WSEVOLOD W. ISAJIW

Professor of Sociology and Ethnic and Race Relations, University of Toronto

Date and Place of Birth: 1933 in Lviv, Lvivska oblast, Ukraine

Date of Interview: November 7, 2015

Place of Interview: Toronto, Ontario

Interviewer: Danylo Darewych

Length of Interview: 01:58:20 (raw)

(Excerpt):

WI: І received this medal because, one could say, I saved the Ontario Catholic schools from changes to the fact that they only hire Catholic teachers. Because they were using public money, there was a movement that Catholic schools stop discriminating against non-Catholics.

I: What was your role there? Did you manage to convince the government?

WI: The lawyer that was defending the Catholic School Board approached me as a sociologist and asked me to write an affidavit to defend the status quo. Another sociologist wrote an affidavit that said all teachers should be allowed to teach at Catholic schools, not only Catholics. The interesting thing is that the sociologist that wrote the negative affidavit was my colleague from university. In any case, this was all done through lawyers, and my document made a big difference.

I: Was this document presented in the provincial parliament of Ontario, or was it through the courts?

WI: In courts. It was all done through court. The judge decided that I was right and used my name in the document. My lawyer was angry that he spent so many years defending the church and his name was never mentioned by any judge anywhere, and mine was mentioned right away.

CROSS REFERENCES:

1. •Wsevolod Isajiw’s wife Christina Isajiw was interviewed by Adriana Szczurko on June 17, 2016 for the Oral History of Ukrainian Canada Project. File #383, (Video).
   

• Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, for defending and winning the Catholic Educational system of Ontario before the court, 2006

• American Association for Ukrainian Studies Best Book Award for Famine-Genocide in Ukraine 1932-1933: Western Archives, Testimonies and New Research, by W. Isajiw. Toronto, ON: Ukrainian Research and Documentation Centre, 2003

• Shevchenko Medal Award, Ukrainian Canadian Congress, for the production of the film Harvest of Despair 

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Honorary Award of the 3rd Degree, 2008, (міністерство закордонних справ україни почесною відзнакою 3го ступенда), for writing the storyline of the film Between Hitler and Stalin: Ukraine in WW2, (and later writing the book)

• W. Isajiw, A. Gregorovich, O. Romanyschyn. Between Hitler And Stalin: Ukraine in World War II, the Untold Story. Toronto: Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, 2013

• Robert F. Harney Professor and Chair of Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies, University of Toronto, 1990-99. Professor Emeritus, 1999 

• President, Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, 1973–77

• President of the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center, Toronto (2003–2013). Founding Member and a Member of the Board (1982-present: 2021)

• First Petro Jacyk Memorial Symposium Discusses Diaspora-Ukraine Relationship, Organized by W.W.Isajiw, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. March 20-21, 2003

• “2003: The Year in Review. Academia boasts strides in Ukrainian Studies.”
The Ukrainian Weekly, 11 January 2004, No. 2, Vol. LXXII page 27 

• "Ukraine’s Security." Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, New York. April 6, 2001. 

http://www.brama.com/news/press/010323asn2001_ukrsessions.html

• Проф. Всеволод Ісаїв про Штучний Голод 1933-го. Виступ з нагоди відзначення 50-их роковин Голод 1933р. в Сов'єтській Україні.

https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/ocyfrovany-videoarkhiv-pro-pershu-konferentsiju-pro-holodomor/30391811.html

• 1983 Symposium on Famine 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, held at UQàM, Qc, Canada, March 26, 1983. Prof. Wsevolod Isajiw, Univ, of Toronto, Canada: "The Consequences of the Famine of 1932-1933 on the structure of  Ukrainian society".

• "ТАЄМНИЦІ СТАРОГО МІСТА". Історія родини Ісаївих. Телерадіокомпанія ВЕЖА, Івано-Франківськ. 27 квітня 2021.