People Who Matter: Andrew Hladyshevsky

Community activist and lawyer Andrew Hladyshevsky is the President of the Shevchenko Foundation. He is the Second Vice President of the National Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC); as Chair of the UCC’s internment committee, he negotiated the agreement-in-principle on restitution with the Federal Government.  Hladyshevsky is also involved with the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation. He is on the boards of Edmonton music organizations and sings with Ukrainian choirs.  On October 2, he will be honoured for his contributions at the Alberta UCC’s annual Hetman Awards Banquet. He speaks to Olena Wawryshyn about his community involvement.

The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko is one of the best-run community organizations. How was this accomplished?

AH: As a newly appointed Board member, I arrived [after] a fairly long tenure at several other not-for-profit organizations (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Concert Hall’s Winspear Centre for Music and others). I wanted to address visibility; it became apparent to me that Foundation's work was incredible, but not well-known.

If the Foundation was to be a better contributor it had to professionalize, to have its own staff, so we put that in place.  It also had to professionalize its investment management so people could provide funds to the Foundation based on credibility of financial prudence and management... The [financial] reporting was increased [and was made] available to anybody who was a donor or wanted to ask a question about the Foundation.

It then came down to energizing a board and executive director to undertake more work than they thought was possible, to start to think of the 21st century and where the Foundation should go.

What are the Foundation’s main recent achievements?

AH: The Foundation has identified critical areas of culture within the Canadian framework where the Ukrainian-Canadian community should be and play a major role, for instance, literature. We encourage writers in Canada to write the story of our people in this nation. That’s important not only to our community but for our placement in the national scheme, so that we are seen to be one of the founding cultures of this country.  One outgrowth is the Kobzar Literary Award, (to be awarded in March 2006). It has a prize on the same scale as the Giller Prize, which is the standard for Canadian literature.

One of the Foundation’s goals is to be one of the premier not-for-profit organizations in Canada.  So, the second achievement is one of visibility.

The third achievement is taking on projects executed at a high level. The Avramenko project, which is the celebration of Ukrainian dance in Canada, is an example of our story being repatriated into the rest of modern Canadian history. [It shows] what the contributions, in this case, of an individual [were], and the net effect of how that affected so many communities and [continues to have] an influence on Canadian culture to this day.

A number of artists the Foundation has helped are now taking leadership roles. The recent successful run of Danny Schur’s musical Strike in Winnipeg is a good example of how the story of the plight of our early immigrants is woven into a compelling story, in the context of the Winnipeg strike. It tells a great Canadian story. Any story within the Ukrainian community is a Canadian story.  The more we tell that story, the greater impact we have on our educational systems. The help the Foundation has provided has translated into curriculum development on issues such as internment and the holod.

What other community activities have you found particularly rewarding?

AH:  My singing. A true gift that was given to me by our Creator was an appreciation for music and choral music. It translated into me singing with Ukrainian choirs and working in the development and production of some of the operas of the 1980s [including with the late Volodymyr Kolesnyk] that the Ukrainian-Canadian community was famous for.

I’ve had a proud association with [the choral music community]. I’ve been in choirs that have taken on major projects, the Dnipro Chorus, the Ukrainian Male Chorus, the Banduristy, [in Detroit]. It’s been extremely pleasurable to work with them, to meet people in the choral world across the country and to work to help sustain that.

You live in Edmonton:  How do the issues/challenges facing Westerners differ from those facing Easterners?
AH: The classic [issue of] the 20th century has persisted in the 21st—the balancing act between being loyal to and assisting an independent Ukraine and the promotion of the Canadian identity of Ukrainian-Canadians and their culture here. For a time, things in the West were not as Ukraine-focused as they were Canadian-focused; in Central Canada, things were much more Ukrainian-focused.

To maintain that balance is a major challenge. God gave me this culture, this path of finding my way in this life through my Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian religious Christian perspective and being an Orthodox Christian or Byzantine rite Christian and [it’s important] to expand what has already been given as a gift.

