The Genesis of Canada’s Multiculturalism From A Ukrainian Perspective
Gala 85th Anniversary Ukrainian National Federation of Canada
This is the English translation, by Ulana Plawuszczak Pidzamecky, of the speech given by Jaroslaw Bilak at the Gala 85th Anniversary of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada, on November 18, 2017.
This year, Canada marks the 150th anniversary of its statehood. Within the historical fullness of nation-building in the world, this is a relatively short period of time. What’s more, in 1867, Canada did not emerge as a nation with homogeneous national cultural attributes. Rather, its emergence represented the completion of a political project by Canada’s two colonializing nationalities — the British and the French — concerning confederation as a system of government. The formation of specific national attributes, including cultural and social values, was left as a task of future generations and new settlers/immigrants.
Twenty-nine years after Confederation, in 1896, an extraordinary new politician, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, appeared on the Canadian political scene. His government’s policies set the Canadian nation on a path of new cultural and socio-political development. This course of action continues as a “work in progress” to this day. To fully appreciate the importance for Canada, and for us, of this historical figure, I quote two paragraphs from the RBC Letter, Vol. 66, №1, January/February, 1985:
“Laurier, as a French-Canadian he was acutely aware that Canadians could never be a uniform nationality. There would be no melting pot this side of the U.S. border. Instead there would be Laurier’s vision of a great cathedral constructed of diverse materials: I want the marble to remain the marble; the granite to remain the granite; the oak to remain the oak; and out of these elements I would build a nation great among the nations of the world.
It falls to a few political leaders to bring about a fundamental change in their countries. But a completely different Canada emerged from Laurier’s regime. His government brought in millions of immigrants from Slavic, Germanic and Scandinavian regions of Europe. As the Europeans poured into the West, the old French-British make-up of Canada was altered forever; Canadian multiculturalism was born.”
One might ask: would we be gathered together here tonight, if the Wilfrid Laurier government had not opened wide the door of immigration to Canada?
It is through this open door that the first wave of Ukrainian (pioneer) immigration to Canada entered the country. For the most part, this first wave consisted of farmers, but not only:
“Among them were several dozen high school students, seminarians and university students who, for economic or political reasons, could not finish their education at home. Most of this small but dynamic and sophisticated rural intelligentsia became teachers in western Canada, where they formed the first national and political elite of Ukrainian civil society….Already in 1907, several dozen teachers established the Ukrainian Teachers’ Organization in Winnipeg, the first clear-cut Ukrainian popular-nationalist organization in Canada. In 1910, the aforementioned teachers’ organization initiated the creation of an independent Ukrainian Publishing Union, later known as the Tryzub Publishing House.” (Oleg Gerus, Ukrainian Voice, p. 4, November 14, 2005)
It is also here that The Ukrainian Voice weekly came into the world. It was the first periodical in Canada to feature the descriptor ‘Ukrainian’ in its name.
“The targeted use of the word ‘Ukrainian’ instead of the traditional ‘Ruthenian’ clearly reflected the populist nationalist ideology of the newspaper’s founders. From the very beginning of its existence, The Ukrainian Voice has pledged itself in service to the broad national interests of Ukrainians….” (Oleg Gerus, Ukrainian Voice, Art. 4, 28/11/2005)
This young cohort of Ukrainian intelligentsia in Canada also established cultural and educational centres for high school and university students with an aim to train new cadres of community leaders. Such educational centres were the Petro Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon, its branch in Winnipeg, and the Hrushevsky Institute in Edmonton. They were independent public institutions whose champion was The Ukrainian Voice. But the philosophy and aspirations of this young, essentially Ukrainian Catholic, intelligentsia were incompatible with the attitude of Bishop Nikita Budka, the primate of the then Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, which was established in Canada in 1912. Bishop Budka demanded that these institutions be transferred to the church and converted into Catholic schools. Even threatening to excommunicate from the church those disobedient laymen who disagreed with his instructions. This conflict was the cause of the first serious crisis within the Ukrainian community in Canada, with far-reaching consequences.
“In July 1918, the Mohyla-Ukrainian Voice bloc convened a special assembly of 150 laymen in Saskatoon. Through their revolutionary, albeit logical decision, the congregation not only separated from the Catholic Church, but also embarked on the establishment of a competing Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada (UGOC).” (Oleg Gerus, ibid.)
This was the disarrayed state of Ukrainian society in Canada at the end of the First World War.
The beginning of the 1920s was marked by considerable activity, this time of the Orthodox nationalist intelligentsia, in both the religious and secular domains. The aforementioned Institutes hosted annual congresses with hundreds of delegates from church parishes as well as community halls known as The People’s Homes (“Narodni Domy”). However, at the same time, religious tension began to build within Ukrainian society. In addition, during this time communist ideas began to spread among Ukrainian farmers and workers.
