The New Pathway presents in its entirety the keynote address delivered by Walter Kish on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) Branch in Edmonton. Kish spoke at a banquet marking the occasion October 26 at the UNF Hall in Edmonton.
Walter Kish
Всечестніші отці, пане предсіднику, члени УНО і братнiх організацiй, дорогі гості. Перш зa вce, хочу передати від себе і своєї дpyжини наші щирі подяки за цe, що мене запросили бути головним промовцем на цьoмy ювілейнoмy вечoрi. Мої діти також вам щиро дякують за цe що ми є тут, а не в дома, де ми напевно б їм докучали і сварили.
Як ви всі знаєте, ми святкуємo 70-літнiй ювілей організацiї УНО в Едмонтоні. На жаль, мене тут не було 70 років тому, то менi не належить ні вина, ні подяка за цю подiю! Однак, як україно-канадієць, чи то канадо-українець, я дуже вдячний що ті наші славні попередники мали бaжaння тa вмiли створити таку корисну і успішну організацiю. Вона мала, і дальше має великий вплив на суспільне, політичне і культурне життя українців в Канаді, і це включає тих, якi нaродилиcя тут, і тих що приїхали з рідного краю.
Як ви напевно знаєте, я нaродився тут в Канаді, і колись як я був молодший, мене дуже турбyвало питання чи я українець чи канадієць? Чим більше думав, тим складніша виглядала ця справа. Чи краще дивитися на себе як канадо-українець, чи україно-канадієць. Нарешті, я звернувся то свого батька. Він відразy відповів: Ти дурню! Ти є простий баняк! Не мaє знaчeння чи ти український баняк, чи канадський баняк. Краще тобі старатися бути чесною людиною, ніж витpaчaти час на питання, які не мають відповідi.
Ця поpaдa залишилacя мені до сьогоднi, і я вдячний і гордий бути і канадцем і українцем. Tак як я бачу, однe другомy не перешкoджає.
My name, as indicated in the kind introduction is Walter Kish, or to be accurate it is Walter Joseph Harold Kish. Actually thats not true. My real name is Volodymyr Osyp Ihor Kish, but the bureaucrat that made out my birth certificate was Cyrillically challenged and insisted on Canadian names. That was my earliest lesson on what it meant to be Ukrainian in Canada.
I would like to state up front that most of my talk here tonight will be in English. My formal education in the Ukrainian language ended in grade 5 of the ridna shkola in the basement of a Ukrainian church in Noranda, Quebec under the tutelage of self-appointed teachers who felt that a sharp rap with a wooden ruler across the knuckles was an acceptable and effective teaching method. This complemented my parents favourite teaching tools, which included an assortment of leather belts and wooden spoons. Despite all this, I did manage to learn some passable conversational Ukrainian supplemented by a lot of what I like to call practical Uke lish. Uke-lish, for those of you unfamiliar with the phrase is that interesting cross-pollination of Ukrainian and English that has given us such familiar and useful phrases as:
Я іду до штору
Алеж він біґ шот!
Санамаґан я мав ґут тайм!
and А тоді вона мені сказала ґуд бай Джан!
I think the epitome of Uke-lish was a phrase I heard as a boy from a Ukrainian neighbour as I was fooling around on a bicycle on the road in front of his house, when he yelled, Бойсеку на байсеку ти вачуйся, бо тебе ґара гитне з беку!
Pure Uke-lish at its finest! But I digress. My intent here tonight is not give you a lecture on Ukrainian Canadian linguistics, as interesting as that subject may be, at least to me!
We are here tonight to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the UNF Branch in Edmonton. 70 years is a long time and I suspect that not many of you here tonight were there on that eventful day, and those of you that were may not remember too much of what went on! Suffice it to say that things were very different for Ukrainians then than they are today. Back then we were not generally recognized as being the charming, jovial, intelligent, hard-working, energetic, talented and invariably lovable people that we are acknowledged to be today. When I was first invited to speak at this wonderful assembly, my first thought was to carry on the great tradition of this organization at events like this and speak at great length about the history of the UNF, thereby challenging your ability to stay awake and appear interested. Although that idea had a certain appeal to me, I decided that most of you know that history well, in fact probably better than I do, and for those that dont, I am sure that one of the many long-time UNF members in this room would be more than happy to relate it to you for a reasonable bribe of a rye and ginger or two. Instead, I would like to talk a little bit today about what it has meant to be a Ukrainian in Canada since our immigrant forefathers first came here to escape the poverty and oppression of their home country to start a new life here. Above all, I would like to focus on the remarkable achievements of Ukrainians in Canada, and on the fact that we have a lot to be proud of and feel good about.
