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By Roman Zakaluzny
The Whig-Standard
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
19 December 2002
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The death of former governor general Ray Hnatyshyn (Canada) this
week took many people by surprise. But it was especially poignant
for Lubomyr Luciuk of Kingston.
The Royal Military College (RMC) professor had a little-known but
culturally significant connection with Hnatyshyn - he played a small
role in designing Hnatyshyn's official governor general's coat of arms.
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Designing a coat of arms is a privilege accorded to every Queen's
representative in Canada. Often, a governor general incorporates
designs that symbolize his or her roots.
Hnatyshyn, who was of Ukrainian descent, wanted to highlight this
background, and in so doing consulted with the Ukrainian Museum
of Canada in his home town of Saskatoon. Luciuk said he was in the
museum at the precise moment in 1989 when Robert Watt, chief
herald at Rideau Hall, called.
"I was doing research around the Prairies at the time," said Luciuk,
who is Ukrainian Canadian as well. "I happened to be in the museum
when someone from the governor general's office called and spoke to
[museum executive director] Dr. Jennie Zayachkowski. 'Oh, isn't that
exciting,' she said after hanging up.
"We got to talking, and she told me who had called and what they
were asking for." Watt, who has been with Rideau Hall since the
creation of heraldic symbols was patriated to Canada from England
in 1988, said he made many inquiries while researching Ukrainian
symbols that were to go into Hnatyshyn's design.
"I had had discussions with [Hnatyshyn] about his family and back-
ground, and about how those things could be brought together for
a single design," he said from his office in Ottawa.
Luciuk suggested to Zayachkowski that she recommend to the
governor general's office that they incorporate the tryzub, a
tridentlike symbol, used by Ukraine and Ukrainian people for more
than 1,000 years.
"I recommended that [Hnatyshyn] use the national emblem of
Ukraine, the tryzub, particularly because the use of that symbol
was forbidden at the time in Soviet Ukraine," said Luciuk. "Ray
Hnatyshyn wanted to emphasize his Ukrainian identity. He was
proud of it, and he was committed to Ukraine's freedom."
Luciuk went back to browsing the displays.
"Within an hour, she confirmed that she had passed on my
suggestion."
In Hnatyshyn's coat of arms, the trident is visible on the collar
of the bull to the right of the crest.
The bull itself is also a symbol of Hnatyshyn's ethnic background,
representing Bukovyna, the province of Ukraine that Hnatyshyn's
grandparents emigrated from. As well, the coat of arms' two main
colours are blue on top and gold below, representing the blue
skies and golden wheat fields of both Ukraine and his native
Saskatchewan.
"Basically, I was the right guy, at the right place, at the right time,"
said Luciuk, who teaches political geography at RMC.
"The fact that [Hnatyshyn] chose to put a tryzub there, there's no
ambiguity. It's unmistakable that Ukraine's existence was being
reaffirmed at a time when, if a Ukrainian in Ukraine did the same
thing, they would have been arrested."
Other governors general have similarly adorned their coats of arms
with symbols harking back to times past.
For example, current Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson's coat of arms
has a Chinese-stylized phoenix rising from a fire. According to her
Web site, the phoenix shows her family's rebirth in Canada after
immigrating from Hong Kong.
The Kingston Whig-Standard, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
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