To this unhappy and challenging reality among the Ukrainian community in Canada came the second wave of Ukrainian immigration. Numerically, the second wave was much smaller than the first. But these new immigrants were more educated and more nationally conscious. Most of them were veterans of Ukraine’s struggle for independence of 1917–1921.
Towards the end of the 1920s, secular activists at the UGOC and the aforementioned Institutes decided to create a broader community organization. Thus, in December 1927 the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League (Soyuz Ukrayins’kykh Samostiynykiv — SUS) was established. In relation to Ukraine, SUS assumed a nationalist independent state position. Therefore, it was hoped that the newly arrived veterans of the Ukrainian liberation struggles would find their home in this new community organization, but due to the existing symbiosis of SUS-UGOC, this did not occur.
“In 1928, the first war veterans’ organization in Canada was formed in Winnipeg. Initially, there was some cooperation between SUS and the Ukrainian veterans. But it soon became clear that in addition to the controversial religious factor, SUS and the Ukrainian War Veterans’ Association (UWVA) had serious differences in views about the ideological nature of Ukrainian nationalism.” (Oleg Gerus, Ukrainian Voice, Art. 4, 12/12/2005)
At the beginning of 1929, the leadership of the newly formed Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in Europe wanted to find or create a community organization among the Ukrainian diaspora on the American continent that would support OUN and act as a spokesman for Ukraine’s independence. The leader of OUN, Yevhen Konovalets, was impressed by the potential of SUS in Canada. And in May 1929, in New York, the first meeting between Konovalets and leading members of SUS took place. The negotiations, including the exchange of memoranda, continued until early 1932, when they were finally broken off. It is these negotiations concerning SUS-OUN cooperation that delayed the creation of a new Ukrainian community organization in Canada for three years, one whose program in regard to Ukraine would have been compatible with OUN’s mission.
In 1932, in Edmonton, on the initiative of Ukrainian Canadian pioneers, new immigrants, and Ukrainians born in Canada, a new community organization was founded, called the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (UNF). Making up the broader UNF organizational structure, formally known as the Affiliated Organizations, were the already established Ukrainian War Veterans’ Association and the Olha Basarab Ukrainian Women’s Organization, and from 1934, the Young Ukrainian Nationalists (MUN), currently, the Ukrainian National Youth Federation of Canada (UNYF).
Meanwhile, under pressure from newly arrived immigrants and nationally conscious priests among them, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church was renamed the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Also in 1932, another community organization was born, the Brotherhood of Ukrainian Catholics (BUK), with its base, like SUS, in church parishes.
In the 1930s no national minority group in Canada was more well organized externally, but internally more differentiated and disunited than the Ukrainian one. It became clear to everyone that this state of affairs would lead to ruin. And so, in the mid 1930s, attempts were made to create a single coordinating and representational centre for Ukrainians in Canada, with the exception of the communists. With the outbreak of World War II, the search for the key to unity became even more intense. Still, it was impossible to reach full agreement.
The Government of Canada, in need of the unanimous support of all of Canadian society for its war effort, was concerned about the internal discord within the Ukrainian community. Thus, encouraged by the government, further talks were held, however sporadically, concerning unification. The next scheduled meeting of representatives of Ukrainian organizations which took place November 6–7, 1940 was attended by government envoys from Ottawa, prof. George Simpson and Tracy Philipps, who served as conciliators. Through their mediation, the necessary compromises were made and on November 7, 1940, the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (UCC), now the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, was formed. In this way, the consolidation of the Ukrainian community in Canada was formally achieved.
From the early 1940s, Ukrainian Canada and the problem of Ukraine in Europe became more relevant, both in government circles and in the mainstream media. This was largely due to the fact that in 1940, the energetic, 33-year-old prominent son of Ukrainian Canada and newly elected Member of the Canadian Parliament from Alberta, Anthony Hlynka, entered the political arena. Hlynka was well versed in the affairs of Ukrainian farmers — his constituents, along with the full range of Ukrainian Canadian issues. He considered himself the ambassador of Ukrainian Canada, and there was more: Hlynka was fluent in Ukrainian and knew the history of Ukraine. His numerous speeches about Ukraine and Ukrainians in parliament, public meetings, and in the press were always authoritative. In parliament, as an expert on Ukrainian affairs in Canada and abroad, Hlynka enjoyed the unwavering respect of his colleagues. He always and everywhere advocated the principle of equality for all Canadian citizens in all socio-political spheres. By the same token, he defended the right of the ethnocultural components of Canadian society to preserve and cherish their cultural attributes and values. Historically, things unfolded in the following way: while our Honourable Senator Paul Yuzyk has been widely recognized as the father of Canada’s multicultural concept, Anthony Hlynka was the harbinger of this concept, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier was its prophet.
