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This past year, the CIUS 91��ĸ��Ƶ Grant for the Study of Indigenous-Ukrainian Relations in Canada was awarded to the project “Carving lost family history: Indigenous and Ukrainian cultural and historical revival in the face of colonialism,” initiated by Keith Carlson, University of the Fraser Valley, and Ivan Rosypskye, a Heiltsuk-Ukrainian master carver.

Ivan Rosypskye is a First Nations master carver of Heiltsuk-Ukrainian heritage. He has been carving since 2001, as learned from local artists in his home town of Powell River, British Columbia. 

Keith Thor Carlson is a professor of history at the University of the Fraser Valley and a Tier One Canada 91��ĸ��Ƶ Chair in Indigenous and Community-Engaged History, whose innovative and award-winning community-engaged scholarship is designed in partnership with Indigenous communities to co-create new historical knowledge that answers pressing contemporary questions. 

“When Rosypskye carves red cedar, he draws inspiration from his mother’s Heiltsuk culture and their family’s historical and ongoing resistance to Canadian settler colonialism. Over the past two years, as Ivan has watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, he’s been inspired by the Ukrainian people’s resistance. And this has caused him to reflect on why he knows so little about his Ukrainian father’s culture and family.”

The “Carving lost family history” project aspired to carry out micro-historical research focusing on the experience of Ivan’s parents, particularly his father’s experience of being born in WWII-era Ukraine, growing up in postwar, Soviet-era Ukraine, and ultimately emigrating to Canada as a refugee in the mid-1960s. This focused research into the lost story of a Ukrainian refugee who married an Indigenous woman will shed light on larger Canadian and Ukrainian historical narratives relating to colonial oppression and cultural resistance and resurgence. 

“We’re trying to emphasize that some things about the process of colonization have similarities, but some things are different. Ukraine has been colonized by so many different powers over the past 200 years, it’s a very complicated story,” says Carlson. 

Ivan’s monumental work of carved red cedarwood art draws from both of his parents’ heritages and serves as a reflection on the coming together of two people from two oppressed and colonized communities. The process of Ivan creating the carving while he learns about his father’s history and Ukrainian culture was recorded and made into a mini-documentary that will target high school–level audiences and be made available through the University of Fraser Valley's Peace and Reconciliation Centre website.

“The goal of the project is to research and draw attention to Ukrainian and Indigenous cultural and historical revival in the face of colonialism."

Ivan and Keith will join us this fall in Edmonton, to screen the film and for discussions about the project and its impact in Indigenous and Ukrainian circles. 

You are invited to join us for two events this fall: 

Resurgence and Reconciliation in Action: Carving Out Indigenous Agency and Ukrainian Heritage in Times of Global Uncertainty

6 November 2025
1–2:30 p.m.
2-06 Faculty of Native Studies, Pembina Hall, 91��ĸ��Ƶ

This event is co-organized by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and the Faculty of Native Studies at the 91��ĸ��Ƶ.

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Carving Lost Family History: Ukrainian and Indigenous Cultural Revival in the Face of Colonialism

6 November 2025
5–6 p.m. Food sharing at kihêw waciston 
6–7:15 p.m. Carving Lost Family film screening and discussion

Location: 

This event is co-hosted by the  and , in partnership with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.

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This project was made possible thanks to the CIUS 91��ĸ��Ƶ Grant for the Study of Indigenous-Ukrainian Relations in Canada, offered in affiliation with the , a joint initiative of the and the Kule Folklore Centre at the 91��ĸ��Ƶ.

 

Reconciliation by Ivan Rosypskye depicts the Ukrainian coat of arms from his father's homeland, flanked by four house crests from his Haíɫzaq (Heiltsuk) mother's Nation: on the left are the Eagle (top) and Wolf (bottom), and on the right are Raven (top) and Whale (bottom).

Ivan’s piece is carved in the Coast Salish style, to honour the ɬaʔamɪn (Tla’amin) Nation, where he currently resides. The carving speak to his Ukrainian ancestors’ fortitude despite Nazi and Soviet imperialism, and his Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) people’s resilience against Canadian settler colonialism. Reconciliation aspires to a future where all people are free from oppression.

Photo credit: Alexis Klassen