The Kvens must go down the same path as the Saami. This opinion was given to the FINUGOR media center by Swedish Parliament deputy Karin Ostrem, commenting on the situation of Swedish Kvens.

We remind our readers that one of the leaders of the Kvens of Norway, International Consulting Committee for Finno-Ugric nations member Bjørnar Seppola, in an interview with the Infocenter told of the prolonged policy of obligatory assimilation for the Kvens living in Norway. According to him, the situation of the Kvens in Sweden and Finland is only a bit better. In Suomi, the Kvens are simply considered a part of the Finnish ethnicity, and their language, a dialect of Finnish. In Sweden, the Kvens have also been long considered Finns, and targets for assimilation.

K. Ostrem told media center correspondent that she herself lives in Northern Sweden, where Kvens have historically been settled. “In Sweden, their situation isn’t so complicated. The Kvens are recognized as one of the five national minorities in our country,” she noted. “Together with that, it should be recognized that the Saami are in the best position they’ve had in a while after a long fight for their rights. I’m sure that the Kvens must go down their own path, the same path gone down by the Saami. And this takes a lot of time.”