Cyril Ivanovich Genik ( uk , Кирило Іванович Геник, 1857 – February 12, 1925) was a
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
-
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
immigration agent. He is a
Person of National Historic Significance
Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...
.
Biography
![Dr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Dr._Joseph_Oleskow.jpg)
Cyril Ivanovich Genik was born in 1857 in Bereziv Nyzhnii,
Galicia, to father Ivan Genyk, a village mayor, and Ann Pertsovych. Genik began his studies at
Kolomyja, before moving to what is now
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk O ...
to complete his teaching education. He completed his
baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to:
* ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification
* Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree
* English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...
in
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
before being appointed as a teacher in 1879 in
Nadvirna
Nadvírna, also referred to as ''Nadwirna'' or ''Nadvorna'' ( uk, Надві́рна, pl, Nadwórna, yi, נאַדוואָרנאַ, ''Nadvorna'') is a city located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative cent ...
county. In 1882, Genik returned to his home village and established a school there. During the 1880s, Genik established a milling business as well as a producers' cooperative that he named the Carpathian Store. In 1890, he was elected to the town council in the town of his initial studies, Kolomyja.
![Cyril-Paulina Genik](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Cyril-Paulina_Genik.jpg)
At some point, Genik met
Joseph Oleskiw
Dr. Joseph Oleskiw or Jósef Olesków ( uk , Іосифъ Олеськôвъ (historic spelling), Осип Олеськів (modern spelling), ''Osyp Oleskiv'', September 28, 1860 – October 18, 1903) was a Ukrainian professor of agronomy who p ...
, a man who had been encouraging immigration by Ukrainians to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Oleskiw asked Genik if he could accompany and lead his second contingent of Ukrainians on their voyage to Canada and help them get settled. Genik and his family of his wife and four children joined a group of 64 Ukrainians in landing at
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
on June 22, 1896. Genik led his contingent firstly to
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
and then to what was founded as
Stuartburn, Manitoba, which is now considered to be the first
Ukrainian Canadian
Ukrainian Canadians ( uk, Українські канадці, Україноканадці, translit=Ukrayins'ki kanadtsi, Ukrayinokanadtsi; french: Canadiens d'origine ukrainienne) are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Ukrainians, Ukrainian desce ...
community in Western Canada. In August, Genik applied for a
homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
*Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
in Stuartburn, but quickly changed his mind and relocated to Winnipeg. That same month, Oleskiw recommended Genik to the Canadian
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
as an immigration agent. In September, Genik became an as-needed Department worker for the government's interpreting and translation needs. Father
Nestor Dmytriw worked with him briefly in 1897–98 at the Immigration Hall in Winnipeg. In his job as an immigration agent, Genik met new Ukrainian Canadian immigrants at Quebec City, encouraged the use of English and the abandonment of traditional customs and served as a counsellor wherever necessary.
[ His workload increased dramatically with the sharp rise in Ukrainian immigration to Canada – so much, in fact, that by 1898 Genik had become a full-time salaried employee of the ]Canadian government
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...
. In doing so, he had become the first Ukrainian full-time Canadian government public servant.
In 1899, Genik established the Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukraine, Ukrainian p ...
Reading Hall in his house, and the first Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
newspaper in Canada, ''Kanadyiskyi farmer'' (''Canadian farmer'') in 1903. Despite not being religious himself, Genik believed that a Christian denomination should exist independent of Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
and Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
norms, and founded the 'Independent Greek Church' in cooperation with Winnipeg Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
ministers in 1903–1904. In 1911, following the general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
of that year in which Genik's favoured Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
had lost office, Genik lost his job, and he finished his life in the public sphere. He lived for a while in the United States but returned to Winnipeg in his later life, where he died on February 12, 1925.[
By the time of his death, Genik had become so well known in the ]Ukrainian Canadian
Ukrainian Canadians ( uk, Українські канадці, Україноканадці, translit=Ukrayins'ki kanadtsi, Ukrayinokanadtsi; french: Canadiens d'origine ukrainienne) are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Ukrainians, Ukrainian desce ...
community that he had come to be known as the "Czar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the t ...
of Canada".
See also
* Tin Can Cathedral
References
Bibliography
*''Dictionary of Ukrainian Canadian biography, pioneer settlers of Manitoba'', 1891–1900, V. J. Kaye, editor and compiler (Toronto, 1975).
* Oleksander Dombrovsky,'' Outline of the history of the Ukrainian Evangelical-Reformed movement'' (New York et Toronto, 1979) ext in Ukrainian
* ''A heritage in transition : essays in the history of Ukrainians in Canada'', M. R. Lupul, editor (Toronto, 1982).
* J.-P. Himka, ''Galician villagers and the Ukrainian national movement in the nineteenth century'' (New York, 1988).
* V. J. Kaye, ''Early Ukrainian settlements in Canada'', 1895–1900 Dr. Josef Oleskow's role in the settlement of the Canadian northwest (Toronto, 1964).
Orest T. Martynowych, ''The Seraphimite, Independent Greek, Presbyterian and United Churches''
Orest T. Martynowych, ''The Taras Shevchenko Reading Club/Educational Society''
* Orest T. Martynowych, ''Ukrainians in Canada : the formative period'', 1891–1924 (Edmonton, 1991).
* M. H. Marunchak, ''Studies in the history of Ukrainians in Canada'' (5 vol. published, Winnipeg, 1964– ) ext in Ukrainian
* O. I. Sych, From the « new land » letters of Ukrainian emigrants from Canada (Edmonton, 1991) ext in Ukrainian
External links
*
Martynowych, Orest T., The Seraphimite, Independent Greek, Presbyterian and United Churches
Martynowych, Orest T., The Taras Shevchenko Reading Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genik, Cyril
1857 births
1925 deaths
People from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians
Ukrainian politicians before 1991
Local politicians in Ukraine
Austro-Hungarian politicians
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Canada
Ukrainian emigrants to Canada
People from Winnipeg
Canadian social workers
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)