In Memoriam

Professor Taras Hunczak of Chatham, New Jersey, passed away on July 1, 2024 at the age of 92. Professor Hunczak leaves an indelible impression and profound memories for so many - for those who called him husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle, friend, teacher, coach and mentor. He also leaves a record of significant personal and professional contributions to supporting Ukraine’s struggles for statehood, to the development of Ukrainian political thought, and to the popularization of Ukraine’s historic and modern treasures. Professor Hunczak’s lifestory captures many defining historic moments of the 20th and 21st centuries and epitomizes a life well lived...

It is with great sorrow and grief that the participants of the Baturyn Archaeological Project at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the Chernihiv National University and the Hetman Capital Historical and Cultural Preserve in Baturyn inform about the premature death of our dear colleague and friend, the renowned Ukrainian archaeologist Yurii Kovalenko, Ph. D. He was the head of the Department of Scholarly Research at the Hlukhiv National Preserve, Sumy Oblast. Dr. Kovalenko was the highly reputable leading specialist in the history and archaeology of the hetman capital of Hlukhiv and the medieval and early modern Siverian Land and taught the archaeology of Ukraine at the Hlukhiv National Pedagogical University...

Andrij Makuch M.A., passed away suddenly on Friday, January 18, 2019, at the age of 62. Andrij was born to the late Rev. Ivan and Kateryna Makuch in Lethbridge, Alberta, and grew up there and in Victoria. In the late 1970s he graduated with an MA in history from the University of Alberta, where he was active and was president of the Ukrainian Canadian Student' Union. Before joining the editorial staff of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine at the Toronto Office of the CIUS in 1988, he resided in Edmonton and Saskatoon and worked as a researcher for the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, a sessional lecturer in the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, and a staff member of the Saskatchewan Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee...

Verners Cinis was born October 4, 1927 in Rudbārži, Latvia and passed away peacefully on January 7, 2019 in Hamilton, Ontario, at the age of 91. In the autumn of 1944, with the approach of the Baltic Strategic Offensive Verners, his sister and stepmother left Latvia to avoid deportation to Siberia. They headed to Germany where Verners, at the age of 17, joined a division of the German army that was set to head to Latvia’s western front to help protect it from Russian advances. The division made it to Grudziadz, Poland where Verners was wounded, captured by the Russians and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Karelia where he spent four years...

With great sadness we say goodbye to Bill Sydoruk, a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, who passed away on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at the age of 91 years. Blessed with a full life of over 91 years, Bill was born in the village of Chortovets, in the Ivano Frankivsk region of western Ukraine. During the Second World War his father, Ivan, and he were taken by the Nazis as slave labourers to the Third Reich. In 1949 he immigrated to Canada from a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. Bill retired after 30 years' service from Canada Safeway (MacDonalds Consolidated). In Canada, he was an active member of St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Church, resolutely committed to the cause of Ukraine's independence...

In response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) and the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women (LUCW) have established the group “Friends of Ukraine Defence Forces” (FUDF). The purpose of the FUDF is to provide humanitarian assistance to the servicemen and women of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who are protecting the Ukrainian State from aggression...