Being Ukrainian-Canadian in 2022

FREE
Zoom program. RSVP Required.

ROM Connects
Being Ukrainian-Canadian in 2022
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm EDT

Discover the complex history of Ukrainian-Canadians in Canada – identity, cultural heritage, trauma, and resilience – from the perspectives of three diverse emigration experiences. In this digital conversation, Denys Volkov, Olenka Bilash, and Alexandra Chyczij join moderator Myroslav Shkandrij for an intimate exploration of their personal connections to both Ukraine and Canada, reflecting on their experiences this past year and how their family heirlooms provide a tangible connection to a shared heritage.

Speakers:
Denys Volkov

Denys Volkov works as Executive Director for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. He impacts rural and urban communities alike by raising awareness of democracy, and the importance of free and fair elections domestically and abroad. Previously Denys was employed in the Mayor’s Office at The City of Winnipeg. He is currently volunteering as a Regional Reviewer of Canada’s Volunteer  Awards and a board member at “Oseredok” Cultural and Education Centre. He recently finished his six-year term on the board of directors of Folklorama, which is the largest multicultural festival of its kind in the world. Denys served as Director of Communications & Election Observer during Canada’s Elections Observation Missions to Ukraine in 2014 and 2019.  In Winnipeg, he helped to produce a documentary on the Holodomor, the man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932-33 which was presented to the former President of Ukraine and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. His highest academic achievement is a joint Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Universities of Manitoba and Winnipeg. Denys previously lived in The United Kingdom and Ukraine.

Olenka Bilash

Dr Olenka Bilash is a descendant of the early pioneer settlers who left the Austro-Hungarian empire, now Western Ukraine, in 1896 and immigrated under the Canadian Land grants to cultivate homesteads and populate Western Canada. 

Although she was aware of her Ukrainian heritage there had never been a place for it in school until the announcement of the policy of multiculturalism in 1971.

While studying at the University of Winnipeg she discovered a national Ukrainian student club and went on to learn Ukrainian, a language she has passed on to her children and grandchildren.

She currently serves as a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta and as the acting Director of the Ukrainian Language Education Centre at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.

Alexandra Chyczij

Since 2018 Alexandra Chyczij has served as the President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the umbrella organization uniting and advocating on behalf of Canada’s 1.4 million Ukrainian Canadians.

Alexandra is a lawyer by profession and for over 25 years has led prominent legal associations like The Advocates’ Society and the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Alexandra has been the Ukrainian community’s leading voice in shaping the diaspora’s and Canada’s response to the war, advocating for the need to assist Ukraine.   In March 2022 Alexandra was recognized among the Top 40 Canadian Foreign Policy Influencers.

Myroslav Shkandrij

Myroslav Shkandrij is professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, where he taught Slavic studies until 2019, and is presently a visiting professor at Columbia University, New York. He has published on the cultural renaissance of the 1920s in Ukraine, Russian imperial discourse and the Ukrainian counter-narrative, the avant-garde of 1910-1930, Jews in Ukrainian literature, and Ukrainian nationalism in the years 1929-1956. His recently published Revolutionary Ukraine 1917-2017: Flashpoints in History and Contemporary Memory Wars (2020) examines revolutionary upheavals in Ukraine over the past hundred years.

This Zoom program will feature a 20-minute conversation with the speakers, followed by a live audience Q&A. Questions may be sent in advance to programs@rom.on.ca.

Please indicate the "ROM Connects October 26, 2022, Q&A" in the subject line.

All registrants will be emailed a link to access the program 24 to 48 hours in advance.

ROM Connects is generously supported by The Schmidt Family. 

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