Michael Luchkovich (November 13, 1892 – April 21, 1973) was a Canadian politician. He was the first person of Ukrainian origin to be elected to the Parliament of Canada.
Early life
His father, Ephraim and mother Maria immigrated from Nova Vis' in
Austrian Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...
to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
, where he worked as a miner and saloon owner where Michael was born. Shamokin had a politically and culturally active community and in 1894 the
Ruthenian National Association
The Ukrainian National Association (UNA) ( uk, Український народний союз), known before 1914 as the Ruthenian National Union ( uk, Руський Народний Союз), is a North American fraternal organization founde ...
was formed there. Michael's parents spoke the Lemko dialect and his older sisters also learned standard Ukrainian, but Michael spoke English almost exclusively, and worked outside the home preparing tobacco for making cigars. After two of his older sisters emigrated to Canada to become teachers in
one-room school
One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
s in
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Win ...
, and Michael followed.
Luchkovich attended high school at
Manitoba College Manitoba College was a college that existed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from 1871 to 1967, when it became one of the University of Winnipeg's founding colleges. It was one of the first institutions of higher learning in the city of Winnipeg an ...
in
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 ...
and then began studying at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Svoboda School near Lamont. He continued to work in Alberta seasonally and return to Winnipeg until he graduated with an honours bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1916, and then enrolled at the
Calgary Normal School
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making ...
in 1917, where he earned his qualifications as a teacher.First Ukrainian MP dies Saturday at 80, ''Edmonton Journal'', April 23, 1973 He taught three more years in
New Kiew, Alberta
The County of Minburn No. 27 is a municipal district in east central Alberta, Canada. Its municipal office is located in the Town of Vegreville. Located in Census Division No. 10, the County of Minburn No. 27 was formed as a county on Januar ...
before becoming the principal of the
Michael Hrushewsky Institute
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
, a ''bursa'' for Ukrainian high school and university students in Edmonton, but later returned to teaching in rural schools.
Political career
Luchkovich was approached by a committee of leaders in the Ukrainian community in 1926 to become the
United Farmers of Alberta
The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it form ...
candidate in the district of
Vegreville
Vegreville ( uk, Веґревіль) is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is on Highway 16A approximately east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the ''Vegrev ...
in the 1926 federal election. To win the nomination he had to defeat the incumbent member of parliament, Arthur Boutillier and another Ukrainian-backed candidate,
Peter Miskew
Peter Alexander Miskew (27 November 1899 – 9 September 1965) was a politician and lawyer from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1935 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government a ...
. Miskew was dropped after the first ballot and endorsed Luchkovich who secured the nomination by only three votes. Despite a limited campaign budget religious and ethnic factionalism in the Vegreville area, he defeated Joseph McCallum, a former MLA for the area, by 700 votes. His election made him the first person of Ukrainian descent to be elected to the federal Parliament. He became a national spokesman for Canada's 200,000 Ukrainians, speaking against discrimination. Memorably in 1928 he gave an impassioned speech haranguing nativists like Bishop Lloyd and the
National Association of Canada
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
over rumors about a non-existent petition supposedly circulating in the Ukrainian community protesting Canada's discriminatory immigration laws. Parliamentary and media opinion was impressed by Luchkovich's speech and the episode marked the high-point of nativist rhetoric against the Ukrainians, which subsided after this point. While a member of parliament, he continued to work part-time as a rural school teacher, sleeping in small teacherages.
He was re-elected in the 1930 federal election over Liberal challenger Charles Gorden by 1,010 votes. On May 8, 1931 Luchkovich gave a memorable speech criticizing the treatment of the Ukrainian minority by the
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...
and asking Canada to intervene, it was the first time the treatment of Ukrainians abroad had ever been broached in high-level Canadian politics. The House agreed to recommend that the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...
investigate. He subsequently was named as the sole delegate from the
British Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...
to the
International Inter-Parliamentary Union
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...
Congress in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...
and across Europe including the Ukrainian-majority areas of Rumania and Poland.
He was a founding member of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe foll ...
and ran under its banner in the 1935 election, but was defeated by
Social Credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...
candidate
William Hayhurst
William Hayhurst (December 31, 1887 – May 19, 1975) was a farmer, principal, teacher, businessman and a Canadian federal politician. He was born in Lyvennet Mill, Morland, England. Married Edna Mattern. Father of William LeRoy Hayhurst (bo ...
After starting and then quitting law school and working as a labourer, he opened a grocery store in 1944 which operated for fifteen years. In 1946 the Ukrainian Canadian Committee asked his to prepare a brief to the Commons Standing Committee on Immigration and Labour arguing for the admission of Ukrainian displaced persons to Canada. He later turned to literary pursuits of writing and translating.
Published works and honors
Luchkovich was a writer and translator of Ukrainian literature into English. He translated ''
One of the Fifteen Million
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'', and was added to the Alberta school curriculum, and well as ''Sons of the Soil'' by
Ilya Kiriak
Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/Jah." ...
Edmonton Journal
The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.
History
The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...
'', and the ''
Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The Ca ...
'' where he argued for
Multiculturalism in Canada
Multiculturalism in Canada was officially adopted by the government during the 1970s and 1980s. The Canadian federal government has been described as the instigator of multiculturalism as an ideology because of its public emphasis on the social im ...
and for
Ukrainian independence
Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the pub ...
from the Soviet Union. He edited ''Their Land'', an anthology of Ukrainian short stories. He wrote two autobiographical works: ''A Ukrainian Canadian in Parliament'' (Toronto : Ukrainian Canadian Research Foundation, 1965. 128 p.) and ''My Memoirs, 1892-1962''. (s.l . : s.n., 1963?. 204 leaves).
The Michael Luchkovich Scholarships For Career Development are named in his honor and awarded three times each year. An award in his name was created in 1986 and is given annually to Alberta parliamentarians of Ukrainian descent who perform exemplary public service.