Wasyl and Mary Yaciw
The first Ukrainian residents in Winnipeg and Manitoba. They came to Manitoba in 1882 after selling their farm in Ukraine. Without enough money to follow the first trainload of Ukrainian setters in Canada to Edmonton, they stayed here. Wasyl began working in construction until the couple saved enough to buy a farm near Ladywood in 1898. When he was born, their son, Frank, was the first native-born Canadian of Ukrainian descent.
Taras Ferley
He was born in Ukraine in 1882, went to Lemberg (Lviv) University before coming to Canada in 1903. He married a Ukrainian immigrant, and they later had a son and a daughter. He was a director of the Ukrainian Publishing Co. of Canada, president of the Ruthenian Farmers Elevator Co. and a real estate broker. He ran unsuccessfully for Winnipeg's city council in 1913, but became the first Ukrainian MLA when elected for Gimli in the 1915 election. Later, in 1932, he was elected to Winnipeg city council. He died in 1947.
Jaroslav Rudnyckyj
He was born near the border of current-day Ukraine in 1910 and was research associate at the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Berlin in 1938 and a professor at the Ukrainian Free University in Prague in 1941. He came to Canada in 1949, and, as head of the University of Manitoba's department of Slavic studies, was a pioneer of Slavic studies in this country. He retired in 1976. He was co-founder and third president of the Canadian branch of the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences. He died in 1995.
William Wall
He was born in Ethelbert in 1911, graduated from high school at 14 and had a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Manitoba at 17. He was principal of Shevchenko School and the high school in Gonor before joining the Winnipeg School Division in 1937. He became the city's youngest school principal when appointed at Lord Nelson School. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1955, the first Canadian of Ukrainian descent to become a senator. He was honorary life president of the Ukrainian Catholic Council of Canada and a director of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. He died in 1962.
Isydore Hlynka
He was born in Ukraine in 1909 and immigrated to Alberta the next year with his parents. He started working at the Grain Research Laboratory in Winnipeg in 1947, and there he published more than 100 journal papers, mostly on wheat and bread quality. His book, Wheat, Chemistry and Technology, became the industry's standard reference for years. He died in 1983.
Peter Kondra
He was born in Saskatchewan in 1911 and completed his PhD in animal genetics at the University of Minnesota. He became a professor at the University of Manitoba and was named professor emeritus in 1980. He was president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress from 1971 to 1974 and a member of the consistory board for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada for 20 years. He was principal and chairman of the committee at St. Andrew's College when it became affiliated with the U of M. He died in 2011.
Olga Metz
She was born in Winnipeg and began her singing career in Canada before moving to the United States. She performed on national radio while working with the Office of Strategic Services in Washington during the Second World War. She recorded on Monitor Record. She sang in many languages and was a soloist for the Ukrainian community. She died in 2004.
Nicholas Hryhorczuk
He was born in western Ukraine in 1888 and came to Canada with his family in 1897, living near Gilbert Plains. He opened a business in Ethelbert that he ran until he retired in 1978. He was a director of the Ruthenian Farmers Elevator Co., president of the Ethelbert Agricultural Society and reeve of the RM of Ethelbert. He was the first person of Ukrainian descent to become an MLA in Manitoba when he was elected as an independent in 1920. He died in 1979.
Alex Kucher
He was a baker who, in 1923, started the Ukrainian Workers' Bakery with a few Ukrainian partners he soon bought out. The bakery specialized in rye bread. The bakery was later renamed Kucher's Ukrainian Bakery, or KUB.
Michael Ewanchuk
He was born in Gimli in 1908 and grew up on a farm about four kilometres from the community. He worked the midnight shift at the Ford factory in Detroit so he could take day classes at Wayne State University. Returning to Manitoba, he went to Normal School and became a teacher and later a principal. He became the first Ukrainian Manitoban to become a permanent school inspector. He was appointed by Premier Duff Roblin in 1964 to chair a committee to prepare the first Ukrainian studies program for the province's high schools. He wrote several books, several of which received the Manitoba Historical Society's Margaret McWilliams Award. He died in 2004.
