John Ivančo was born in Matiaska, Prešov (Slovakia) on October 5, 1918. He lost his mother in infancy and was raised by his mother’s sister. He worked on the family farm until he was drafted in the Slovak army. In 1943, he married Helena Krasnayova from neighbouring village Kobylnice, Brno (Slovakia). After the Second World War, the Ivančos settled in the Sudetenland. They fled the Sudetenland in 1948 to the refugee camp Ludwigsburg (Germany) where their second child, Anne, was born. The Ivančo family arrived in Canada in 1949 where they settled in Ontario.
Upon his arrival in Canada, John Ivančo worked initially as a farm hand in Ajax (Ontario). Afterwards, he worked as a moulder at the Fittings company. Throughout the years, he rose through the ranks to occupy a superintendent position. In 1984, John Ivančo retired. During the years, Helen Ivančo took boarders and sold strawberries to supplement the family’s income.
John and Helena Ivančo were known for their involvement in the Slovak community. They were strong supporters of various Slovak institutions in Oshawa and Toronto, such as of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Canadian Slovak League Branch 6 and the General Milan R. Štefaník Slovak Hall and Circle. John Ivančo held various positions in multiple organizations. He was the president of the Canadian Slovak League Branch 6 (Oshawa) for two decades, an Overseer Chairman at the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak and the First District Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League’s president.
After John Ivančo’s death, the «Helen and John Ivanco Memorial Scholarship and Research Bursary » was established in memory of John and Helen Ivančo by their children. This fund allows undergraduate students to study Slovak history and culture at the University of Ottawa and scholars to do research at the University of Ottawa’s Slovak Archives.
L’udovít Kandra (pseudonym: Peter Klas), was born in Banská Štiavnica, on July 6, 1904. Between 1914 and 1922, he completed his primary and secondary education in his local community. Between 1922 and 1924, he studied in Banská Bystrica where he obtained his teaching certificate from the Institute of Pedagogy. In 1928, he married Paula Päták. While working as a teacher, and later, as a school director, Mr. Kandra was already interested, and much involved, in Slovak cultural and literary life. In the Spring of 1945, Mr. Kandra and his family left Slovakia and emigrated to Austria where they lived until 1949. In 1949, the Kandras emigrated to Canada; with their two daughters, Dana and Olga. They lived in various Ontarian cities: Oil City, Glencoe and Kitchener.
After his arrival in Canada, Mr. Kandra worked for different employers including Electrohome Limited but he also began to write and publish his work. Most of his fiction work was published under the pen name of Peter Klas. He is the author of two published novels (“Satan proti Bohmu”and “Svetlo pod halenou”), a collection of short stories (“Na strome života) and hundreds of individual short stories published in various almanacs, calendars and newspapers. He became one of the prolific prose writers among Slovak immigrant.
L’udovít Kandra was also an author “on a political mission” who used his writing to highlight the experiences of Slovak people under occupation and communism. He published hundreds of articles on these issues in newspapers such as Kanadský Slovák, Slovák v Amerike, Kalendar Kandaskej Slovenskej Ligy, Slovenská Obrana and other Slovak periodicals abroad. In addition to his prose and poetry, L’udovit Kandra maintained an exchange of correspondence with members of the Slovak intelligentsia abroad, among others, Imrich Kružliak (pseudonym: Marian Žiar), Ernest Žatko (pseudonym: Ján E. Bor), Ignác Zelenka (Eugen Vesnin) and Michal Lošonsky (pseudonym: Michal Želiar).
Throughout his writing career, Mr. Kandra was also involved as a lobbyist and political activist in a number of nationalist organizations. Of particular significance were his extensive work and significant influence as vice-president and president of the Slovak National Council Abroad (Slovenská Národná Rada v Zahraniči. SNRvZ).
A devout Lutheran, Mr. Kandra also had a long and generous involvement with the “Ustredna Rada Martina Razus”, where he served as president.
In Slovakia and later in Canada, L’udovít Kandra worked as an elementary school teacher and in several blue-collar jobs. Despite living with limited financial means throughout his life, Kandra made notable contributions to Slovak literature through his work as a poet, author, and freelance writer. His involvement in the Slovak diaspora also had a lasting impact on the cultural and social conditions of Slovaks in exile. He passed away in Belleville, Ontario, in 1993, at the age of 89.
