Shandro, Andrew

Shandro, Andrew [Шандро, Андрій; Šandro, Andrij], b 3 April 1886 in Ruskyi Banyliv, Vyzhnytsia county, Bukovyna, d 14 January 1942 in Edmonton, Alberta. Politician and community leader. Shandro came to Canada with his parents in 1898. He briefly attended Alberta College and then set up successful farming and business ventures in east central Alberta. He was elected to the Alberta legislature in April 1913 as a Liberal in the Whitford constituency, the first Ukrainian to occupy such a post in Canada. His nomination was facilitated by his Russophile sympathies, as the ruling Liberal government was then at odds with the province’s community-minded Ukrainian leadership. His first election was overturned by the courts, but he won the subsequent by-election in March 1915. Shandro supported the Alberta Liberal party’s anti-Ukrainian position on the bilingual school question in 1913–14. He retained his seat in the 1917 provincial election by acclimation due to legislation that allowed the automatic return of sitting MLAs serving in the Canadian forces (he was a lieutenant in the army). Shandro’s election by acclamation in 1921 was overturned by the courts, and he subsequently lost in a July 1922 by-election. He later moved to Edmonton, where he was involved in real estate. His daughter Pearl married future Edmonton mayor William Hawrelak.

Andrij Makuch

[This article was updated in 2008.]