The Manitoba Eastern European Heritage Society is a group of researchers inspired by a desire for knowledge of the architectural history as well as mutual concern for the spiritual future of Eastern European churches in Manitoba. The principal members of the Society are Stella Hryniuk, Basil Rotoff, and Roman Yereniuk. These three researchers, on behalf of the Manitoba Eastern European Heritage Society, received funding from the Historic Resources Branch of Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Recreation to travel around Manitoba documenting the architecture, art, and history of the province’s Ukrainian Byzantine-rite churches.

The group identified 140 Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox churches across the province, plus an additional twenty Eastern European Churches. They documented eighty churches, taking into consideration the condition of the churches, prominent architectural features, and the scattered distribution of churches across the province. The project began in 1986 and with the help of student researchers was completed in 1990 with the publication of the book “Monuments to Faith: Ukrainian Churches in Manitoba.”

Stella Hryniuk taught in the Department of History at the University of Manitoba; Roman Yereniuk was an Associate professor of Religion and Theology at St. Andrew’s College; Basil Rotoff was a professor and Senior Scholar in the Department of City Planning, Faculty of Architecture, at the University of Manitoba.

Stella Hryniuk was an assistant professor of History at the University of Manitoba. She was born in 1939 in Brandon, Manitoba where she obtained her elementary and secondary education. Her father, Walter Michalchyshyn, was born in Ukraine (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and came to Canada as a young boy with his parents, George and Kateryna Michalchyshyn. They settled in Manitoba and lived in Brandon, Portage la Prairie, and Shoal Lake. From a young age, Stella Hryniuk wanted to understand and know more about her Ukrainian roots. She enrolled at the University of Manitoba and received a B.A. (1971) and M.A. (1974). Her Ph.D. dissertation (1985) dealt with the Ukrainian peasant society in Eastern Galicia.

After 1978, except one year (1986-1987) when she taught courses at the University of Toronto, she held teaching appointments at the University of Manitoba in the Departments of History, Education, and German and Slavic Studies. In 1997, she became an International Liaison Officer at the University of Manitoba, and helped students from foreign countries establish themselves at the University of Manitoba. Stella Hryniuk delivered many lectures and presentations on multiculturalism and Ukrainian history for which she received the University of Manitoba Outreach Award and the Dr.& Mrs. Campbell Outreach Award in 1991. She was also named YM-YWCA Woman of Distinction (1993) and received awards for Excellence in Research (1991). To further her studies, Stella Hryniuk made many trips to Ukraine, Poland, and Brazil.

For her extensive research, she received many grants from the Canadian government and various Ukrainian institutions and organizations. Stella Hryniuk wrote four books: Peasants with promise: Ukrainians in southeastern Galicia, 1880-1900 (1991), The land they left behind: Canada's Ukrainians in the homeland (with J. Pickinicki,1995), Holy Family Home: the first 50 years (2007), and To pray again as a Catholic: the renewal of Catholicism in Western Ukraine (1995). She was also the editor of three books: Twenty years of multiculturalism: successes and failures (1992), Canada's Ukrainians: negotiating an identity (with Lubomyr Luciuk; 1991), and Minutes of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies Seminar, Toronto (1991). She also published numerous articles and reviews, many of them co-authored with Dr. Fred Stambrook, Dr. R. Yereniuk, Prof. L.Luciuk, and J. Pickinicki. Stella Hryniuk served on many committees including the Canadian Association of Slavists, Canadian Conference on Ukrainian Studies, Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre in Winnipeg, and Ukrainian Professional and Business Club in Winnipeg. She has organized and raised funds for conferences held in St. John's College, University of Manitoba. She was an advisor for Partners for Civic Society, Canada - Ukraine Partners Programs for ESL Program in Ukraine (1995-1997).

Stella Hryniuk's academic research in Ukraine and her work in the Ukrainian community greatly enhanced the study of the Ukrainian Canadian experience.