Tasso Lakas | Oral History Archive | HHFGCA

Tasso Lakas

Interviewer(s):

Athanasios (Sakis) Gekas

Angelo Laskaris

Theo Xenophontos

Project:

Greek Canadian Stories

INTERVIEW LOCATION:

Toronto, ON

LANGUAGE:

English

DATE:

January 21, 2026

Interview Summary:

Tasso Lakas is a Greek Canadian writer and media professional born in 1949 in Oshawa, Ontario. A third‑generation member of Toronto’s Greek diaspora, his family history traces early Greek migration to Canada in the early twentieth century. In this interview, he reflects on childhood, faith, community life, and changing expressions of Greek identity, while discussing heritage‑language transmission, Greek schooling, and migration networks. The interview also follows his career in film, broadcasting, and cultural production in Canada and abroad, alongside his long‑standing involvement with Greek Canadian institutions and cultural organizations.

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Date and Location

January 21, 2026

Toronto, ON

Interviewee(s)

Tasso Lakas

Interviewer(s)

Athanasios (Sakis) Gekas

Angelo Laskaris

Theo Xenophontos

Languages

English

Reference ID

GICREF140

Project

Greek Canadian Stories

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Categories

Associational Life

Canadian Society

Culture and Tradition

Education

Historical Events

Rites

Tags

Decades Referenced

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1950s

1960s

Locations Referenced

Toronto, Oshawa, St. George’s Church, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, All Saints Church, Whitby, Newcastle, Lindsay, Peterborough, Bowmanville, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Union Cemetery, Forest Hill, Toronto Island, Halifax, New York City, Astoria, Buffalo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Greece, Kalamata, Athens, Crete, Chania, Patra, Órmos Soúdas, Switzerland, University of Waterloo, World’s Biggest Bookstore, Le Coq d’Or, Royal Billiard Hall, Lakas Lunch, Six Nations.

Occupation(s)

Writer and media professional

Parents Occupation(s)

Father: Military

Names Referenced

Nicholas Lakas, Helen Karris, Koula Leousis (Lakas), John Burry, George Bulucon, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Archbishop Iakovos, Andreas Papandreou, Melina Mercouri, Mikis Theodorakis, Dr. Frank James, Alex Barris, Bob McLean

[00:00:28] Childhood and familial history

[00:08:04] Greek businesses and ownership

[00:12:19] Greek school and mentality

[00:18:25] Racism, immigrants, shifting language

[00:21:26] Stories of other Greeks in Canada

[00:28:05] Sons of Periklis (AHEPA)

[00:31:46] How he identifies as a Greek-Canadian

[00:37:09] Speaking the Greek language in Canada

[00:44:22] Wanting to visit to Greece

[00:47:22] University, independence, and war

[00:53:26] Greek restaurants and businesses

[00:59:45] Visiting Greece and the dictatorship

[01:10:50] Arriving and living in Greece

[01:20:23] Trouble in Greece

[01:36:45] Marriage and his career

[01:46:22] Church and religion

[01:59:12] The film industry

[02:09:18] Greek community and general concerns

[02:17:53] Greek films, and the modern day

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