Tomashevsky, Toma

Tomashevsky, Toma [Tomaševs'kyj], b 15 May 1884 in Stetseva, Sniatyn county, Galicia, d 4 February 1969 in Edmonton, Alberta. Ukrainian-Canadian journalist and publisher. After emigrating with his family to western Canada in 1900, he spent many years as a migrant worker. During this time he became active in Ukrainian-Canadian socialist and community organizations and coedited the weekly Nova hromada (Edmonton) (1911). Later he adopted an anticommunist, social-democratic position and supported the United Farmers of Alberta and, eventually, the Commonwealth Co-operative Federation (CCF). His leanings were clearly reflected in the weekly newspapers he edited: Postup (1915–17) in Mundare, Alberta; Pravda i volia (1920) in Vancouver; and Nash postup (1922–9) and Farmers’kyi holos (1932-4) in Edmonton. In Edmonton he also published a temperance movement journal, Vidrodzhennia (1930), and coedited the satirical journal Harapnyk (1921–35). Later, to preserve the legacy of Ukrainian settlers in Canada, he published and edited the quarterly Ukraïns’kyi pionir (1955–60) and cofounded the Ukrainian Pioneers' Association of Alberta.

Andrij Makuch

[This article was updated in 2010.]