Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk, former president of Ukrainian World Congress, dies at 75

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

TORONTO - Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk, former president of the Ukrainian World Congress and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, an internationally respected psychiatrist, and a multicultural activist, died on March 9 at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon, after a sudden illness. He was 75.

Born on April 15, 1927, in Brooksby, Saskatchewan, to Ukrainian Canadian homesteaders, he dropped out of school prior to completing his secondary education in order to help on the family farm. He resumed his studies in Winnipeg at the already advanced age of 23, attending the high school then run by St. Andrew's College, earning his diploma in 1952.

He returned to his native province to begin his university education under the mentorship of the philologist and lexicographer Prof. Constantine Andrusyshen, and received a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1955.

He then studied psychology at the country's most prestigious school in the discipline, Montreal's McGill University, graduating with an M.S. in 1957. That fall, he was engaged as a clinical psychologist by the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford, and took on duties as a research psychologist at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. In 1960 he enrolled in the University of Saskatchewan college of medicine, earning his M.D. in 1963.

The following year Dr. Cipywnyk established a general medical practice in partnership with the renowned physician Dr. A. W. Hindmarsh, began serving as a lecturer at the university (teaching psychological interviewing techniques), and joined the staff of St. Paul's and Saskatoon City hospitals.

In 1968 he accepted a fellowship in social and community psychiatry at the prestigious Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Bronx State Hospital in New York City, completing a residency in psychiatry in 1971. Upon his return to Saskatoon that year he was given a tenure-track position in the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan, where he taught and conducted research until his retirement as clinical professor of psychiatry in 1992. He also served on the university's Senate in 1983-1986.

A member of the Canadian Medical Association, the Saskatchewan Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association throughout his years as a professional, he served as the SPA's secretary in 1974-1977 and vice-president in 1988-1990. He also belonged to the United Kingdom's Royal Medico-Psychological Association and the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America.

Over the course of his career Dr. Cipywnyk devised groundbreaking treatments for those afflicted with substance dependencies, and wrote over 20 articles on subjects such as alcohol and drug addiction, depressive disorders and suicide. He was the chief training officer (1975-1977), director of rehabilitation (1977-1983), then medical director (1983-1992) of the Saskatchewan Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. He chaired or co-chaired several SADAC committees and represented it on the Saskatchewan Forensic Task Force.

Dr. Cipywnyk also served as regional director of the Canadian Addictions Foundation (1977-1981), was a member of several federal-provincial governmental working groups on health matters (one of which involved preparing a report to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs), as well as of an advisory committee to the Canadian Society for International Health (1993-1997). In 1999-2001 Dr. Cipywnyk chaired a public advisory group that coordinated national consultations on xenotransplantation (the use of live, non-human cells, tissues and organs in humans).

He was among the lead expert authors of "A Guide to End-of-Life Care for Seniors," prepared under the auspices of Health Canada, the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Nursing, published in 1999. From 1999 he was active in the federal government's "Generations CanConnect" initiative that linked seniors and youths in communities across the country. In 2000 he was invited to sit on the national steering committee of the Canadian Home Care Resources Study.

From the late 1970s, Dr. Cipywnyk was among the highest ranked representatives of the Ukrainian community. He served the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada as director for Saskatchewan in 1975-1985, and as president of the Saskatoon branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Club in 1979-1980.

In 1981 he was elected president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Sas-katchewan Provincial Council, serving two consecutive terms. He is credited with establishing it as a professionally functioning body both representative of its community and responsive to its needs through the conduct of research and outreach programs. Beginning in 1982 he began a decade of service on the UCC Prairie Regional Community Development Committee.

During his two terms as national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (1986-1989, 1989-1992), Dr. Cipywnyk presided over celebrations of the Millen-nium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine (1988), the Centennial of Ukrainian Settlement in Canada (1991-1992) and Ukraine's independence (1991).

The executives he headed also contended with less salutary matters, such as the federal government's ongoing refusal to offer an apology and restitution for the internment of Ukrainian Canadians in 1914-1920, its intransigence regarding current Ukrainian immigration to Canada, and a split in the community's response to the formation of the Deschenes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada.

In his capacity as UCC national president, Dr. Cipywnyk was an active member of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, the country's de facto "parliament of minorities," and was elected president in 1992. During his term (until 1996) he was forced to manage the effects of the federal government's retrenchment of Canada's multicultural policy, in which the portfolio was downgraded from a ministry to a state secretariat, and federal funding for all ethnocultural bodies was drastically slashed.

In November 1993 Dr. Cipywnyk was elected president of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) for a five-year term, during which he shepherded the diaspora umbrella body through the most important transition in its history - as the euphoria over Ukraine's newfound independence gave way to the need for a pragmatic assessment of its own identity and interests, separate from those of the fledgling state.

Aided by the austerity measures of UWC Chief Financial Officer William Sametz, Dr. Cipywnyk also rescued the umbrella body from its direst financial crisis, precipitated by the previous UWC administration's spendthrift ways, staving off a threat to its credibility in the community.

In 1999 he became the founding chairman of the Saskatchewan provincial government's Saskatchewan-Ukraine Advisory Committee, and in November 2000 he presented the annual Mohyla Lecture at Saskatchewan University's Thomas More College in this capacity. In 1999 he also became the co-chairman of the Prairie Center for Ukrainian Heritage.

In November 1999 Dr. Cipywnyk presented an intervention at the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission's public hearings on third-language and ethnic broadcasting, calling for assurances that principles entrenched in Canada's Multiculturalism Act would be respected by all broadcasters.

He was also a member of various civic and human rights organizations, including the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews (serving as a national board member in 1987-1991) and Amnesty International.

Among Dr. Cipywnyk's numerous awards and citations was his appointment as member of the Order of Canada (1992), the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada (1992), the UCC Centennial Bronze Medal for Community Service (1992), the UCC's Shevchenko Medal (1995), an honorary doctorate in canon law from St. Andrew's College (1995), Special Presidential Recognition for contributions to the development of independent Ukraine (1997), the International Association of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs Golden Trident Prize (1997), and the UCC-SPC's Nation Builder Award (1998).

On December 13, 2002, Dr. Cipywnyk received Ukraine's Order of Merit, the highest honor that can be accorded to a non-citizen, which was conferred on him by Ambassador to Canada Yuri Shcherbak.

Funeral services for Dr. Cipywnyk were conducted on March 15 at All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Saskatoon, followed by interment at the Woodlawn Orthodox Cemetery.

Dr. Cipywnyk is survived by his brother, Bohdan, with his family; his sisters, Dorothy Cherewick, Matilda Allison and Iris Feist; his wife, Maura Gillis-Cipywnyk; his first wife, Sonia (née Stratychuk) Cipywnyk-Morris; his son, Paul, with his wife, Yumi; his daughter, Raissa, with her husband, Bill Choi; his grandchildren, Raya and Benjamin; and other family members. Memorial donations may be made to the UCC's Shevchenko Foundation in Winnipeg, the Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon, or the Royal University Hospital Foundation in Saskatoon.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 23, 2003, No. 12, Vol. LXXI

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