Вінніпеґ Український № 7 (53) (July 2019)

oncurrently, the
altruistic Roman
Catholic Archbishop,
Adélard
Langevin of St.
Boniface became
acutely aware of
the plight of early
Ukrainian settlers.
He corresponded
with Cardinal Sembratovich
(Lviw),
Count Goluchowski,
Austrian Minister of
External Affairs and The
Vatican regarding the issues
of demographics, lack of priests,
finances and schools. (Les Galiciens au
Manitoba dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest Canadien)
Memorandum of Archbishop Adélard
Langevin, May 2, 1899, St. Boniface Archives.
In further correspondence, dated July 2, 1904
directed to Emperor Franz Joseph concerning “les
sujets ruthènes de Sa Majesté apostolique” he referenced
the necessity of Catholic catechism and
schooling for the 4,000 children. “Si l’on pouvait
aussi nous envoyer des mâitres catholiques”…”il y
a plus que 4,000 enfantes Ruthènes sans écoles.”
As former subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
Langevin naively assumed finances would
flow into his mission. Unfortunately, his petitions
fell on deaf ears.
He wrote Pope Leo XIII renewing efforts to
bring Basilian Fathers to Canada to serve the
Ukrainian cause. Another example included
Belgian Catholic clergy such as Rev. A Sabourin
who served at a Missionary School in Sifton. In
Les Catholiques Ruthènes au Manitoba (Québec,
1909) Sabourin documented Langevin’s views
of the Presbyterian inroads among Ukrainians.
Public Education for
Ukrainians (Ruthenians/Galicians)
in Manitoba
The Early Years
TEACHERS – PREACHERS -
PROGENY
The Laurier-Greenway Compromise (1896)
to The Thorton Act (1916)
(PART II)
Luba Fedorkiw
He promoted the establishment of a Ukrainian seminary
with Progressive Conservative Premier Rodmond
Roblin. The Premier, established not a seminary, but
The Ruthenian Training School for Teachers, this considered
the first high school in Canada. Approximately
200 teachers graduated. Those with qualifications
from Halychyna, quickly progressed when English
was acquired. The educators met at conferences and
advanced pedagogy. Others pursued careers in politics,
law and business.
Langevin appealed directly for Metropolitan Andrij
Sheptysky to visit Canada. In 1910 after ten years of
arduous attempts, Metropolitan Andrij arrived to North
America. Both travelled the frontier visiting settlements.
Metropolitan Andrij realized the secular and other denominational
educational opportunities extended to the “Galicians”
impacting their evolving Canadian lifestyle.
Bishop Nykyta Budka arrived to Canada on December 6, 1912. He too
became aware how Ukrainians asserted themselves in the social, economic
and political spheres. The parochial school of St. Nicholas for Ukrainian children
(McGregor between Stella Ave. and Flora) was built with the assistance
of Archbishop Langevin, the public schools for the Winnipeg immigrant
children mandated instruction in English, evening classes for adults were
successful, the bilingual rural schools were fully operational, All People’s
Mission on Maple St. in Pt. Douglas, the Presbyterian Stella Mission, Bethlehem
Slavic Mission and other rural initiatives were fully rooted for support
among the immigrant population, Manitoba College and The Ruthenian
Training School met the immediate needs of higher education. The core of
urban life centered on Selkirk Ave., Point Douglas and Main Street. Drama
clubs provided artistic enrichment. Newspapers: Kanadiiskyj Farmar (1903),
Kanadiiskyj Rusyn (1911) and Ukrainskyj Holos (1910) were major publications
reflecting the current events of early immigrants. Significant were
Ranok, Presbyterian Church publication and Robochyj Narod (1909) which
focused on the socialist and radical views of the emerging socialist party.
In 1916, the provincial Liberal government of Premier Tobias C. Norris
under Section 258 of The Public Schools Act, The Thorton Act nullified
bilingual education in Manitoba. This meant that the 130 rural school districts
operating bilingual schools with approximately 114 teachers and 6,513
pupils were mandated to become unilingual English teaching facilities. The
Ruthenian Training School for Teachers was closed. The direct method of
teaching English to immigrants in public Winnipeg schools under William
James Sisler became the new standard in rural Manitoba.
Bilingual teachers attended summer
school professional training sessions at
Strathcona School where they observed,
practised and developed new educational
strategies. By 1920, over 200 bilingual
educators completed this training and
William J. Sisler’s curriculum and materials
assisted with the new educational
direction.
