Digital Literacy: Exploring Russian and Ukrainian History in Canada

Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies is Established

The “Father of Multiculturalism” is Appointed to the Senate

4 February 1963

July 1976

Paul Yuzyk was born in Pinto, Saskatchewan. His parents had immigrated from Ukraine. Yuzyk became a teacher, then a University of Manitoba professor of History and Slavic Studies. He wrote books on Ukrainian Canadian history and culture. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed Yuzyk to the Senate . Yuzyk later rejected Lester B. Pearson’s concept of bilingualism and biculturalism and successfully introduced the idea of a multicultural country. The “father of multiculturalism” played a central role in making Canada the first country in the world to adopt a multiculturalism policy, in 1971.

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) was established in July 1976 at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts. It gathers, preserves and disseminates scholarship regarding Ukraine and Ukrainians in Canada and around the world. It has offices in Edmonton, Toronto and Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1976, the CIUS Press has published books on Ukrainian history and Ukrainians in Canada. The CIUS also publishes the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine , which began in 2001.

First Ukrainian Canadian Woman Appointed to Senate

27 September 1979

Martha Palamarek Bielish (born 20 October 1915; died 18 May 2010) of Smoky Lake, Alberta , became the first woman of Ukrainian background to be appointed to the Senate. A former farmer and school trustee and an advocate for women’s rights, Palamarek Bielish was also the first female senator from Alberta. She was appointed 50 years after the Famous Five from that province won the right for women to be recognized as “persons.” ( See Persons Case.)

1942 Federation of Russian Canadians Established Like many immigrant communities in Canada, Russian immigrants founded associations across Canada to provide communal support networks. Left-leaning Russian farmer-worker clubs were popular in Canada in the 1930s. These clubs drew the suspicion of the Canadian government, which eventually ordered them closed. After the Soviet Union joined the Allies to fight Hitler, the Federation of Russian Canadians reappeared in 1942. At its height, the group had its own national newspaper, 15 branches across the country and over 4,000 members.

5 September 1945

Igor Gouzenko Defects to canada Igor Gouzenko was a Russian intelligence officer working at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa. He knew that the Soviet embassy spied on its allies — including Canada. Choosing to defect to Canada, he stole documents from the embassy. The evidence he provided proved the existence of a spy ring among Canadian communists. The Canadian government eventually took him in and moved him and his family to Camp X, a top-secret spy training school near Whitby, Ontario. Some claim Gouzenko’s defection marks the beginning of the Cold War.