Yuzyk, Paul, 1913-1986 : Paul Yuzyk was born on June 24, 1913 in Pinto (near Estevan), Saskatchewan of pioneer Ukrainian parents. He was an excellent pupil in public and high school, receiving 100% on the final exam in Grade 11 mathematics and physics. After attending the Saskatoon Normal School (Teacher's Training College) from 1932-1933 where he graduated with distinction, he taught public and high school from 1933-1942 in the rural district of Hafford, Saskatchewan. In 1942 he enlisted in the Canadian Army where, as a Non-Commissioned Officer, he trained officers until discharged in 1943 to return to university to complete a B.A. degree.
At the University of Saskatchewan he completed a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics in 1945, a B.A. Honours in History in 1947 and a M.A. in History in 1948. He was then offered a fellowship from the Manitoba historical Society to write a history of the Ukrainians in Manitoba. This work was published in 1953 as The Ukrainians in Manitoba: A Social History. In 1949 he entered a Ph.D. program in history at the University of Minnesota completing his course work in 1951 and his Ph.D. thesis in 1958.
Yuzyk's academic career began in 1951 with an appointment to the University of Manitoba as Assistant Professor of Slavic Studies and History. In 1958 he was elevated to Associate Professor of History and Slavic Studies. During his tenure at the University of Manitoba he co-authored The Ukrainian Reader with Honore Ewach which was used as a text in public and high schools in the prairie provinces. He also served on the Manitoba Historical Society as Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President and President 1952-1963; Editor of the Society's annual transactions of historical articles 1953-1958; Co-editor on the Editorial Board of Manitoba Pageant, quarterly historical magazine 1956-1963; and Chairman of Ethnic Group Studies sponsoring several histories of Manitoba's ethnocultural groups.
Yuzyk continued to teach after his appointment to the Senate (1963) as full professor on a part-time basis at the University of Ottawa from 1966-1978. There he taught courses on Central and Eastern Europe, Russian and Soviet History and Canadian-Soviet Relations. He became Director of a seven year major research project culminating in the publication of a large 840 page volume, A Statistical Compendium on the Ukrainians in Canada 1891-1976 of which he was an editor.
Alongside his academic pursuits Yuzyk played an active role in numerous community organizations. To highlight a few, he was founder and first President of the Ukrainian National Youth Federation 1934-1936 and editor of its monthly magazine Holos Molodi (Youth Speaks) 1948-1949; a founder of the Ukrainian National Youth Federation 1934-1936 and editor of its monthly magazine Holos Molodi (Youth Speaks) 1948-1949; a founder of the Ukrainian Canadian University Student's Union 1953; national Treasurer of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee 1952-1955; founder and first Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Association of Slavists 1954-1956; founder and first President of the Progressive Conservative Club of Ukrainian Canadians 1958. He also served as a member of the Y.W.C.A. Advisory Committee on Adult Education 1958-1963 and a member of the General Curriculum Committee, Dept. of Education, Government of Manitoba 1958-1959.
His profile in Manitoba as historian and community leader earned Yuzyk an appointment to the Senate on February 4, 1963 by the Right Hon. John Diefenbaker whom he had known since 1935. Yuzyk's activities in the Senate were primarily in the areas of multiculturalism, human rights, external affairs and national defence. For his role in shaping the policy of multiculturalism he has been called the father of multiculturalism.
He was also active in a variety of parliamentary committees as well as parliamentary delegations, particularly delegations to the United Nations, the North Atlantic Assembly (N.A.T.O.) and the Review Conferences of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (C.S.C.E.) in Belgrade, Madrid and Ottawa. As Rapporteur of the Subcommittee of the Free Flow of Information and People, 1977-1981, he was responsible for reports on the implementation of human rights on an international level and was editor of the Bulletin, published by North Atlantic Assembly.
In the Senate he was closely associated with cultural and human rights organizations particularly the following: Canadian Council of Christians and Juews, Director since 1963; Acting Chairman, Canadian Parliamentary Amnesty International Group since 1974; Chairman, Human Rights Commission, World Congress of Free Ukrainians since 1967; Chairman, Canadian Folk Arts Council 1975-1980, President since 1980. He organized a number of successful cultural events on Parliament Hill such as Baltic Evening, an annual event since 1972, Ukrainian Evening in 1971 and 1981 and the Nintieth Anniversary of Ukrainian Settlement in Canada.
His publications include The Ukrainian Canadians: Their Place and Role in Canadian Life, published in English, French and Ukrainian in 1967, For A Better Canada, a compilation of Yuzyk's speeches in the Senate, published in 1973 and The Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada, 1918-1951 published in 1981. He was a member of the editorial boards of 18 investigative Senate reports published by the Queen's Printer since 1970 and has numerous articles published in magazines and newspapers.
Honours and medals awarded to Yuzyk include Keys to the Cities of Detroit, Buffalo and Rochester U.S.A., the Shevchenko Gold Medal, Knight-Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great and the Grand Cross of Knights of Malta.
Paul Yuzyk died in 1986.
