Ukrainian independence sparks genealogical interest in Canada (09/01/96)

Ukrainian independence sparks genealogical interest in Canada

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Prior to Ukraine's 1991 declaration of independence, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress' Winnipeg headquarters received "perhaps one or two phone calls" from people interested in Ukraine, said UCC Executive Director Lydia Jaworsky.

"In the last five years, we have, at times, been inundated with people either telephoning or visiting us trying to find out a bit more of their Ukrainian heritage or trying to track down their family connection to Ukraine," she said. "There was no question older people always maintained their connection with the old country. But now, I'm seeing a lot more younger people trying to find out where they come from."

In fact, the interest in genealogy within the local Ukrainian Canadian community is de rigueur. One of the busiest sections at the Kyiv Pavilion at this year's Winnipeg multicultural festival, Folk-lorama, was a room devoted to helping people plant their Ukrainian family trees - sponsored by the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center, Oseredok.

In fact, Oseredok's director of archives, Zenon Hluszok, has personally been flooded with a couple of hundred inquiries in the last five years from Ukrainian Canadians (real and aspirants) interested in finding out where they come from. "When there's a lot of attention on Ukraine in the mass media, that's when the phone starts to ring," said Mr. Hluszok.

Although Oseredok does not actually trace someone's ancestral tree, Mr. Hluszok's archival section will help them locate a family village on a Ukrainian map. Often, the 17-year-veteran Oseredok archivist will help them embark on their personal genealogical journey. "I always tell them you need patience and need to be a good detective," he said.

Mr. Hluszok advises family-tree growers to begin by documenting all biographical details of the most recent generation and then work backward. "The first hurdle to overcome is ensure that you know as much information as possible about your family connection in Canada."

Tracing one's roots back to Ukraine then becomes a bit trickier. Knowing the name of an emigrant relative's birthplace is one thing; knowing when they arrived in Canada is another, since Canada's national and provincial archives have records of all immigrant arrivals. Often, they include details about the emigre's family.

However, finding that information requires sound detective skills. "There were three ports of entry into Canada," said Mr. Hluszok. "Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal. You can trace the ship records from one of those cities by the year, but some years had as many as 800,000 people arriving in Canada."

But while Ukraine's five-year-old independence has prompted many Ukrainian Canadians to identify their origins and keep archivists like Mr. Hluszok frantically busy, the now country-to-country connection between Canada and Ukraine has also produced a down side. Twice in the last five years, Mr. Hluszok said people were hoodwinked into sending their personal Ukrainian Canadian archival collection to a contact person in their ancestral villages.

"In both cases, someone from Ukraine contacted these people in Canada and requested that they donate their books or whatever to a museum that was about to be opened in their mother village in Ukraine," he said. "While playing on emotional heartstrings, the person at the Ukrainian end also asked for money to support the project. But, in both instances, after the individuals on the Canadian side sent their collection and their money, they lost contact with their Ukrainian counterpart, as well as their money and their collections."

With a country still struggling through economic growing pains, Mr. Hluszok is not entirely surprised that con artists in Ukraine would resort to such ingenuous archival scams.

Then again, the ploys may also be part of the negative by-products that come with nationhood. "Sure, you have bogus artists at work in Ukraine," said Mr. Hluszok. "But you also have them in Canada and the United States."