Paul Yuzyk
He was born in Saskatchewan in 1913 and taught school there until 1942. In 1934, he founded the Ukrainian National Youth Federation and served as its first president. The Manitoba Historical Society offered him a fellowship to write a history of Ukrainians in Manitoba, The Ukrainians in Manitoba -- A Social History, which was published in 1953 as . He was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba in Slavic studies. He was appointed to the Senate in 1963, but also taught as a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa. While in the Senate, he helped shape the policy of multiculturalism and has been called the father of multiculturalism. He died in 1986.
Bill Juzda
He was known as the Beast in the NHL for his hits on opposing players. He played defence for the New York Rangers, starting in 1941, and after the Second World War he was traded to the Toronto Maples Leafs, where he was on Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1949 and 1951. He played 10 seasons with the Winnipeg Maroons and was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. He died in 2008.
Bud Korchak
Born in Winnipeg, he played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Montreal Alouettes, Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa Roughriders. He was in four Grey Cups, including the Mud Bowl in 1950. He was named to three western all-star teams and won the western scoring championship in 1953. He was called the Golden Toe and the Ukrainian Gazelle. He was inducted into the Blue Bomber Hall of Fame in 1996.
Steve Juba
Stephen Juba
He was born in Winnipeg and went to United College. He owned Keystone Supply and entered politics in 1953 when he was elected an independent MLA. He was elected Winnipeg's mayor three years later and served several terms until retiring in 1977. He introduced the three-digit emergency phone number 911 in North America and brought the 1967 Pan Am Games to Winnipeg. He was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt in 1957, the Order of Canada in 1970 and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. The University of Winnipeg gave him an honorary doctorate in 1974. He died in 1993.
Billy Mosienko
He was born in Winnipeg in 1921, one of 14 children. He loved hockey and after being told he was too young to play for the St. James Canadians junior team, he went to the Winnipeg Monarchs. A Chicago Blackhawks player spotted him playing, and Mosienko signed on with them, playing with the team for 14 seasons. During a game against the New York Rangers in 1952, he scored three goals in 21 seconds, the fastest hat trick in NHL history. He later operated a string of bowling alleys in Winnipeg, one of which still bears his name. He died in 1994.
Vera Lysenko
She was born Vera Lesik in Winnipeg to Ukrainian Baptist parents. She went to the University of Manitoba and worked as a nurse and school teacher before becoming a journalist at the Windsor Star. She wrote books under the names Vera Lysenko and Luba Novak which included Men in Sheepskin Coats, Yellow Boots and Westerly Wild. Yellow Boots was the first Ukrainian-Canadian novel written in English. She died in 1975.
Terry Sawchuk
He was born in raised in East Kildonan, the son of a tinsmith from Ukraine. After his brother died of a heart attack at 17 and Sawchuk inherited his goalie equipment, he began playing in a local league. A Detroit Red Wings scout spotted him and signed him to an amateur contract. He was signed to a professional contract in 1947 and later impressed the Wings so much they traded the goalie who had led them to a Stanley Cup in 1950. He was nicknamed the Uke by his teammates, and led them to three Stanley Cups in five years, winning the Calder Trophy as the top rookie and three Vezina Trophies for fewest goals allowed. He later played for other teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs and, sharing goaltending duties with Johnny Bower, helped lead the team to the 1967 Stanley Cup. He had 447 regular-season wins and 103 shutouts. He died in 1970 and was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. An arena in Winnipeg is named in his honour.
Bill Konyk (POSTMEDIA VANCOUVER SUN)
Bill Konyk
Born in Winnipeg, he worked as a freelance sports reporter in Chicago before returning here to work at radio station CKY. Moving to Vancouver to work in radio, he soon began importing Ukrainian food from Winnipeg to sell there and opened a successful food booth at the Pacific National Exhibition. He created Hunky Bill's Perogie Maker which allows people at home to cut, seal and form perogies in one step.
Slaw Rebchuk
Born in Winnipeg, he graduated from St. John's High School in 1924. He was elected to Winnipeg city council in 1950 and served until 1978. He was popularly known as the mayor of the North End and known for his Rebchuk-isms, including "a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on." He served on 68 city council committees. The Slaw Rebchuk Bridge on Salter Street is named after him. The Vatican gave him the knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1991, and he was honoured with a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee medal in 1977. He died in 1996.