Let me begin with the first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada. Many of you will of course think of the names Vasyl Eleniak and Ivan Pylypiw who were the first recorded Ukrainian immigrants, arriving in Canada in September of 1891. However, they were not the first Ukrainian seeds to be planted in Canadian soil. The first Ukrainian immigrant to Canada was actually not even a person but a strain of spring wheat from the Ukrainian regions of Podillya and Galicia. A Canadian farmer named David Fife, who lived near Peterborough in Ontario, obtained a sample from a Danzig ship that was unloading wheat from Ukraine at Glasgow in Scotland. He found it matured ten days earlier than other types of wheat making it ideal for the short Canadian growing season. It changed the economy of Canada. By 1928 about 85% of all spring wheat planted here was Marquis, a hybrid using the hardy Ukrainian wheat, which was called Red Fife because of its color.
Starting in the last decade of the 19th century and until the First World War, the wheat was followed by the wheat growers, as tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants, primarily from Ukraines western province of Galicia, or Halychyna as it is known in Ukrainian, poured into the vast undeveloped steppes of Western Canada.
Back then it was tough being a Ukrainian. Even being recognized as a Ukrainian was a challenge people here insisted we were Bohunks, Ruthenians, Rusyns, Polaks, Russians, Little Russians, Austrians, Slavs or just plain, funny-speaking foreigners. During the First World War many of us were imprisoned in remote work camps as enemy aliens. Great pressures were put on us to assimilate, to become real Canadians. The use of the Ukrainian language was discouraged and often banned within the school system as well as in polite society.
It is no wonder that out of self-defence and in order to protect their rights and culture, Ukrainians of that day organized themselves into groups such as the Ukrainian National Federation. Many Canadians in the early part of this century, including those in the government, were, to use a politically correct term, ethnically-challenged. They looked suspiciously upon Ukrainian organizations finding conspiracies lurking behind the dancing boots of the hopak and the platters of pyrohy and cabbage rolls. Eventually they came to realize that the only conspiracies behind those pyrohy and cabbage rolls were against our waistlines. I am glad to say though, that we kept a large number of RCMP officers gainfully employed for decades, keeping an eye on our subversive activities.
Today, fortunately, Ukrainians are an accepted and respected element within the larger Canadian community. Over the past century, we have not only proven ourselves to be a major contributor to the growth, defense and success of this country, but also have kept alive the culture, the traditions and the hopes of our countrymen in Ukraine who were forced to live under a genocidal, oppressive regime whose destructive effects are unparalleled in the history of mankind. We are a tough, sturdy, loyal and freedom-loving people, we Ukrainians, and we should be damn proud of it. We can be even prouder of the fact that we are as fine an example of good Canadians as you can get.
I need turn no further than to my late father as a typical example. He landed in Canada in 1927 at the age of eighteen with no more than a few coins in his pocket. Over the next sixty plus years, he worked his buns off on the farms on the prairies, in the lumber camps of BC, in the mines of northern Quebec, and the factories of southern Ontario. When the Second World War broke out, he joined the Canadian army and fought with them across Northern Europe. After the war, he settled down to the task of raising a family, successfully raising three kids and seeing them all through to college or University. His guiding principles in life which he passed down to us, were simple and straightforward:
dont be afraid of hard work
learn as much as you can
be honest and law-abiding
be proud of your Ukrainian language, culture and heritage
be as fine a Canadian as you can be, because its the finest country in the world
and lastly, never put mix in your horilka
Those same sentiments and principles are reflected in the efforts and lives of the hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians that came to this country and left an indelible and impressive mark on the history of Canada in the Twentieth Century.
To those of you here that are not Ukrainian either in whole or in part, first let me extend to you my sincere sympathies that you were so short-changed by fate at birth. Fear not however, all of us Ukrainians here in this room, in this great city of Edmonton and throughout Canada are more than willing to help you learn and experience the joys of being Ukrainian. And for those few souls among you who may not have any particular desire to associate with us Ukrainians, let me give you fair warning we are well on the way towards becoming a dominant force in every facet of life in Canada. Repent now, for soon you may not have a choice!
