Ukrainians achieve major victories in Winnipeg's municipal elections

WINNIPEG - Ukrainian Canadians won major victories in municipal election in Winnipeg, a city of some 650,000 with one of the highest concentrations of Ukrainians in Canada.

The newly elected mayor of Winnipeg, Glen Murray, in his acceptance speech acknowledged his Ukrainian roots by stating that his "grandmother had come to Canada from Ukraine and that he grew up in the Ukrainian community of Montreal." (His grandmother's surname was Lazurik.)

Mr. Murray, a two-term city councilor, won in his first attempt at mayor. His openness about his sexual orientation was a minor issue during the campaign but was a cause célèbre across Canada in the newspapers that acknowledged him as Canada's first gay mayor of a major city.

Of the four Ukrainian Canadian candidates running in the 15 councilor wards, two were victorious: John Prystanski in Point Douglas and Harry Lazarenko in Mynarski. Both wards are in North Winnipeg.

Of the 29 Ukrainian Canadians running for 65 school trustee positions in the eight school divisions in Winnipeg, 11 were successful. These include: Winnipeg School Division No. 1: Dr. Roman Yereniuk and Mike Babynski; St. James No. 2: Dennis Wishanski and Jan Paseska; Assiniboine South No. 3: Wendy Moroz and Gerry Melnyk; River East No. 9: Peter Kotyk and Brian Olynik; Seven Oaks No. 10: Ben Hanuschak and Richard Sawka; and Transcona No. 12: Jamie Boychuk.

Two long-serving prominent trustees lost their positions in this election: Helen Mayba (River East No. 9) and Luba Fedorkiw (Winnipeg No. 1).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 22, 1998, No. 47, Vol. LXVI

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