Juliette
Juliette
Her full name is Juliette Augustina Sysak Cavazzi, but she has been known as Juliette since the 1950s. She was born in St. Vital to Polish-Ukrainian immigrants and began her singing career in Vancouver in 1940. Her nickname was "our pet" and she hosted her own CBC television show, Juliette, from 1956 to 1966, and then Juliette and Friends from 1973 to 1975. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1975 and Canada's Walk of Fame in 1999.
Bill Chornopyski
He was born in Manitoba and fought with the Canadian forces in the Second World War. Returning, he worked with CP Rail until 1966 before working in sales at an auto dealership and then becoming owner of the Arlington Athletic Club. He was president of the NDP's Burrows constituency association and secretary of the federal NDP's Winnipeg North riding. He was elected a city councillor in Winnipeg in 1974 and served until 1986, when he was defeated. He was elected a Liberal in Burrows riding in 1988. He was the founder of the city's Block Parent program and was on the executive of the Ukrainian Legion Branch No. 141. He died in 2002.
Roman Manastersky
He was born in France and moved to Winnipeg with his parents when he was four and later joined the Ukrainian Youth Association. He worked in transportation planning across the province until retiring in 2007, but it was Ukrainian dance that he was best known for. He was a member of the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Winnipeg and the Shumka Dancers of Edmonton. He co-founded the Winnipeg School of Ukrainian Folk Dance. He was a board member of the Carpathia Credit Union for 24 years and the Taras Shevchenko Foundation for nine years. He died in 2009.
Stanley Zedd
He immigrated from Ukraine to Manitoba when he was 10 and later became the kingpin of illegal gambling in Winnipeg. He ran illegal craps games and a bookie operation in Winnipeg. But later, in 1950, he was one of the owners of a baseball team in the ManDak League, a group of teams made up of former players from the recently disbanded Negro League. Police finally shut down his gambling operations in 1959. Zedd died in 1969.
John Solomon
He was born in Manitoba and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a law degree and was called to the bar in 1935. He was elected an MLA from Emerson in 1941 and served until 1957. He was named a judge in 1957 and served on the Court of Queen's Bench until he retired in 1983. He helped develop St. Andrew's College and the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. He died in 1985.
Roman Yereniuk
An associate professor in theology, he is acting director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies. He started working for St. Andrew's College in 1972. He was president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress' Winnipeg branch and was its national secretary from 2004 to 2007. He was also a board member of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. He founded and is administrator-co-ordinator of Project Liubov-Love which, since 2001, has helped orphans and street kids in Ukraine. He co-authored the book Monuments to Faith: Ukrainian Churches in Manitoba. He was regional director of the Manitoba Association of School Trustees in 1993.
Joan Karasevich
A singer born in Winnipeg, she has released records and given concert performances across North America including musical and dramatic productions at Manitoba Theatre Centre, Rainbow Stage, and the Stratford Festival Theatre.
Lawrence Huculak
He was born in Vernon, B.C., and joined the Order of St. Basil the Great in Ottawa in 1969. He earned a bachelor of arts at the University of Ottawa in 1974 and received his doctorate in Oriental Church studies at the Oriental Pontifical Institute in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1977, and after 11 years in Rome, he was appointed pastor at an Alberta church. He was Ukrainian Bishop of Edmonton before Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Catholic Ukrainian Metropolitan-Archibishop (Archeparch) in 2006.
Tom Bryk
He is president and chief executive officer of Cambrian Credit Union. He has been chairman of the Winnipeg Airport Authorities board since last year.
Olga Fuga
A teacher by profession, she was also active in politics. She was a city councillor in the early 1970s when she along with others began their successful lobbying of the provincial and civic governments to build a hospital in the North End of the city. She became director of the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1987, and has been honoured by the Osvita Foundation, the fundraising arm of Manitoba Parents for Ukrainian Education, and she was given a Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee medal in 2002.