In virtually every field of endeavour in Canada, you will find Ukrainian names in prominent positions. In the course of a couple of generations, we have gone from no political power or influence to the point where Ukrainians are common at every level of municipal, provincial and federal government. Most of you probably dont know it, but he current premier of Ontario, Ernie Eves for instance, is half Ukrainian. I am sure that most people here could rattle off the names of quite a few Ukrainian mayors, members of parliament, cabinet ministers, premiers, supreme court justices and even a governor general. In fact, this is taken so much for granted that we bitch and complain about them as much as we do any other politician or bureaucrat. I guess this too can be taken as a sign of progress. Our politicians can obfuscate, make boring speeches and dodge the issues with the best of them!
We can be proud of the fact that, unlike fifty or a hundred years ago, being a Ukrainian, or for that matter belonging to any minority ethnic group is no longer particularly relevant to being elected to any government post. I can remember that the first federal cabinet minister of Ukrainian origin, had to change his name from Mykhaylo Starshevsky to Michael Starr to make himself more palatable to the Canadian electorate of that time. Interestingly enough, away from the public spotlight he was as proud a Ukrainian as any of us. I can recall him once relating how on Sunday nights when he would return to Ottawa from his hometown of Oshawa, Ontario, his wife would pack him a roaster of holubtsi and pyrohy to keep him going through the week.
We should not be surprised that Ukrainians have excelled in this great land of freedom and democracy called Canada. After all, Ukrainians were one of the earliest practitioners of the democratic ideal. Some five hundred years ago, while most of the world was being ruled by assorted tyrants, warlords, monarchs, emperors and tsars, the Ukrainians set up a Kozak state whose leader, called the Hetman, was democratically elected by the whole assembled Kozak host. Hetmans were elected and deposed by a free vote. It should be noted that a deposed hetman sometimes lost not only the election, but his head in the process. This obviously provided some strong incentive for a newly elected hetman to carry out the wishes of his electors. I sometimes wish we had a similar system in our elections for Prime Ministers and Premiers here in Canada!
We have had probably even more success in the world of business. I would hazard a guess that if I asked you to name the highest paid corporate executive in Canada last year, few of you would even think of naming a Ukrainian. In fact that is the case. His name is Eugene Melnyk, and he is the CEO of BIOVAIL Corporation, one of Canadas large pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. In 2001 he took home a paycheque of close to $80 million dollars. His net worth of approximately $1.8 billion makes him the 8th richest man in Canada and according to Forbes magazine his wealth puts him in a tie with Donald Trump and Amazon.com owner Jeff Bezos.
Lets carry on! I think most of you are aware that the two biggest broadcast media organizations in Canada are Baton Broadcasting, otherwise known as CTV and the CBC, otherwise known as the peoples network. The CEO of Baton Broadcasting is a fine Ukrainian Льанцман by the name of Ivan Fecan. By the way, Baton Broadcasting is part of one of Canadas largest corporate conglomerates, Bell Global Media, of which this same Ivan Fecan is the CFO and Chief Administrative Officer. Amongst its other assets, Bell Global Media also owns a little paper by the name of The Globe and Mail, as well as Bell Sympatico, one of the largest Internet Service providers in Canada.
So what about the CBC? Fifty years ago, CBCs total Ukrainian content was a fine singer by the name of Juliet occasionally saying Добраніч Мамо at the end of her half hour variety show. You may not know this, but today the Executive Director of all programming for the CBC is another fine Ukrainian Льанцман by the name of Slawko Klymkiw. Incidently, those of you familiar with the UNFs history will know that he is the son of the late Walter Klymkiw, one of the giants in the UNF of Canadas history. I think you will agree that Canadian media is in safe hands.