Joseph Staško was a Slovak politician, journalist, and librarian, born on August 1, 1917, in Sedliacka Dubová, Žilina (Slovakia). He completed his undergraduate studies at Comenius University in Bratislava and studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) from 1935 to 1942. He earned a Ph.D. in French Literature and Language from the University of Bratislava in 1942 and a Master's degree in Library Science from Columbia University in June 1963.
Although Staško did not engage in politics during the existence of the Slovak State, he joined the postwar Democratic Party and was elected to the Prague Parliament in May 1946. However, due to his autonomist views and his refusal to support Edvard Beneš as the postwar President of Czechoslovakia, he became estranged from the Democratic Party. He was subsequently arrested and charged with war crimes. Staško spent time in prison from 1946 to 1953 in Leopoldov and the Jáchymov uranium mines. Between 1953 and 1961, he worked as a manual laborer in various factories. In 1962, he left Czechoslovakia and arrived in the United States on May 24.
After obtaining his degree in Library Science from Columbia University in 1963, Staško began working at the New York Public Library, eventually becoming Chief of the Periodicals Department, where he worked until his retirement in 1983. His academic interests included history, economics, and political science, with a focus on Central European economies and political systems. Staško authored three books: History of Techniques in Trade, Slovaks in the U.S.A., and The April Agreement. He also edited The Shaping of Modern Slovakia and contributed to several journals on political and social science, presenting public lectures on Slovakia and its people.
In addition to his professional work, Dr. Staško was involved in various Slovak political and cultural organizations in the U.S. He served as president of the Slovak Historical Association of America and worked as an editor and writer for the SKS Bulletin and Horizont. Dr. Staško is recognized for his contributions to the preservation and development of Slovak history and culture, both in Slovakia and abroad.
In the mid-seventies, Dr. Staško launched an appeal to his Slovak compatriots and friends from all over the world, to participate in the creation of the Slovak National Archives in the United States. In response to this request, some of Dr. Staško's contemporaries donated their personal papers and other collections related to Slovak history and culture. Dr. Staško's project of the American-based Slovak National Archives did not materialize for lack of physical and financial resources. However, as a result of Dr. Staško's initiative, important documents were collected from various sources.
He passed away in 1997.
The WomynSpirit Festival originated when seven womyn met for a week-long camp, “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven,” in 1991 (relating to a religious education curriculum in feminist theology.) Participants decided to create an Ontario festival that would allow local Pagan women to meet and share their skills. They created what would become the WomynSpirit Festival Collective, in 1992.
The organization was founded as a feminist and Pagan non-hierarchical womyn’s collective that fostered women's spirituality, creativity and personal growth. WomynSpirit held festivals for ten years at the Ecology Retreat Centre in Hockley Valley, Ontario, before moving to different sites in Ontario, eventually returning to the Ecology Centre. Festivals include volunteer-run workshops and rituals as well as activities like chanting, yoga, and sacred circle, often held on Pagan holidays with a childcare program to allow working mothers to participate.
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Le WomynSpirit Festival a vu le jour lorsque sept femmes se sont réunies pour un camp d'une semaine, " Cakes for the Queen of Heaven ", en 1991 (dans le cadre d'un programme d'éducation religieuse en théologie féministe). Les participantes ont décidé de créer un festival ontarien qui permettrait aux femmes païennes de la région de se rencontrer et de partager leurs compétences. Elles ont fondé ce qui allait devenir WomynSpirit en 1992.
L'organisation a été fondée en tant que collectif de femmes féministes et païennes non hiérarchisé. Womynspirit a organisé des festivals pendant dix ans au Ecology Retreat Centre à Hockley Valley, en Ontario, avant de déménager dans différents sites en Ontario, pour finalement revenir au Ecology Centre. Les festivals comprennent des ateliers et des rituels, ainsi que des activités telles que le chant, le yoga et le cercle sacré, souvent organisés à l'occasion de fêtes païennes. Le programme de garde d'enfants permet aux mères qui travaillent de participer.