Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Ewanchuk, Michael
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1908-2004
History
Born in 1908 in Gimli, Manitoba, Ewanchuk was the son of pioneer settlers Wasyl and Paraska Ewanchuk. Upon graduating from Gimli High School he worked at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit and attended the Detroit Institute of Technology and Detroit City College (now Wayne State University). In 1930 he returned to Manitoba, studied at Wesley (United) College and the Provincial Normal School in Winnipeg, and entered the teaching profession. He received his B.A., B.Ed., and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Manitoba. Upon completion of his service with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1946, he was appointed an Inspector of Schools, the first Ukrainian Manitoban to receive such an appointment. Ewanchuk served on various curriculum committees and was chairman of a committee that organized the introduction of Ukrainian instruction in the high schools of Manitoba. He was elected president of the Canadian Association of School Superintendents and Inspectors and for several years was a member of the Educational Showplace Committee in Toronto.
For his work as an educator Ewanchuk was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Winnipeg and an honorary Doctor of Canon Law degree by St. John’s College (University of Manitoba.) Interested in oral history, Ewanchuk conducted a series of interviews in the 1930's with Ukrainian seniors and began writing oral histories. He also wrote articles and reports for several Ukrainian papers, notably, the Ukrains'kyi Holos (Ukrainian Voice), the American Svoboda, and the Ukrainian Weekly. He later published several books on Ukrainians, including Spruce, Swamp, and Stone: A History of the Pioneer Ukrainian Settlements in the Gimli Area (1977), Vita: A Ukrainian Community (1977), Pioneer Profiles: Ukrainian Settlers in Manitoba (1981), Hawaiian Ordeal: Ukrainian Contract Workers 1897-1910 (1986), Pioneer Settlers: Ukrainians in the Dauphin Area, 1896-1926 (1988), East of the Red : v. 1. Early Ukrainian settlements, 1896-1930 and v. 2. Early Ukrainian settlements north of the Dawson Trail (1998), Vertical Development I-III (1998-2002), and Growing up on a Bush Homestead (2003).
Michael Ewanchuk passed away on August 26, 2004