Ukraine on Parade on St. Patrick’s Day

By Vasyl Pawlowsky

Montreal – On March 20^th, the 187^th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in Montreal. For the tenth consecutive year, Montreal’s Ukrainian community participate under the banner “Ukraine On Parade”, and again was awarded Best Cultural Community Unit, one of twenty different categories judged as parade entries.

Ukrainians from “Prosvita in Pointe St. Charles first participated in the parade back in 1942,” said Edward Dorozowsky, better known as Ed Doro, the driving force ensuring the Ukrainian community’s place in Montreal’s venerable parade institution. Doro grew up in Pointe St. Charles, a working class district with high concentrations of both Ukrainians and Irish. There are parallels in their histories, and it came as no surprise that Doro had many Irish friends growing up, indicating a mutual respect had formed between these communities over their history in Quebec.

 “Ukraine On Parade has its own executive committee and is a separate entity from other Ukrainian organizations in Montreal,” said Doro. He recalled how his biggest supporters in the beginning where his eldest children, Alexandra, with Spina bifida and who passed away in 2006, and Eddy, a professional wrestler.

Even before Ukraine On Parade was created, Doro tried to introduce elements of Ukrainian culture through other organizations into the mainstream. As a member of the Lions Club, a community service organization which runs the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, he established the Ukrainian flag being carried in the parade. “This was against organization policy, as there was still no Lion’s Club in Ukraine, but I had contributed a great deal, providing eye glasses to the less fortunate through a number of projects. The flag was carried by community leader Dr. Walter Kowal, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Montreal.

Since the reintroduction of the Ukrainian community’s participation in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2002, after a fourteen year hiatus, it has become a welcome event for some Ukrainians in Montreal. “We are extremely happy to be part of this presentation to the community at large. We do not realize that we have participated until it is over. Our dancers want to finish their program,” said Bohdan Klymchuk, founder of the Troyanda Dance Ensemble of Montreal, which has contributed to the Ukraine On Parade float since it’s inception.

In addition to organizing all the logistics of running the parade float and securing sponsors, Doro is also involved in the nomination of a “Ukrainian of the Year” who rides in the parade. Montrealer’s to hold this honourable title include Bill Hladky (2002), Yarema Kelebay (2007), Peter Zhytynsky (2009) and Yourko Kulycky in 2010, as well as those from outside the city. “In 2004, MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj enjoyed the Parade so much that he invited himself back the following year,” said Ed Doro.

In 2011, the honour of “Ukrainian of the Year” went to James Slobodian of Royun-Noranda, President of Camp Spirit Lake Corporation in Northern Quebec. He has been working tirelessly for more than a decade to ensure that the interpretive centre for the “Spirit Lake” Internment Camp becomes a reality. During the First World War, 1,200 men, women, and children were unjustly interned there as enemy aliens, the majority being Ukrainian. From Montreal’s St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church alone, 60 families were taken.

“[Ed Doro] integrates into the entire Montreal community and the province the presence of Ukrainian Culture in Quebec. He reminds me of my late uncle Bill Senkus, who was also very proud and reminded others of his Ukrainian origins,” said Slobodian. Senkus was a well respected Ukrainian community leader who served on the executive of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee. In 1992, then City of LaSalle Council renamed one it’s streets after Senkus as a way of honouring all Ukrainians, acknowledging them an integral part of Quebec society .

Over the last decade, Ed Doro has ensured that people who line the streets of Montreal for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade know that Ukrainians are present in Montreal. “Those watching the parade are in awe when they see the entire presentation including our dancers on the back of a flat bed truck. It’s hard for them not to notice that Ukrainians are part of the community here,” concluded Klymchuk.

PHOTO

Ukrainian participants in Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade with award-winning float in background