The field of sports has proven to be a particularly fertile ground for Canadian Ukrainians to excel in. To take Canadas national sport of hockey as an example, in any given year from the past half-century, you could have formed a complete team from NHL-ers of Ukrainian origin that would have not only been a contender but a strong Stanley Cup favourite. From the earliest years of the NHL, Ukrainians have shown a particular ability for cracking into the top ranks of this great game. Every year, two players are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, a truly rare honour. One of the two inductees for 2002 was Bernie Federko, a name Im sure you all recognize. Last year, one of the two inductees was Dale Hawerchuk. These two players are part of a select few players in NHL history who managed to accumulate more than 1000 scoring points during their playing careers. They join many other Ukrainians who attained that same distinction, including among others, Mike Bossy, Dave Andreychuk, and Johnny Bucyk. One could build a similar list of exceptional Ukrainian goaltenders, which would include such greats as Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower and Turk Broda. Terry Sawchuk still holds the all-time career shutout record of 106, a record that may never be equaled.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that Ukrainians have also figured prominently in the ranks of what can termed special role players. I am sure many of you here remember the special contributions of that well known Oiler by the name of Dave Semenko, whose physical style of play I think was acquired from that same teacher who taught me Ukrainian school in the church basement. And of course, who can forget the incomparable Eddie Shack, whose skating was akin to doing the hopak on ice.
But hockey is not the only sport Ukrainians have excelled in.
Many of you would undoubtedly recognize the name Jerome Drayton as being one of the finest track athletes that Canada has ever produced. He won twelve International marathons, including the Boston Marathon. His Canadian marathon record set in 1975 still stands to this day. Few of you may know that his real name was Petro Buniak, and yes he was Ukrainian.
The CFL has always had a large number of Ukrainian Athletes. The Canadian Olympic team is replete with Ukrainians. The last Canadian Olympic Swim team for example boasted such names as Joanne Malar, Kelly Stefanyshyn, Michael Mintenko, and Michelle Lischinsky. The Canadian Womens Hockey Team at the Salt Lake City Olympics included forward Tammy Lee Shewchuk. and an Assistant Coach by the name of Wally Kozak.
The field of entertainment in Canada has not lacked in Ukrainian talent, whether we are talking of the Ukrainian community or the broader Canadian scene. Ukrainian born singers have spanned the generations from the Juliet of our parents, to Luba from my teenage years to todays pop star Chantal Krevaziuk. In music we cover the range from famous jazz pianist John Stech to the Toronto Symphony Orchestras distinguished concertmaster and violinist Stephen Staryk. Recently Canada has also become enriched by the addition of virtuoso violinist Vasyl Popadiuk one of the star guest performers at this weekends celebrations. On the lighter side, Luba Goy is undoubtedly the most famous comedienne in Canada.
On a more traditional note, most Ukrainians are well aware that dance ensembles such as Shumka, Cheremosh, Rusalka, Dunai and many others have achieved acclaim throughout the world and are on a par with any professional dance group even in Ukraine itself.
In the field of the arts, we can boast of such well-known artists as William Kurelek, Leo Mol and Natalka Husar. In literature we have George Ryga and Myrna Kostash, in journalism, Victor Malarek and Chrystia Freeland, in film-making Halya Kuchmij and John Paskievich.
I could easily spend hours talking about the achievements of Ukrainians in all spheres of Canadian life. The point of all this is that we have much to be proud of and much to be happy about. All too often the news in the media tends to focus on the negative or the sad and tragic side of Ukraine, its people and its history. At times it can be depressing to be Ukrainian. But let us not lose sight of all that we as Ukrainian Canadians have accomplished in the past century.
Despite the greatest obstacles, despite prejudice, bias and official government mistrust and mistreatment, despite starting at the very bottom of the Canadian socio-economic ladder, despite the fact that until recently we were the chief victim of vicious Soviet propaganda and disinformation, Ukrainians have persevered and proven to be absolutely first-class Canadians, and achievers of the highest order.
We are undoubtedly an interesting people. We may be strong, stubborn and descendant from a famous race of Cossack warriors, but at the same time, we are as sentimental and sensitive as they come. The greatest hero in our long and turbulent history is interestingly enough, not a great king or military hero, but a poet by the name of Taras Shevchenko. The macho, fighting image of the Kozak or the UPA partisan is finely balanced by the love of song, dance and sentimental poetry. Deeply entrenched religious beliefs are balanced with a lusty spirit and love of life and all its pleasures. For a thousand years, Ukrainians have had to endure a dangerous and precarious existence. It has spawned no end of tragedies, but it has correspondingly taught us to enjoy life to the fullest when we have a chance and to make the most of our opportunities no matter how great the odds against us.
As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of a great Ukrainian organization here tonight, be happy that you are here and be happy that you are Ukrainian. Above all, be proud. Being Ukrainian is indeed a blessing that has been bestowed upon us by God and by countless generations of our glorious ancestors!
Slava Ukrayini, Slava Heroyam!