Dmytro Kupiak (November 06, 1918, Yabloniwka village, Lviv Region, Halychyna - June 13, 1995, Toronto, Canada) was born in a family of Yuriy and Anna (nee Zdrazhil’).
In 1943, Kupiak graduated from the Institute for Trade in Lviv. In 1943-1945, he was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He immigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1953, he got Canadian citizenship. The same year, 1953, Kupiak married Stefania Khorkava. In 1955, he and his family moved to Toronto, Ontario. In 1972, he ran for the election as a member of the Conservative Party. At that time, he was charged by the Soviet Union with committing war crimes.
Kupiak was a member of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club, the Canadian Legion, the Knights of Columbus - Sheptytsky Council, the businessmen’s association “Queens-Tavern” and many others. He was the owner of the “Mayfair Inn” and a tavern in Toronto.
Sources:
“Купяк Дмитро.” Марунчак, Михайло. Біографічний довідник до історії українців Канади. Вінніпеґ: Українська Вільна Академія Наук в Канаді, 1986, p. 362-363.
Oleh Wolodymyr Iwanusiw was born on July 28, 1935, in Watsewychi (today - Zaluzhany) in Halychyna, Western Ukraine. Before coming to Canada, Oleh lived in Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Germany.
He came to Canada with his parents and sisters in June 1948 and lived in Picture Butte, Lethbridge, Edmonton, and Toronto. In 1957 he completed his education by obtaining a BSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and afterwards moved to Toronto, where he secured a position as an instrumentation engineer at the Ontario Hydro W.P. Dobson Research Laboratory. He continued working at the research laboratory until December 1978.
In 1972, Oleh formed a partnership under the name of Olman Instruments that designed and produced test equipment for the power industry. In January 1979, Oleh joined Olman Instruments as the president.
In June 1994, AVO International closed the manufacturing facility in Toronto. Thus Oleh, together with 65 other employees lost their jobs.
In 1995, Oleh started a consulting business that took him primarily to India and Ukraine but also involved other countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia, Egypt, New Zealand, and the USA. Oleh was the president of the Foundation of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. The foundation collected funds from the public and used these funds to fund research and publication of works dealing with Ukrainian culture, history, and education.
Bozhena Wertyporoch-lwanusiw was born on April 4, 1939, in Warszawa, Poland.
Before coming to Canada in the fall of 1948, Bozhena lived in Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Germany. Bozhena has been an active member of the Ukrainian Youth Association “PLAST” (Scouts) and continues to be a member in various leadership positions. She is the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services (UCSS) and the head of the “Buy a Bowl of Soup” Committee. In this role, she has been actively involved with overseeing and operating soup kitchens and food banks for the needy in Ukraine. A long-time and active member of the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada (UCWLC). In addition to receiving the Queen Diamond Jubilee, Ms. Iwanusiw was awarded the prestigious St. Volodymyr Medal by the Ukrainian World Congress in 2008 for her continued contribution and dedication to the development of the Ukrainian community throughout the years.
Bozhena and Oleh have traveled the world, going to Soviet Ukraine. Their travels to Europe in the 1980s have resulted in a publication entitled CHURCH in RUINS (1987, ISBN 0-9691657-3-0, 360 pages, 500 colour prints, English and Ukrainian text).
Michael Nakonechny (Михайло Наконечний, January 20, 1916, Pidlissia village, Zolochiv district, Austro-Hungarian Empire - August 11, 2001, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Ukrainian community leader and educator. An alumnus of the Theological Academy of Lviv. Before coming to Canada in 1947 Nakonechny lived in Halychyna (Austro-Hungary) and Germany (Regensburg). After coming to Canada, Nakonechny lived in Winnipeg and Edmonton. In Edmonton, he worked as an Alberta Land Surveyor at the Government of Alberta in the Surveys Branch of the Department of Highways.
Michael Nakonechny was a member of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada executive; a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer, and a board member of the Ukrainian National Federation branches in Winnipeg and Edmonton; a member of the Ukrainian Liberation Fund Committee [Крайовий комітет Українського визвольного фонду]; a member of the Plast organization (nickname Kalamar) and co-editor of the Plast bulletin in Winnipeg; a librarian, secretary and board member of the Ukrainian National Hall in Edmonton; a secretary and member of control commission of the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood of Canada, Edmonton diocese; a secretary of the Ukrainian Catholic Council; a member of the Ukrainian War Veterans’ Association main board and a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and board member of its Edmonton branch; the first secretary of the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta; chairman of the Winnipeg Ukrainian National Association [Український народний союз] District Committee, an executive board member and a secretary of Edmonton UNA District Committee; a secretary and board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Edmonton branch. He was awarded two St George silver medals and the scrolls of honour by the Canadian Foundation for the Ukrainian Free University (December 1, 1988) and the World Congress of Free Ukrainians (November 14, 1987).
Translator and editor of the Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora articles, Lada Hornjatkevyc, is an editor and Ukrainian-English translator. She has a BA with distinction from the University of Alberta in Ukrainian Language and Literature with a Minor in English Literature. She has also worked in media as a television news editor and has many years’ experience producing and hosting radio programs about Ukrainian music.
Halyna Kild was born on July 17th, 1955, in Ukraine (in the Yunashky village in the Prohrebyshche district of the Vinnytsia region). She is a journalist, editor, translator, and a freelance radio correspondent at Radio Canada International (1992-1998). She came to Canada in 1998. She is a specialist in the field of graphic communications, advertising, and publishing affairs (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, 1999). She worked at the private technology company of Yotta Yotta Inc. which was in charge of globally distributing and transmitting large volumes of email information and security of electronic networks (2000-2002).
From 1992 to 1997, she prepared and recorded around 200 reports and radio interviews for RCI (Radio Canada International) about political and public events, news of Ukrainian studies in Alberta, and innovative approaches in science and agriculture.
In 1994, she covered the visit to Alberta of the former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. She has written over 50 publications in Ukrainian and in English in the North American and Ukrainian press. Among them: an article on the status of women in Canada and Ukraine “Sexual harassment: reality or fiction” (“Modernity”, June 1995).
Many of her articles are devoted to the work of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta, where she is currently working as a Communication & Research Assistant.