Glen Murray
His grandmother came from Ukraine in 1908, settling in Hamilton. He was born in Montreal and after coming to Winnipeg as an adult, he helped establish the Village Clinic, Canada's first integrated community-based care and treatment centre for HIV/AIDS. He was elected a city councillor in 1989 and was re-elected twice before running successfully to become the country's first openly gay mayor. He was re-elected in 2002, and resigned two years into his term to run unsuccessfully for the federal Liberals in Charleswood-St. James. He moved to Toronto and was president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute. He ran successfully as a provincial MPP and is currently the province's minister of research and innovation.
Kerry Burtnyk
He was born and raised in Reston. He won his first curling Brier in 1981 and finished with a bronze medal at the world championship. He represented Manitoba again at the Brier in 1988, and lost, but in 1995 he won his second Brier and then the world championship. He lost the Brier in 2001 and 2008.
James Bezan
He was born in Russell and received his agricultural production degree at Olds College in Alberta. He operates a family farm near Teulon and was chief executive officer of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association. He was elected a Tory MP for Selkirk-Interlake in 2004 and has been re-elected since serving as chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. He successfully put forward a private member's bill that had Canada officially recognize the Holodomor, the Ukrainian famine caused by Soviet policy.
Orest Meleschuk
He was born in St. Boniface and was one of the province's best curlers in the 1960s and 1970s. His best year was in 1972, when he won the provincial, Canadian and world championships.
Tamara Gorski
She is an actress, writer, singer, dancer and director. She is best known for playing the role of Morrigan in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. She has also been in the movies The In-Laws and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Dale Hawerchuk (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
Dale Hawerchuk
He was born in Toronto and was drafted first overall by the former Winnipeg Jets in 1981. In his first season, he became the then-youngest NHL player in history to reach 100 points and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year. He was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 1990. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
Jordin Tootoo
He was born in Churchill and raised in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, with his father Inuit and his mother of Ukrainian descent. He has played hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings and was the first player of Inuit descent to play in a regular-season NHL game when he began playing for the Nashville Predators in 2003.
Elizabeth Buhler (POSTMEDIA)
Elizabeth Buhler
She died last year, two weeks before her 112th birthday. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living Canadian still in Canada. She was born in Ukraine in 1899 and came to Canada with her husband in 1925 to farm near Winkler.
John Nowosad
He was secretary of the Ukrainian Catholic Council of Canada after the Second World War and helped Ukrainian refugees settle in Canada. He was elected president of the Ukrainian National Congress in 1980, was supreme president of the Ukrainian Mutual Benefit Association of St. Nicholas, vice-president of the Children's Aid Society of Winnipeg and on the board of St. Boniface General Hospital for 25 years.
Yaroslava Demko
She is president of the Manitoba branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services Inc. and principal of the Ukrainian School.
Anne Smigel
She worked in education for 44 years and rose to became the first female of Ukrainian background to be a principal in Winnipeg when she became principal of Ashland School in 1955. She also was a founding member of Altrusa International of Winnipeg and was the first Canadian governor of Altrusa International, District 7, from 1980 to 1982. She created a scholarship in her name at the University of Manitoba to help students studying Ukrainian heritage in Canada. She earned an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Manitoba in 2004. She died in 2008.
Alexandra Pawlowsky
Born in Winnipeg, she received her BA and MA at the University of Manitoba before she received what is believed to be the first PhD in the world for Ukrainian-Canadian heritage studies. She went on to become senior administrator at the Centre for Ukrainian-Canadian studies at the university. She died in 2008.
Brenda Gorlick
She is considered one of the country's most accomplished actors, singers, dancers and choreographers. She was the choreographer for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1999 Pan Am Games, has performed at the Stratford Festival and the Banff Centre, and was in Strike! The Musical. She has been part of more than 100 productions in Winnipeg.
Steve Maksymyk
He was a decorated merchant marine in the Second World War before returning home and opening a dance hall in the Interlake. Called Crabby Steve's and located near Komarno, for 30 years people came to dance and drink -- but only in the parking lot because it didn't have a licence.
Louis Melosky
A dentist and educator, he has volunteered in the social and cultural life of Winnipeg, especially the Ukrainian community. He has been an assistant professor of dentistry at the University of Manitoba and provincial and national president of the Association of Orthodontists. He was also national chairman of the Canadian Multiculturalism Council. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1990.
