Canadian professionals/businesspersons honor Romanow (12/14/03)

Canadian professionals/businesspersons honor Romanow

by Roman Nazarewycz

TORONTO - Roy Romanow, former premier of Saskatchewan, received the Fifth President's Award from the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association (UCPBA) of Toronto on November 5.

Previous recipients are Gerald Fedchun, past CEO of ITT Canada; Businessman Edward Topornicki, President of the Topper Group of companies; James Temerty, CEO of Northland Power; and Ihor Walter Bardyn, Councillor of St. Paul University. The President's Award, titled "The Sower," is awarded by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto to individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canada.

"The Sower" was designed by Oleh Lesiuk, a graduate of the Lviv Academy of Art and produced by Myroslav Trutiak of MST Bronze Ltd. of Toronto.

Mr. Romanow, a former premier of Saskatchewan and chairman of the Royal Commission on Medicare, was a member of the group dubbed by the media as the "Tuque and Uke Show," which resolved the impasse over the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain. The "Tuque and Uke Show" group was composed of Mr. Romanow, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Justice Roy McMurtry.

The president of the Toronto UCPBA, Roman Nazarewycz, presented the award to Mr. Romanow and paid tribute to Mr. Romanow's roots in Saskatchewan and his continuous association with the Ukrainian Canadian community in Saskatoon.

Mr. Bardyn, past president of the Toronto association and a previous recipient of the President's Award spoke about the history of the President's Award, and several of the recipients. He said in part: "I would like to take a slightly different approach in paying tribute to our guest of honor, and to pay tribute to the place from which the speaker has come."

"Over the years, I have heard from Albertans that the early Ukrainian settlers who were dumped in the Winnipeg rail yards, at the turn of the previous century, and made their way in a wide, more or less diagonal, line across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and into Alberta, state that some of the best of these settlers made their way into Alberta and this is where the strength of the community lies. And maybe there is some truth to this conclusion.

"But there is a more compelling body of information that attests to the fact that the group of Ukrainian settlers who stopped at the half way point, in Saskatchewan, created a community from which individuals such as Justice Walter Tarnopolsky; former Timothy Eaton Memorial Church Pastor Stanford Lucyk; Justice Kenneth Lysyk of the Supreme Court of British Columbia; Chief Justice Edward Bayda of the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan; Sen. Paul Yuzyk; activist Bohdan Panchuk; Lt. Gov. Sylvia Fedoruk; Lt. Gov. Stephan Worobec; Supreme Court Justice John Sopinka; Timofiy Pavlechenko; Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn; John Stechishin; Savelia Stechishin; Mary Tkachuk; Konstantyn Andrusyshyn; Brig. Gen. Joseph Romanow; Jazz Pianist, John Stech; Sen. Raynell Andreychuk; Dmytro Cipywnyk; Leon Kossar of Toronto's Caravan fame; Volodymyr Kossar; our own Wasyl Kereliuk; and tonight's chair, Christine Cherneskey; and, of course, our honored guest, Roy Romanow, claim their roots. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of a number of very articulate, thoughtful and pleasant people who have come from the heartland of the Ukrainian community in Canada from Saskatchewan."

Mr. Bardyn's remarks received a standing ovation in tribute not only to the guest of honor but to the long list of outstanding Canadians of Ukrainian heritage who have made a lasting and permanent contribution to Canada.

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