Andrij Makuch,

Research Co-ordinator,

Ukrainian Canadian Programme,

CIUS

(Edmonton) A recent gathering at the University of Alberta looked at the topic of “Ukrainians in Canada from the Great War to the Cold War.” Entitled “A Rock and a Hard Place,” the conference brought together Ukrainian Canadian specialists and enthusiasts from April 11-13 to hear presentations on matters ranging from a history of the hemp seed oil press in east central Alberta to a treatment of the Vasile Avramenko dance repertoire within the “paradigm of national art.”

The conference was organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Programme (UCP) of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Financial support was provided by the University of Alberta and the Taras Shevchenko Foundation. The April date was chosen by the conference organizers so that it would coincide with the CIUS 25th Anniversary banquet and, thus, highlight the Institute’s pivotal role in the development of Ukrainian-Canadian studies over the last quarter-century.

The event was the largest gathering of its type since the Cross-Stitching the Borders conference, which was held in late November 1998 in Toronto. As such, it was a rare opportunity for people in the field to gather en masse in one place. Conference participants were quite pleased with the quality of the papers overall, and they were keen to see another academic conference on a Ukrainian Canadian theme organized in the foreseeable future.

The conference also provided an opportunity for representatives of the CIUS-UCP, the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, the Canadian Centre for Ukrainian Culture and Ethnology (CCUCE) at the University of Alberta, the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage in Saskatoon, the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, and the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies to get together before the conference to look at ways in which to best co-operate in the development of Ukrainian Canadian studies.

The information-sharing and networking session was productive, and several modest, but wholly realizable initiatives, were agreed upon.

The conference officially opened on Thursday with a wine and cheese reception at the universitys Faculty Club. The conviviality of the evening was enhanced with the Edmonton launch of two recent works on Ukrainian Canadian themes: Sonia Mycaks Canuke Literature: Critical Essays on Canadian Ukrainian Writing and Bohdan Kordans Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939-45: A Study of Statecraft.

The academic portion of the conference ran from Friday morning to late Saturday afternoon with presenters speaking on a variety of topics. The Friday sessions were supplemented with a special presentation by former agrologists Joe Gurba and Roman Fodchuk which featured a sampling from the latters extensive slide collection of Ukrainian Alberta in the 1950s and 1960s.

Friday evening was dedicated to laughter and satire, as Edmontons Ukrainian National Federation Hall Lovers of Literature and Drama Club put on a special performance which included selections from the Ukrainian Canadian theatre repertoire of the 1920s and 1930s. Conference participants and Edmontonians at large had the rare opportunity to see Vuiko Shtif and other characters return to the stage for the first time in decades.

The final session of the conference was a panel discussion (involving Andrij Makuch, Orest Martynowych, Myron Momryk, and Andriy Nahachewsky) focusing on research done on Ukrainian Canadian life in the interwar era and possible directions for future endeavors in this area. The session was chaired by former CIUS director, Prof Manoly Lupul, who used the occasion to underscore the importance of the Canadian dimension of the CIUSs activity. One of the main points raised in discussion was the need for more social history research on Ukrainians in Canada, and the suggestion was made that the UCP consider Budni i Sviata (Weekdays and Holidays) as a theme for another conference.

On Saturday evening most of the conference participants joined the Edmonton hromada in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the CIUS at a banquet held at the universitys Faculty Club. Among the highlights of the evening were appreciations for several key figures in the Institutes development Bohdan Bociurkiw, Laurence Decore, George S N Luckyj, and Ivan L Rudnytsky and recognitions of the central role in the Institutes establishment and development played by Peter Savaryn and Manoly Lupul.