jANE HRYNicK BIO

Date and Place of Birth: Toronto, ON, Canada, October 20, 1963

Father: Born on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Ukrainian Catholic

Mother: Born in Toronto, Ontario, Irish Catholic/English Protestant

INTERVIEW EXCERPT

Date and place of interview: August 10, 2024, Toronto, ON, Canada
Length of interview: 1 hour 4 minutes
Interviewer: Ihor Tomkiw
Language: English

Interviewer: Where did you attend elementary school, high school and college?

Jane: We grew up in Etobicoke and so went to elementary school there. There were a lot of Ukrainian people in Etobicoke, just a lot. And then I went to high school in Etobicoke.

Interviewer: Which one?

Jane: It was called Kipling Collegiate. And then I did my undergrad at University of Toronto in philosophy. And then I went to law school at the University of Toronto. I knew how to play the game, the academic game. I did. And I just did. But honestly, in law school especially, I was the only one with the weird Ukrainian last name. The only one. Everybody else, my friends, with whom I’m still very close with, we were all this connection of misfits.

So, I had the weird Ukrainian last name. At the time, U of T law school was very Waspy  or else Jewish. And so there were groups. My group, again, I had the weird last name. My friend Zuli was the Muslim woman. Arlene was the black woman. My friend John was the old guy because he had been a teacher, and, then decided he wanted to go back and prosecute child abusers. But again, we were misfits.

Both of my paternal grandparents died long before I was born. So, I didn’t really know much of my Ukrainian family. And I didn’t know much about Ukrainian things growing up. I mean, the language in the house was English. My dad tried to speak to me in Ukrainian. And, you know, I know some vocabulary  terms of childish type, things like names of food. And like, you know, “good night,” dobranich, you know, and all of that. But I can remember as a child being embarrassed when my father would try to speak to me in Ukrainian. Because, again, those were the times where, no, I don’t want you to talk ethnically to me in front of my friends. Because at the time, again, it was just, it was just the way the world was.

Interviewer: Yes.

Jane: And I did understand some Ukrainian. And actually, I guess it was around, I was 10 years old. I went to Ukrainian school. Because dad had heard about a Ukrainian school. There was one in Etobicoke. And I remember the relatives were very pleased that Jane was going to Ukrainian school. But, I was a studious little kid. Very studious. Like, I just was. But, they put me in the grade one class. And I was in grade five at the time. And I didn’t like that. And I was a very studious kid.

Interviewer: Where was the school? What was the name?

Jane: It was just held, like, after hours. I think it was called Bloordale High School. It was in the Highway 27 area. And the Bloordale area.

Interviewer: How often?

Jane: Every Saturday.

Interviewer: Every Saturday.

Jane: But in those days, again, a kid wants to watch Saturday morning cartoons. And so off I go to this class. And you know, I was learning. And I was open to the idea of learning. But I hated to be in grade one class when I was really in grade five.

I did fairly well because I was a studious little kid. And my dad would sit down with me every Friday night. And we’d go through the homework and the reading. And I did well on the marks. I still had my report card until a few years ago when I moved here, because I liked report cards, because I liked people telling me, like, how good it was.

Interviewer: What would you like to see different about the Ukrainian-Canadian community? What can it do better?

Again, some of the people have very traditional views of women. I just find that difficult to stomach. I just do. I was, my parents were both, if you work and study hard enough, you can be anything you want to be. And, you know, there are glass ceilings. But I was encouraged just because I wasn’t a boy. But within the Ukrainian community, there are a number of very traditional people.