About me

Time to talk about myself in the third person for a second. 

As the product of Finnish immigrants who both cherished their heritage and embraced their new country, Markus Raty has been raised at the intersection of two beautiful cultures.  In fact, one of his lifelong passions is to introduce and promote Finnishness to Canadians and indeed, Canadiana to Finns.  

After graduating from the University of Toronto’s Management and Economics program, and a four-year stint in banking at State Street Trust Company, Raty landed at the helm of Vapaa Sana Press Ltd., Canada’s septuagenarian Finnish newspaper. His three years as Vapaa Sana’s General Manager have bestowed him with tremendous insight into the intricate mosaic of Canada’s Finnish community.  

Raty’s decade-long involvement in the Finnish community has been varied. He has served as a Director of the Finnish Credit Union Ltd. (Osuuspankki) for the past four years including a one-year term as Chair of the Board, and spent five years on the Board of the Canada Finland Chamber of Commerce. He is also currently the Chair of the Youth Committee of the Finnish Expatriate Parliament.

On a lighter note he has also represented Canada at the Wife-Carrying World Championships in Finland, garnering significant positive, albeit light-hearted, publicity for Finland in the process. Locally, he runs and plays on two Finnish-Canadian hockey teams; the Finnishers and the Finnish Sisu of the Canadian Multicultural Hockey League.

Markus resides in Toronto, Canada.