Hnatyshyn, John
Hnatyshyn, John [Гнатишин, Іван; Hnatyšyn], b 20 January 1907 in Vashkivtsi, Bukovyna, d 2 May 1967 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Lawyer and senator; father of Ramon Hnatyshyn. Hnatyshyn arrived in Canada with his parents as an infant in 1907 and his family settled on a farm near Canora, Saskatchewan. He attended the Saskatoon Teachers College and for a short period he worked as a teacher. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BA in 1930 and a LLB as a lawyer in 1932. He was admitted to the bar in 1933. While at university, he took an active part in the student organization Kameniari at the Mohyla Ukrainian Institute. He was also recognized as a good speaker and debater. He worked as a lawyer in private practice until 1942. At that time, he joined a law firm that later in partnership with his sons, was known from 1966 as Hnatyshyn, Hnatyshyn and Hnatyshyn. He served as president of the Saskatoon Progressive Conservative Association, provincial vice-president of the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative party, president of the Saskatoon Bar Association, and (for eleven years) chairman of the board of directors of the Mohyla Ukrainian Institute. He participated and spoke at various Ukrainian conferences including meetings of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee. He was also active in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada community in Saskatoon. He stood unsuccessfully for the federal electoral district of Yorkton in 1935, 1940, and 1945 and provincially in Saskatoon City in 1952. As a lawyer, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1957.
In 1959 Hnatyshyn was summoned to the Senate by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. He was the first Ukrainian-born senator in the Canadian Senate. As senator, he acknowledged that he was a representative of the Ukrainian Canadians who made a significant contribution to the building of Canada. His first speeches in the Senate addressed Canada-USA relations and farm-related issues. On 9 May 1961 he supported in the Senate the incorporation of the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention of Canada. In 1962 he spoke on the Bill to incorporate the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko and the Ukrainian Canadian Committee. In 1963 he also spoke on the Bill to extend corporate status to the branches of the Ukrainian National Federation (that was incorporated in 1950). He was a delegate to NATO in November 1962, attended the NATO Conference in Paris in 1965, and was a delegate to NORAD in 1964. In July 1965 he and Mike Starr were members of a Canadian Parliamentary Delegation that visited the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Both Hnatyshyn and Starr made short speeches in Ukrainian during arrival ceremonies at the Moscow airport. Hnatyshyn left the main delegation to travel by train to western Ukraine where he visited Ternopil, Chernivtsi, and also his birthplace, Vashkivtsi in Bukovyna. While in the Ukrainian SSR, he intervened with Soviet officials on behalf of a Ukrainian widow who wished to travel to Saskatoon to stay with her sister, and the Soviets granted this widow the necessary visa. In his other addresses in the Senate, Hnatyshyn most often spoke on matters that concerned the province of Saskatchewan, such as the Canadian Wheat Board. Other issues he addressed included Canadian sovereignty, citizenship, housing, criminal code, income tax, and railways. He also took part in the Canadian flag debate and spoke on discrimination in employment. He was also a committee chairman in the Senate. Overall, Hnatyshyn was acknowledged by his peers and his community members as one of the most popular Canadian senators and an outstanding member of the Ukrainian Canadian community.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marunchak, Mykhailo. Biographical Dictionary to the History of Ukrainian Canadians (Winnipeg 1986)
Myron Momryk
[This article was updated in 2025.]