NP-UN Western Bureau.
Former Bonnyville MLA was presented with this year’s Michael Luchkovich Award by Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council President Olesia Luciw-Andryjowycz at Ukrainian Day, August 13.
Since 1986, UCC–APC has honoured individuals who have previously been elected officials with this award, named for Canada’s first federal MP of Ukrainian origin, for their significant contribution and dedication to the betterment of all Canadians. The award is presented annually by the UCC-APC President during the Ukrainian Day Festival at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, located 50 kms East of Edmonton.
“My former colleagues, like the Hon. Gene Zwozdesky, the Hon. Ray Danyluk, the Hon. Ken Kowalski and the Hon. Ed Stelmach all stood on this stage like I am today to receive this prestigious award. There is no higher honour than to serve your community, province and country,” stated Leskiw.
“l was the first woman and the first Ukrainian to represent Bonnyville-Cold Lake constituency. A community I have been proud to call home for the last 42 years. I am thankful that our parents chose Canada to call home in 1948.
“My dad used to always say that in Canada he could be the Ukrainian he could never be in his home country of Ukraine. My only regret is that my father was not alive to see me be elected or to receive this award. My parents, Otto and Vira Jereniuk are smiling down on me from heaven,” she added.
Leskiw was first elected in 2008 and served until 2015.
In addition to serving as Deputy Chair on the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Leskiw also served as a member of the Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing Committee and the Special Standing Committee on Member’s Services. She also chaired CPC on Education.
She also served as a member of ACAUR – Advisory Council of Alberta-Ukraine Relations for 12 years. In her last three years, she was given the honour to chair this committee.
As an MLA, Genia had the opportunity to attend many Canadian Women’s Parliamentarian Conferences in Canada. She also had the privilege to represent Alberta in Nairobi, Kenya at the international Commonwealth Parliamentarian Conference at the women sessions.
One outstanding memory in her life as an MLA was organizing two Aboriginal Show Cases in Bonnyville and Cold Lake showcasing the beautiful Aboriginal cultures in the area.
For her active involvement in her local community and the Ukrainian community in the province Genia was awarded with the Alberta Centennial Medal and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal.
In her retirement from teaching and politics, Genia has returned to being active in her church. She had the opportunity to judge 4-H public speaking and she makes herself available to help Ukrainian immigrant women in her community with their English and being available when they require a helping hand.
A special new feature this year was the presentation of the first posthumous award – this one to Andrew Shandro, first Ukrainian MLA in Alberta.
Shandro was born on April 3, 1886, in Banyliv-Pidhirnyi, a village in Bukovyna. He emigrated with his parents from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Canada in 1899, who settled northeast of Andrew, AB near the North Saskatchewan River. He became a prominent farmer and postmaster for Shandro, a rural community that is named after his family for being the first settlers in the region. In 1905 he married Rose Hawrelak who bore six children, one of who, Pearl Shandro, would marry William Hawrelak, the first Ukrainian Mayor of Edmonton. He was educated at Edmonton Business College and became a federal homestead inspector in 1907.
Shandro ran for the Alberta legislature as a Liberal candidate in the riding of Whitford in the general election of 1913. He won, but the courts declared the election void. He was re-elected in the resulting by-election on March 15, 1915, becoming the first Ukrainian to be elected to the Alberta Legislature. He served as a lieutenant in the Canadian Army during World War I, and upon returning in 1917 took back his seat by the act of the Legislature that allowed all members of the Assembly serving in the armed forced to be automatically returned to their seats in the Legislature. In the 1921 election, Shandro returned to Whitford but the nomination papers of the UFA candidate were rejected. The election was appealed but the court declared the election void and a by-election was scheduled for July 10, 1922, where he was defeated. He ran again in 1926 and 1935 elections, without success. Andrew Shandro died on January 13, 1942, at the age of 55.
Shandro’s award was accepted by his granddaughter, Midge Clissold.
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