Dave Chomiak
Dave Chomiak
He was a lawyer, member of the Ukrainian Cultural and Education Centre and on the board of the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Choir before moving into politics. He was also with the Rusalka Dance Ensemble. He was first elected MLA in 1990 in Kildonan and has been re-elected every election since. After the NDP formed the government, he was appointed health minister. Since then he has been energy, science and technology minister, justice minister and is currently innovation, energy and mines minister.
Rosann Wowchuk
She was a teacher and farmer before becoming councillor and deputy reeve in the RM of Swan River. She was elected MLA in 1990, and after the NDP formed the government, she was appointed agriculture minister. She later became deputy premier and finance minister. Her brothers are Len and Harry Harapiak.
Len Harapiak
He was a school principal and farmer when he became an MLA in 1986. He was dubbed the "Ukrainian Bobby Kennedy" because of his physical resemblance. He was natural resources and then agriculture minister in the Howard Pawley NDP government. He narrowly lost the party's leadership race to Gary Doer.
Harry Harapiak
He was a Kelsey School Board trustee from 1973 to 1981 when he was elected an MLA. He was northern affairs minister and government services minister in the Howard Pawley NDP government. He didn't run for re-election in 1990. He died in 2000.
Mimi Kuzyk
She was born in Winnipeg and danced with the Rusalka Ukrainian dance group before beginning to act in film and television. She played Detective Patsy Mayo on Hill Street Blues from 1984 to 1986 and has also appeared in Remington Steele, The Love Boat, L.A. Law, and Murder She Wrote. She has been nominated for a Genie Award for Lost and Delirious. She was the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival's parade marshall in 2001.
Victoria Jason
She was born in 1945. Her love of the North began when she moved just outside Churchill early in her marriage. She later worked in Winnipeg and after becoming a grandmother, she began training to kayak in the North. She kayaked during the summers of 1991 to 1994 and became the first woman to successfully kayak through the Northwest Passage. She wrote a bestselling book about her adventure, Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak. She died in 2000.
Chantal Kreviazuk
She was born in Winnipeg in 1973. She started playing the piano as a child and in 1996 she signed with Sony Canada. She released Under These Rocks and Stones and the single Surrounded. She released other CDs and singles, including a cover of Leaving on a Jet Plane for the Armageddon movie soundtrack.
Henry Kalen
He was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in architecture. He gained a reputation as a photographer while working for several architectural firms. He became a lecturer at the university's faculty of architecture while also teaching photography classes. He published several of his photographs in books as well as in magazines. His book, Henry Kalen's Winnipeg, was published in 2000 while another book, Henry Kalen's Manitoba, was published after his death in 2004.
Ken Galanchuk
He began his basketball career in the 1950s while going through Isaac Newton and Sisler High School. He played for the University of Manitoba Bisons before playing for Canada's national team in 1962 and 1963. After hanging up his sneakers, he graduated with a law degree and practised for 24 years before being appointed a Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench justice in 1991. Earlier, he was elected a city councillor and was a director of the former Winnipeg Jets. He has been inducted into both the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
Leo Ledohowski
He was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and McMaster University. Before entering business, he was a commerce professor at both Carleton University and the University of Manitoba. He is the president and chairman of Canad Inns and was on the board of the Business Development Bank of Canada. He is on the board of the Manitoba Hotel Association and Destination Winnipeg. He was appointed to the board of the Bank of Canada in 2008. He is currently the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Winnipeg.
Andrey Tarasiuk
Born and raised in Winnipeg, he is a renowned Canadian theatrical director, producer and dramaturge. He was a founding member of the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble in Winnipeg. For several years, he directed plays at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and was its associate artistic director. He is the founding producer of Toronto's Dream in High Park, the country's original outdoor summer Shakespeare theatre. He has directed plays at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Prairie Theatre Exchange.
