Wira and Alex Kanareisky Funds
Amount: $100,000
Donors: Wira and Alex Kanareisky
Designation: Wira Kanareisky established two funds valued at $50,000 each in memory of her late husband Alex Kanareisky. One fund will focus on cultural and educational projects, while the second fund will support projects that enhance public awareness of the 1932-1933 famine-genocide of the Ukrainian people.
Background: Wira and Alex Kanareisky were born in eastern Ukraine. During the period spent in a post-war displaced persons camp in Germany, Wira was an active member of the Ukrainian scouting organization, PLAST. As refugees, the Kanareiskys arrived in Canada on a work contract in 1949.
For over twenty years, Alex and Wira Kanareisky were leading members of their community in Montreal. Wira was an active member of the St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral as well as the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada’s “Daughters of Ukraine” branch in Montreal. As the post-World War II Ukrainian émigré community grew and flourished in Montreal, the Kanareisky family played a leading role in the development of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its community.
Alex Kanareisky helped oversee the purchase of land and the construction of a new church in Montreal — St. Mary’s the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Mr. Kanareisky also helped found the Ukrainian Democratic Youth Association (ODUM) in Montreal, which he headed.
Alex Kanareisky was also committed to raising public awareness of the crimes perpetrated by Soviet communism. As a result, he headed the Montreal branch of the Ukrainian Association of Victims of Russian Communist Terror, the organization that published the 1953 landmark book, “The Black Deeds of the Kremlin.” Having resided in Montreal for over twenty years, Wira and Alex Kanareisky eventually moved to British Columbia, settling in Kelowna, where they remained active members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and local Ukrainian community. Alex Kanareisky passed away in December 2003 and Wira Kanareisky returned to eastern Canada, settling in Toronto.
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- Alex and Wira Kanareisky
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- St. Mary’s the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Montreal
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- In 1955, Alex Kanareisky presented a copy of the monumental book, “Black Deeds of the Kremlin” to the renowned Canadian Roman Catholic church leader, Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger
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- In 1966, Isidora Kosach-Borisova (centre), the younger sister of the eminent Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrainka, was welcomed in Montreal by Wira Kanareisky (3rd from the left), President of the Lesia Ukrainka Branch of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada
