REVEREND NESTOR YURCHUK

Professional Engineer, Executive, Deacon (Volunteer)

Date and Place of Birth: August 22, 1938 in Chortkiv, Ukraine

Date of Interview: July 26, 2016

Place of Interview: Toronto, Ontario

Interviewer: Sophia Isajiw

Length of Interview: 02:05:09 (raw)

(Excerpt):

NY: Well, we were of the third wave and we came and we thought that we were the most important and that the people who had been here were good, but maybe not as knowledgeable about Ukrainianism as we were, and therefore we were going to create our own Ukrainian community. And the fourth wave came and history repeats itself in the way that, and it's quite natural, that they are more enthusiastic about Ukrainianism than the people who have been here for 50 years. They haven't yet run into the kind of problems that we have and they still have one leg in Ukraine, and again that's natural. The danger is that we will not pay enough attention to developing our third wave and second wave and previous waves, society, community – developing them in such a way for long term survival in Canada, in the Canadian environment and in the rapidly changing Canadian environment with the increase in all kinds of immigration from the whole world. The danger is that we won’t spend enough time, energy, resources, coming up with ways of surviving in that environment.

Interviewer (І): What do you think is needed there?

NY: I think there needs to be more, more thinking in this area. I’m not sure how much thinking is going on in this area. We tend to react to immediate concerns and immediate concerns are quite rightly the fate of Ukraine at the present time, and putting our energies in helping that, dealing with that problem, that issue, and that is thinning out the resources of the academic work we should be doing, including churches. Including how parishes should be working in preserving, in keeping the young people who are several generations into here.

І: And you’re thinking in the face of intermarriages…

NY: In the face of intermarriages, in the face of drifting away from being Ukrainian. And the young people need to find, need to have some direction in how to be Ukrainian in this environment; in how to be Ukrainian and not speak Ukrainian. I think out West this problem has been more dealt with because they've been at it longer, but here it hasn't. And here the danger is that we will get too involved in the current, as I say very necessary and very noble causes, but there won't be enough gasoline left for the other part of the trip.

І: And you're thinking that should come from all sectors of the community?

NY: Absolutely, including church and including academia where this kind of thinking should be going on. There should be programs that sociologists should be thinking about.

CROSS REFERENCES:

• Installation of Father Deacon Nestor Yurchuk, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada