Jaroslaw Balan

BIO

Jaroslaw “Jars” Balan was born and raised in Toronto, where from an early age he took part in Ukrainian community organizations affiliated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. After obtaining an Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1975 he moved to Edmonton, where in 1981 he completed an M.A. in English (Creative Writing) at the University of Alberta. As a member of SUSK during his student days he was involved in dissident support work, promoting multiculturalism, and especially active in the publishing collective responsible for putting out Student. For seven summers he was part of the leadership and a lecturer at the Selo Cultural Immersion Camp sponsored by the Canadian Ukrainian Youth Association (CYMK). In the mid-1970s he was gradually drawn into the scholarly activities of the newly established Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIIUS), developing a special interest in the history of Ukrainians in Canada. In addition to editing books, translating literature, and organizing conferences on Ukrainian Canadian themes, he is the author of a best-selling illustrated history, Salt and Braided Bread: Ukrainian Life in Canada, published in 1984 by Oxford University Press. In 1988-1989 he taught several courses on Ukrainian history and civilization for the Ukrainian Studies Centre at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. In 1991-1992, on behalf of the CIUS he spearheaded the creation of the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum on the territory of Canada’s oldest and largest Ukrainian bloc settlement. In 2000 he was asked to become the coordinator the Ukrainian Canadian Program at CIUS, renamed the Kule Ukrainian Canadian Studies Centre in 2007. Over the years, he has written numerous articles on various aspects of the Ukrainian experience in Canada and overseen research initiatives on a wide range of topics. From 2018-2020 he also served as the Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.