World War I (1914-18) precipitated antagonism
and consequences for countless
Ukrainians with Austro-Hungarian
passports. Groundlessly, many were
identified as disloyal or enemy aliens.
Under the War Measures Act, Ukrainian
newspapers were required to print
parallel translation in English (bilingual)
and suspected radical publications
were banned. This sudden dynamic advanced
alternate measures: vigilance
in association, integration/assimilation
through name changes to avoid targeting
or discrimination, structuring new
supplemental vehicles for linguistic and
cultural integrity through ridni shkoly*,
youth groups, choirs, dance ensembles,
chytalyni, the Sheptyckyj “bursa (hostel)
in St. Boniface for rural students (1917-
20) and many more.
In Iwasko and Kazymyra’s Jubilee Book
of Ukrainian Catholics in Saskatchewan,
pp.135-6, noted: “after his fifteen-year
tenure in Canada (1912-27), Bishop
Nykyta Budka left behind fourty-seven
clergy, two hundred and ninety-nine parishes
and missions, twenty six evening
schools*, five parochial schools and five
orphanages. During his tenure in Canada,
he became well acquainted with local
politicians, educators and business people.
He witnessed both the achievements
and failures of his people, issues related
to public education, disenfranchisement
Sources:
Bilash, Borislaw N. Bilingual Public Schools in Manitoba 1897-1916. Winnipeg: Ukrainian
Education Services, 1960,1970
Bodrug, John, Independent Orthodox Church: Memoirs Pertaining to the History of a
Ukrainian Church in the Years 1903-1913 (Toronto: Ukrainian Research Foundation, 1982)
Czumer, Wm. A., Recollections About the Life of the First Ukrainian Settlers in Canada,
(Edmonton: CIUS,1981)
Gregor,Alexander and Wilson Keith, The Development of Education in Manitoba,
(Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1984)
Lehr,John, C. and Brian McGregor, The Geography of Bilingual Schools in Manitoba:
Manitoba History 61 (Fall 2009)
Maciejko, Bill, “Ukrainian and Prairie School Reform,1896-1921” Canadian Ethnic Studies 22 no. 2 (1990)
Martynowych,O.T. Ukrainians in Canada: The Formative Period, 1891-1924 (Edmonton:
CIUS Press,1991)
Rozumnyj,Jaroslav: New Soil-Old Roots: The Ukrainian Experience in Canada (Winnipeg:
Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Canada, 1983)
Shack,Sybil, “The Education of Immigrant Children During the First Two Decades of This
Century,” Transactions of the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, Series III (1973-
74). Stataues of Manitoba
Yuzyk, Paul, The Ukrainians in Manitoba: A Social History (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1953) (Multiple original and secondary sources through Public Archive Library and
University of Manitoba Library)
under the War Measures Act and internment
operations.
In May, 1919, just 23 days prior to The Winnipeg
Strike, The Manitoba Teacher Federation
was established. It recorded 650 paid
teacher members in Manitoba. The original
rolls (archived) were destroyed by the Winnipeg
Flood of 1950. Indeed, it would have
been interesting to review the Ukrainian surnames.
In M.T.F. Bulletin, October, 1923 issue
headed The New Canadian Problem by Alfred
White, he noted that 17% of Manitoba’s population
was Ruthenians. He focused on the
resistance of trustees of rural districts to engage
English speaking teachers, perpetuating
support for their own language and culture
and the weakened position of the provincial
government to handle such a situation.
Clearly, education for their children was of
prime importance to early Ukrainian immigrants.
They viewed it as a means to success.
The bilingual system met the immediate
need in rural Manitoba where children
were taught in their maternal language, no
different from the French or Mennonites.
Whether secular or denominational, objective
reflection upon the choices made in the
formative years, framed by the political and
social circumstances of that time, definitely
allowed the teachers, preachers and progeny
to be the recipients of the advantages of The
Laurier-Greenway Compromise and scaffold
forward the yet unknown concept of Canadian
multiculturalism. Czumer, W.A. said it
well: “just as the work of our pioneers on
the farm was not wasted, so also the work of
those first Ukrainian-English teachers. It has
been crowned with great success.”
Parallel with rural bilingual opportunities,
unilingual education for immigrant children
in urban Winnipeg public schools carved its
own niche. Both met their developmental
purpose - to educate productive minds. УВ
30 Український Вінніпеґ - ЛИПЕНЬ 2019 -
- JULY 2019 - UKRAINIAN WINNIPEG 31