However, the most distinguished political actor involved in bringing the multicultural project to life through federal legislation was Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. On October 8, 1971 in Parliament, Trudeau, on behalf of the government, announced the official introduction of a multiculturalism policy in Canada. And on the following day, October 9th, as a guest of the UCC’s 10th Congress held in Winnipeg, Trudeau expanded further upon the now officially multicultural Canada. Later, in 1982, the constitutional act — The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom — whose architect was Trudeau, enshrined the following: Section 27: This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canada. This section confirmed that the cultural values brought to Canada by individual ethnocultural groups were not only their values, but were part of CANADA’S heritage. To a large extent, the driving force behind Multicultural Canada was the dynamic commitment of Ukrainian Canada.
In conclusion, let us become better acquainted with Anthony Hlynka, so that we may better appreciate precisely why today, on the occasion of the gala celebration of the anniversary of the UNF, it is appropriate to refresh our memory about this distinguished individual. The source of information about Anthony Hlynka being used for this purpose is a book: The Honourable Member for Vegreville: The Memoirs and Diary of Anthony Hlynka, MP, 1940–49, translated by Oleh Gerus; edited by Oleh Gerus and Denis Hlynka.
Anthony Hlynka was a Member of the Parliament of Canada from 1940 to 1949. When World War II ended in 1945, Hlynka became the protector of Ukrainian refugees from communism, who had ended up in refugee camps in Western Europe. He strongly and vehemently opposed the forced repatriation of these people back to the Soviet Union, and in early 1947 this practice was discontinued. From November 1946 to February 1947, Hlynka, at his own expense, traveled to the refugee camps in Europe to personally familiarize himself with the situation on the ground.
In close coordination with the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, Anthony Hlynka demanded changes to Canadian law to allow Ukrainians from refugee camps in Europe to immigrate to Canada. As a result, in mid 1947, the legal doors were once again opened, permitting the third wave of Ukrainian immigration to enter Canada.
Anthony Hlynka was born in Ukraine, in the Ternopil region, on May 28, 1907. Anthony and his parents arrived in Canada in 1910, when he was just two-and-a-half years old. The Hlynka family settled on a farm near Edmonton. Anthony completed his secondary education in Edmonton, but during the economic depression he did not have the opportunity to pursue his higher education.
Next, I will read three short quotes from the aforementioned book, after which it will become clear why attention is being given to Anthony Hlynka at our event today. The text of the quotations is in English, translated from the Ukrainian original, but Hlynka himself is speaking to you here, in his own words:
“The newly established weekly, The New Pathway (Novyi Shliakh),…began publication in Edmonton on 30 October 1930. My association with the paper started with my reports on activities of the Ukrainian Economic Society and the Kobzar Society. I became a supporter of the paper because it promoted Ukrainian nationalism, whose ideology I accepted after reading other nationalist publications, such as Rozbudova Natsiyi, Samostiyna Dumka and Surma. When on 17 November 1931 the publishing company was restructured, I was elected to the provisional board of directors. My function was to solicit advertising for the paper. I did this work until May 1933, when the paper was moved to Saskatoon.”
“On 17 July 1932 supporters of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, and members of the War Veterans’ Association, held a mass rally at the Hrushevsky Institute in Edmonton. There they formed the first branch of the new national organization, the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada. A number of the earlier immigrants and Canadian-born Ukrainians also joined the UNF. Among the original members were teachers A. Gregorovich, W. Kupchenko and K. Magera, lawyer N. Romaniuk, A. Shewchuk, W. Dorosh, S. Waskan, and myself (A. Hlynka). I was Interested in the Ukrainian nationalist movement for several reasons. The movement’s principal goal was the establishment of a united independent Ukrainian state on the traditional lands of the Ukrainian people. In this process, Ukrainian Canadians had a definite missionary role to play.”
“Fascinated with the Ukrainian nationalist movement, I became deeply committed to The New Pathway and the UNF. In addition to soliciting advertising and contributing reports and articles to the paper, my friends and I visited Ukrainian communities, giving lectures and helping organize the UNF locals. At about the same time, I was elected acting General Secretary of the National Executive of the UNF, which was then based in Edmonton.”
On November 27, 1943, Anthony Hlynka married Stephanie Chole — the marriage took place at St. Josaphat’s Cathedral in Toronto. The Hlynka couple had two children. Anthony Hlynka passed away unexpectedly on April 25, 1957, in the fiftieth year of his prolific life for the Ukrainian cause, and was buried in Edmonton.
The Ukrainian National Federation bears the sin of having allowed the dust to settle for decades upon the memory of this distinguished son of Ukrainian Canada and one of the founders of the UNF 85 years ago. In order to atone for this sin, I suggest that the UNF National Executive make certain that the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program or the UCC Parliamentary Internship Program officially adds to its name the prefix Anthony Hlynka.
Thank you for your attention!
Glory to Canada!
Glory to Ukraine!