Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies marks 20th anniversary (11/03/96)

Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies marks 20th anniversary

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

EDMONTON - In early October, the University of Alberta-based Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary, and its growing reputation as the pre-eminent Ukrainian academic body in the diaspora.

On October 5, the CIUS's contributions were noted by Ukraine's envoy to Canada and by the institution's current director, at the Ukrainian-owned Chateaux Louis Hotel and Conference Center on Edmonton's outskirts.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Volodymyr Furkalo was keynote speaker during a special luncheon in honor of the CIUS, and he brought greetings from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, by way of reading the section of the chief executive's Independence Day address directed to the Ukrainian diaspora.

The envoy commended the institution's members for being at the forefront of an effort to preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage and historical record. He said the fact that Ukraine's fifth anniversary of independence and the CIUS's jubilee year coincide is significant, because of the work of its scholars "to help my country reclaim its concealed history."

Ambassador Furkalo also thanked CIUS Director Dr. Zenon Kohut for his reply (forwarded to the Ukrainian Mission in Ottawa) to the September 9 "Tinderbox" article in Forbes magazine.

The CIUS director's own keynote address, delivered at the 20th anniversary banquet, was introduced by the University of Alberta's director of research, Dr. Ron Kratowil. The senior academic administrator said the "energy, ability and enthusiasm of those working in the institute is remarkable."

Dr. Kohut compared the institute to a human 20-year-old, "who has gone through teething, basic learning and growth, the problems of teenage years and is poised to enter adulthood, but still needs a lot of help from parents, generous relatives and trustworthy friends."

The former Woodrow Wilson scholar echoed sentiments voiced by Ambassador Furkalo, in noting that the CIUS was formed "to preserve its historical and cultural values under attack from three sources: 1) a totalitarian Soviet regime bent on suppressing Ukrainian culture; 2) an indifferent and sometimes hostile political and intellectual establishment in the West; 3) strong assimilatory pressures among second and third generation Ukrainian Canadians."

Dr. Kohut said preservation of Ukrainian identity was pursued in the belief that it was a benefit to Canada, and an outgrowth of the Canadian experience.

He traced the history of the CIUS's founding in 1976, thanks to the tirelessness of Dr. Manoly Lupul, then a professor of history of education at the University of Alberta and president of the national Ukrainian Professional and Business Federation; the stature of a trio of scholars - the late Dr. Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky, a University of Alberta history professor; Prof. George S.N. Luckyj of University of Toronto's department of Slavic languages and literatures; and Dr. Bohdan Bociurkiw, professor of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa - and the political clout of Peter Savaryn, a prominent lawyer with high standing among the province's Progressive Conservatives and the position of chancellor at the University of Alberta.

The CIUS director also mentioned the instrumental support shown for the institute by Dr. Albert Hohol, the former minister of advanced education, who used his position in the Cabinet to push through the initial $350,000 in funding that provided the nascent scholarly body with a financial base. Dr. Hohol received a four-minute standing ovation when identified by Gene Zwozdesky, an Alberta provincial legislative assembly member who acted as master of ceremonies.

Dr. Kohut graciously thanked the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies and the many donors who "made history" in making the CIUS's work possible. He added that they also made it possible to weather the cuts sustained when the Alberta government's austerity program resulted in a full one-third reduction in CIUS's operating budget.

He listed the institute's major accomplishments, including the five-volume English-language Encyclopedia of Ukraine ("the largest scholarly project undertaken by Ukrainians in the diaspora"), the establishment of a number of programs in Ukrainian studies at the University of Alberta, the development and publishing of the Nova Ukrainian language development series for bilingual (English-Ukrainian) schools, the launching of a project to translate Mykhailo Hrushevsky's monumental 10-volume "Istoria Ukrainy-Rusy" (The History of Ukraine-Rus'), and the publication of more than 100 books and 58 research reports.

Dr. Kohut said Ukraine's newly achieved independence both lifted a great burden off the CIUS scholars shoulders, and brought many new opportunities and responsibilities. Through an office in Kyiv, it began to republish works of Ukrainian scholarship, produce Ukrainian translations of Western English-language studies, award grants to Ukrainian scholars and assist institutions in Ukraine to establish strong programs in Ukrainian studies and education, and set up major cooperative ventures with leading Western academic institutions, "in order to spark a re-evaluation of Ukraine's role in Western scholarship."

To top off the banquet, the assembled citizenry sang a rousing "Mnohaya Lita" to the institute.