the day.

The Ethiostar soccer club in partnership with the Calgary Ethiopian Community Association has been a medium that galvanized Ethiopians to soccer games and entertainment halls for many years. The Ethiostar soccer team has successfully staged the first ever "Western Canada Ethiopian Soccer Tournament in Calgary" in 1996 and again, in partnership with CECA, the fifth tournament in 2000.War and famine were crippling Ethiopia once again in 1998. The Ethiopian Relief Fund in collaboration with CECA twice raised substantial amount of money and sent it to the needy through the World Food Program.