Stefanyk, Theodore

Stefanyk, Theodore [Стефаник, Теодор], b 1880 in Hrytsovolia, Brody county, Galicia, d 21 March 1951 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Community leader. Stefanyk, an electrician in Galicia, emigrated to Canada in 1898. A prominent trade unionist, he was elected president of a local of the International Association of Engineers in 1902. Stefanyk supported the Conservative Party of Canada and by 1907 had become its main ‘Ukrainian’ lieutenant for the province of Manitoba. He received an appointment as inspector and organizer of Ukrainian bilingual schools. He was the first Ukrainian elected to the Winnipeg city council (1912–14) and in 1913–15 was president of the Ruthenian Publishing Company, which produced a weekly called Kanada that was financed by the Conservative party. After the defeat of Rodmond Roblin’s Conservative government in the 1915 provincial election, Stefanyk’s influence diminished. He remained active mainly in Ukrainian Catholic lay organizations, particularly the Ukrainian Mutual Benefit Association of Saint Nicholas.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]