The issue of Ukraine at times threatens to overwhelm the community’s resources and ability to have influence.  At the same time, you cannot become only Canadian-focused because you will lose the perspective of your homeland, your roots.

If you keep living in the past, you will not evolve. When it comes to culture Westerners have a tendency to be more experimental [though] at times in Eastern Canada there are some who try and evolve the culture. You have this ongoing mainstreaming of Ukrainian culture in Western Canada that doesn’t have the same resonance in Eastern Canada. But, the Bloor Street Festival and Harbourfront [Festival, in Toronto] have recently mainstreamed us and those are wonderful innovations.

During the Orange Revolution, it was interesting to see how unified in thought the country was…but how differently both parts approached the issue. In Western Canada the approach was more broadly based. In Eastern Canada, certain groups took charge. Both [approaches] worked well. 

How did you get involved in the Ukrainian internment issue?

AH: I was one of founding directors of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, which was formed out of the Japanese internment settlement. I wrote a paper in law school in the 1970s, “Charter of rights, Canadian Parliamentary Tyranny: the Case History of the Japanese Canadians.” 

As a Canadian, I believe that the evolution of a great country is dealing with its abuses of the past, exposing them, commemorating them, providing educational initiatives, allowing people to study it and evolving the country.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms means nothing if you do not understand the Ukrainian-Canadian experience of the first half of the 20th century. The Charter was bought and paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of people who suffered extreme human-rights abuses under a British parliamentary system that needed to change.

What we did ask for [from the Federal Government], which we have received so far (we’re still in negotiations with the government), is recognition of the event.  We need the government to atone for what happened and to understand that it is time Canadian history be written with fact.  The mythology of the Alberta experience, if it wasn’t for the Ukrainian-Canadian community agitating, is that Alberta was settled by pacifist cowboys. They don’t understand the agony of the first settler people, the disinterest in assisting them that occurred largely from a white Anglo-Saxon government, the abuses and obstacles they faced. And, when you get to internment, the unlawful abuse of power under international conventions, making these people subject to slave labour, and some of them perishing.

The entrenchment of multiculturalism within the Charter was a specific Ukrainian amendment that Pierre Trudeau originally left out. The Ukrainian-Canadian community in Western Canada under the leadership of Laurence Decore had put [it] back in the Charter; [it’s] an important phenomenon. I should have the right as a Canadian to celebrate my Ukrainian culture.

You've announced your intention to run for nomination with the federal Liberal Party: in which riding and why have you decided to run?

AH: Edmonton Strathcona, largely because the Conservative who represents this riding is a three-time incumbent. I don’t think the voices of my constituency are being heard. I have worked with government [officials] through my various hats that I have worn. I want to be there and represent not only the Ukrainian-Canadian perspective on Canadian democracy, which I think there is one, but also to have a say at the table where power is being exerted.  I’m in a tough fight; there are three of us fighting for the nomination.

How do you balance your professional, family and community life?

AH: Daria and I have four children: Hryhorij, in fourth-year university, Olesia in second year, Zenon, in grade 12, and Roman in grade 1.  I’ve been fortunate that my family has participated in many of the endeavours I have chosen to follow through. I hope the elder generation involves the younger generation; it’s only [through such] learned behaviour [that] your children [will then] later participate in the organizations you’ve brought them into. It’s easy for me to work hard for the community, to build and look over the horizon knowing there’s a legacy for my children.

What does it mean to you to be a Hetman Award recipient?

AH: I’m honoured. The award is a call to action for other people to join in the cause of volunteerism. The more people contribute to the wealth and cultural welfare of our community, the better off we all are. I’ve been incredibly enriched by having set aside some of the things that preoccupy us in making a living for a higher purpose in other areas.  It’s a phenomenal experience being in such an incredibly active community.  The standards and expectations are high, but the rewards are great.