Nestor Burtnyk
He was born in Ethelbert and is considered the father of computer animation. He graduated from the University of Manitoba and joined the National Research Council where he began the country's first major computer graphics research project in 1968. The next year, he went to a conference in California where he saw Disney studio artists create hand-drawn animation. Working with a physicist, he developed key-frame animation, which was used to create Peter Foldes's short film Hunger, the first computer-animated movie to be nominated for an Academy Award. Burtnyk himself was awarded an Oscar for technical achievement in computer animation in 1997. During his career, he also worked on the Canadarm for the space shuttle program. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2000.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis
Born in Ontario, she graduated from Carleton University with an MA in political science and began working as an executive assistant to party leader Ed Broadbent. She ran unsuccessfully three times in Ontario for the NDP before moving to Manitoba to become Premier Howard Pawley's executive assistant. She ran successfully in St. Johns riding in Winnipeg and was appointed the province's minister of culture, heritage and recreation. She was re-elected twice before resigning her seat to run unsuccessfully for MP. She ran again in 1997 and won, and was an MP until resigning in 2010 to run unsuccessfully for Winnipeg mayor. She is currently chairwoman of the board of directors of the Public Services Foundation of Canada.
Jaroslaw Barwinsky
He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a medical degree and diploma of surgery and joined the surgical staff at St. Boniface General Hospital in 1961. He also did research and was instrumental in bringing several cardiac surgical procedures to Winnipeg, including installing pacemakers, heart valves and coronary bypass grafts. He performed more than 5,500 surgeries and helped organize what is now the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons and raised funds to help create the Association of Cardiac Surgeons of Ukraine. He was vice-president of the Taras Shevchenko Foundation of Canada and president of the Catholic Physicians Guild and the Canada Ukraine Foundation.
Leo Mol
He was born Leonid Molodozhanyn in Ukraine and moved to Vienna to study art as a teenager. He came to Canada as a farmhand in 1949. He won an international commission to do a five-metre tall sculpture of Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko in Washington, D.C. in the early 1960s. He went on to create many sculptures around the world, including three different popes in museums in the Vatican, the Queen Elizabeth II statue formerly outside Centennial Concert Hall and now outside Government House and the statue of former prime minister John Diefenbaker on Parliament Hill. Many of his statues are on view in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden at Assiniboine Park. He was inducted into the Order of Canada, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt and the Order of Manitoba. He died in 2009.
Gary Filmon
He was born in Winnipeg and became a civil engineer after graduating from the University of Manitoba. He was elected to Winnipeg's city council in 1975 and in 1979 won a byelection as MLA in River Heights. He was named minister of consumer and corporate affairs and environment minister by Premier Sterling Lyon. He was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative party in 1983 and became premier in 1988. His government was in office until its defeat in 1999 by Gary Doer's NDP. He has since worked as a business consultant and was appointed chairman of the federal Security Intelligence Review Committee. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2009.
Ed Schreyer
He was born in Beausejour and graduated from the University of Manitoba. He was elected as a CCF MLA for Brokenhead in 1958 when he was 22. Seven years later, he was elected an MP. He was elected leader of the province's NDP in 1969, and that same year, he became the province's first NDP premier. While premier, he led his government in the amalgamation of the city of Winnipeg and brought in Autopac. He was appointed governor general by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1979. After his term, he was named Canadian High Commissioner to Australia. After returning to Manitoba, he was appointed chancellor of Brandon University. He ran unsuccessfully for MP in 2006.
Todaschuk Sisters
Rosemarie and Charlene have performed together across North America including Bicentennial celebrations in Los Angeles, Winnipeg's Folklorama, and Dauphin's Canada's National Ukrainian Festival. They have released albums with traditional and contemporary Ukrainian songs. Rosemarie is also a jazz soloist.
Mary Pankiw
She worked more than 40 years in the public school system. She was president of the Ukrainian Canadian Women's Council, Manitoba Society of Seniors, and Councils of Women of Manitoba. She has been honoured with the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Award and has been profiled in Chatelaine magazine's Who's Who of Canadian Women.
Ben Hewak
He was born in Winnipeg and went to the University of Manitoba. After graduating with a law degree, he worked as a Crown attorney for five years before becoming a defence lawyer. He was an alderman in West Kildonan, was president of the Ukrainian National Youth Federation and chairman of the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. He was appointed to the County Court in 1971 and became a Court of Queen's Bench justice in 1977. He was Chief Justice from 1985 until he retired in 2003.
