Cossack Cowboys Ride Alberta Steppes

By Jars Balan

Edmonton was the site of a recent scholarly gathering that provided a distinctly Ukrainian perspective on Alberta’s multicultural heritage. Titled “Cossack Cowboys: The Ukrainian Experience in Alberta,” the conference took place from November 17-19, 2005 at the University of Alberta and featured some two dozen presentations on widely ranging historical and contemporary themes. More than 60 scholars, graduate students and members of the general public took part in activities comprised of lectures, book launches and video screenings, all of which were dedicated to marking the 100th anniversary of Canada’s westernmost prairie province in a cerebral but celebratory way.

The event was a collaborative effort sponsored and organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Programme of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) in cooperation with the Ukrainian Pioneers’ Association of Alberta and the Canadian Centre for Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography at the University of Alberta.

The conference opened with a book launch for The Honourable Member for Vegreville: The Memoirs and Diary of Anthony Hlynka and a critical study called Leaving Shadows: Literature in English by Canada’s Ukrainians, authored by St. Paul native, Dr. Lisa Grekul. The festive evening took place at the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum, and also included a talk on UCAMA’s heritage resources and plans to build a new facility in downtown Edmonton.

Formal academic sessions began on Friday, November, 18 with a presentation on a major oral history project being conducted in Western Canada by the Ukrainian Folklore Centre and the Huculak Chair of Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography. Other papers delivered over the course of the day dealt with literary and folkloric subjects, and there was a panel showcasing some of the contextual research being done for three buildings that have been moved to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village for restoration. Among the highlights was a paper on Edmonton’s historic Ukrainian landmarks by Dr. Frances Swyripa and a biographical sketch of the first Ukrainian to reside in Alberta’s future provincial capital. The day’s agenda concluded with a screening of Martha Bielish: Giving Rural Women a Voice, a documentary from the new Canadian Learning Channel series, “Mother Tongue.”

That same evening, another book launch was held for The Politics of Multiculturalism: A Ukrainian-Canadian Memoir by Dr. Manoly Lupul. The Alberta-born author and academic, who was a founding director of the CIUS, spoke about the writing of his memoirs and autographed copies of his book, published by CIUS Press.

Scholarly sessions resumed on Saturday morning at Alumni House on the U of A campus. Among the more unusual presentations were two talks that explored the significance and symbolism of the famed Vegreville Pysanka and the fascinating story of Swedish immigrants from a village in southern Ukraine who settled in the Canadian West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The final day of the conference offered three different talks on Ukrainian church history in Alberta and one on the Labour-Farm Temple Association. Ukrainian dance was the subject of yet another presentation, while the proceedings ended with a screening of excerpts from Journey of Hope: The Ukrainian Catholic Church in Alberta, by the Edmonton filmmaker Harvey Spak.