Harry Myrislaw Harapiak (September 17, 1938 - November 14, 2000) was a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...

from 1981 to 1990, and was a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

government of

Howard Pawley Howard Russell Pawley (November 21, 1934 – December 30, 2015) was a Canadian politician and professor who was the 18th premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988. Prior to his premiership, Pawley served in various ministerial positions after his t ...

. His brother

Leonard Harapiak Leonard Harapiak (born July 4, 1942) is a Manitoba politician. He served in the NDP government of Howard Pawley, and narrowly lost the party's leadership to Gary Doer in 1988. A school principal and part-time farmer, Harapiak first ran for the ...

was also a cabinet minister in the Pawley administration, and his sister

Rosann Wowchuk Rosann Wowchuk (née Harapiak; born August 15, 1945) is a former Manitoba politician, and was a cabinet minister in the New Democratic Party governments of Premiers Gary Doer and Greg Selinger. The daughter of William Harapiak and Mary Philipch ...

was a cabinet minister in the governments of

Gary Doer Gary Albert Doer (born 31 March 1948) is a former Canadian politician and diplomat from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He served as Canada's ambassador to the United States from 19 October 2009, to 3 March 2016. Doer previously served as the 20th p ...

and Greg Selinger and retired before the 2011 Manitoba election. The son of William John Harapiak and Mary Philipchuk, Harry Harapiak was born in

Cowan, Manitoba Cowan, Manitoba is a town in Manitoba, Canada. It is located off the intersection of Manitoba Highways 10 and 20, 21 miles west of Camperville, and 17 miles east of Minitonas Minitonas is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality ...

and was educated there, at Minitonas College and at Coniston Continuation; he did not attend university. In the 1950s, he left the family farm to work at the

Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

mines in Sudbury. He married Carol Anne Eastwood in 1962 in Coniston, Ontario and they had five children together - Marianne, Mark, Christine, Kelly and Chad. He returned to farming in Manitoba the following year. After a few years of subsistence farming, he began work with the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. Harry served as a Kelsey School Board trustee in The Pas, Manitoba from 1973 to 1981. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1981, for the northern riding of

The Pas The Pas ( ; french: Le Pas) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, located at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provinc ...

. Pawley's NDP won a majority government in this election, and on January 30, 1985 Harapiak was appointed

Minister of Northern Affairs The minister of northern affairs (french: ministre des Affaires du Nord) is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The position has been held by Dan Vandal since 20 November 2019. In 1953, the role of Minister of Northern Affairs and N ...

with responsibility for the Communities Economic Development Fund Act and some aspects of the Manitoba Natural Resources Development Act . He was re-elected without difficulty in the 1986 election and kept in his portfolio, without the additional responsibilities. On February 4, 1987, he was appointed Minister of Government Services with responsibility for the Workers Compensation Act (except as regards Worker Advisers). The New Democrats were unexpectedly defeated in the legislature in early 1988, and were defeated in the election which followed. Harry Harapiak was re-elected for The Pas, and sat in the opposition benches for the next two years. He did not run for re-election in 1990, and returned to his private career as a VIA Rail Canada engineer. In 1997, he became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Winnipeg. On May 19, 1984, Harry's eldest daughter Marianne married Todd Lamb, the grandson of Tom Lamb from

. On April 13, 2005, Harry's daughter Christine Harapiak was appointed as a Judge in Manitoba. Harry's eldest son Mark Harapiak is an actor based in Toronto. He has appeared in many productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Mark's wife, Blythe Wilson appeared in Mary Poppins on Broadway in 2011-2012. Harry Harapiak died November 14, 2000 at the age of 62.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harapiak, Harry 1938 births 2000 deaths New Democratic Party of Manitoba MLAs Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba Canadian people of Ukrainian descent