Peter Liba
He was born in Winnipeg in 1940 and worked as a journalist and city editor at the Winnipeg Tribune before becoming a founding shareholder of the company that became Canwest Global Communications Corp. He became president and chief executive officer of CKND-TV and then executive vice-president of CanWest. In 1994, the Western Association of Broadcasters named him broadcaster of the decade. In 1988, he was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. He was named lieutenant-governor in 1999. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1984 and the Order of Manitoba in 1999. He died in 2007.
Roman Kroitor
He was born in Saskatchewan and after completing his MA in philosophy and psychology at the University of Manitoba, he joined the National Film Board. His second film, Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway Switchman, won awards and influenced NFB productions for years. After completing several documentaries, he left the NFB in 1967 and co-founded Multi-Screen Corporation which, after he helped invent the technology, became IMAX. He co-directed the IMAX movie Rolling Stones: At the Max. George Lucas credits him with the original concept of The Force in the Star Wars films.
Maara Haas
She graduated from journalism at Berkeley University. She was well known for the readings she did on CBC's This Country in the Morning. She published a book of poetry. She has appeared in several Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre productions. She was honoured with the Lady Eaton Award in 1996 for her literary satire One Hundred Years of Poetry.
Sylvia Todaschuk
She opened a Selkirk Avenue boutique in 1985, devoted to Ukrainian heritage. She has been president of the Selkirk Avenue Business Improvement Zone. She is president of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club. She has been honoured with the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, the City of Winnipeg Community Service Award and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.
Sonja Bejzyk
She was a teacher for 30 years before retiring in 1990. That's when she began volunteering for many organizations. She is on the board of St. Andrew's College and is president of the board of the Ukrainian Voice newspaper and her church's branch of the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada. She also has been president of the national executive of the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League of Canada and has volunteered for the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress. Earlier this year, Bejzyk was one of 28 Canadians, and the only Manitoban, to receive the Caring Canadian Award from Gov. Gen. David Johnston.
Orysia Tracz
She is one of the city's authorities on Ukrainian culture. Her parents were taken to Germany from Ukraine during the Second World War to work as forced labourers, and she was born there. Her family emigrated to the United States as refugees, and she went to school in New Jersey. She worked as an assistant in the University of Manitoba's Special Collections Department, including the Slavic Collection, at the Elizabeth Dafoe Library and as the librarian at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre. She has written for several publications, including having a regular column in The Ukrainian Weekly.
William Kurelek
He was born in Edmonton, but grew up in Stonewall. He graduated from the arts program at the University of Manitoba in 1949, and went on to attend the Ontario College of Art. His paintings are in collections or were used to illustrate books. Many depict scenes in Manitoba from his childhood. Parts of a painting he did in the 1950s entitled The Maze was used on the cover of Van Halen's 1981 album Fair Warning. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1976. He died in 1977.
Donna Grescoe
She was born in Winnipeg in 1927, and picked up the violin five years later. She studied the violin in Winnipeg, Chicago and New York. She performed at Carnegie Hall in 1948 then toured Canada. She played on the Ed Sullivan show Toast of the Town and CBC's Showtime. Her last solo performance was in 1959, and she returned to Winnipeg in 1962, where she was a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1974 to 1979. She was a founding member of the Manitoba Conservatory of Music, where she taught until 1988.
Leo Mol
Randy Bachman
His mother is his Ukrainian connection -- Dobrinsky. He was born in Winnipeg and was lead guitarist and a songwriter with both The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. He currently hosts Vinyl Tap on CBC radio. He has been inducted into the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada.
Danny Schur
He has been dubbed Canada's Andrew Lloyd Webber by the CBC. He is Winnipeg's most successful composer of musicals composing The Bridge and Strike! The Musical. He and co-writer Rick Chafe received the 2006 Kobzar Literary Award for the portrayal of Ukrainian-Canadian themes in Strike!
Alex Groshak
He realized that while Canadian Ukrainian music was played live at weddings and socials, you couldn't buy a record to play at home. He created the record labels Regis Records and V Records and recorded the first recording of Canadian Ukrainian music -- The Ukrainian Wedding Dance -- and many other musicians. He even recorded The Squires when Neil Young was a member.
Harry Lazarenko
A former rail worker, he represented Winnipeg city council's Mynarski ward from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1983 to 2010.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 23, 2012 J12
