Ján Lud'o Doranský was born in Trstená, Orava (northern Slovakia, near the Tatra Mountains) on May 28, 1911. He was the third son of Vendelin Doranský, a bookbinder, and Anna, who owned a stationery store. He had two surviving siblings: Ondrej (Andrej), a priest who opposed the Communist regime, and his sister Ilona (Helena).
As a child and teenager, Ján was passionate about literature, poetry, and music. After high school, he enrolled in the music conservatory in Bratislava with aspirations of becoming an opera singer. However, his parents encouraged him to pursue a different path. He began studying law at the University of Bratislava, but after two years, he switched to notarial studies.
Ján L. Doranský held various positions in remote areas, including one in Ubla, where he met his future wife, Mary Jakl. During this time, he was drafted for compulsory military service. In February 1938, Ján and Mary were married at the Greek-Catholic Church in Ubla. The following year, World War II broke out, and the Hungarians annexed Eastern Slovakia, including Ubla. The Doranský family fled to Trstená and later moved to Bratislava, where Ján had a new assignment.
During the war, Mikulaš Gaček, a writer and friend of General Ferdinand Čatloš, approached Ján about helping to establish a Cultural Affairs Division within the Ministry of National Defense. Ján quickly assembled a group of artists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers, created an army press, and even produced a documentary. He also served on the Russian front. Ján’s experiences with the Slovak army during the war are detailed in the book From the Carpathians to the Caucasus. While in Bratislava, Ján and Mary had two children: Maria Anna (Mary) and Louis (Ľudovit, Ludo).
In 1945, fearing retribution from the advancing Red Army, the Doranský family fled Bratislava. After staying in Austria, Bavaria, Assisi, Rome (as guests of Karol Sidor at the Vatican), Naples, and Bremenhaven in Germany, the family finally arrived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on February 8, 1950. Over the next several years, both Ján and Mary held various jobs. Mary worked as a babysitter, button-maker, cleaner, lampshade stretcher, toy production worker, florist, and administrative assistant. Ján, on the other hand, worked as a refrigerator deliveryman, construction worker, guard, and assistant insurance broker.
In addition to these jobs, Ján was the producer and host of the CJMS radio show Voices of Canadian Slovaks, which aired every Friday.
In the early 1970s, Ján was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away on April 5, 1973. His funeral at St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Montreal was attended by many members of the Slovak community.
Jozef G. Cincík was a Slovak painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer and art historian. He was born on March 8, 1909 in Clopodia, Romania. His parents Gabriel Cincík and Jolana Lenkeyova had moved to Romania, where Jozef was born. The family returned to Slovakia in 1914. Jozef Cincík attended the Law School at Charles University in Prague in 1928 and later attended Comenius University of Bratislava where he received a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1936 in the History of Fine Arts and Archaeology. He held several teaching positions, including Professor of the History of Fine Arts. He also worked as a lecturer and secretary at the Slovak Institute of Science and Arts at Matica Slovenska and was the Conservator of the History and Art Monuments of Middle Slovakia. Jozef Cincík also wrote extensively on the history of Slovak Art, history and archaeology.
In 1946 he moved to the United States, where he taught Christian Archaeology and Fine Arts at St. Bede Academy in Illinois. He also worked as a graphic artist, painter and sculptor.
Jozef Cincík died on January 28, 1992 in Pennsylvania, USA.
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 alleged wartime activities. 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.
Donna F. Johnson dedicates her life to advocating for women. Her deep-rooted passion for uniting women in supportive groups is evident through her extensive career. From 1986 to 2002, Johnson worked at Lanark County Interval House, where she provided crucial support to women facing domestic violence.
In 1990, she co-founded "Women's Urgent Action," a feminist group based in Ottawa, which highlights her commitment to feminist activism. Her feminist perspective has led to the creation of significant works such as "Waking Up the Dissident: Transforming Lives (and Society) with Feminist Counselling" (2020). Additionally, her 1998 conference talk, "How One Canadian Community is Responding to the Murder of Women," was presented at the International Conference on Family Violence, and she has contributed numerous articles to the Ottawa Citizen.
Following the tragic 1989 Polytechnique shooting, Johnson inspired the establishment of The Ottawa Women's Monument, which stands in Minto Park, Ottawa, as a tribute to the victims of male violence.
Donna F. Johnson is a faculty member at the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University in Ottawa. She continues her work in raising awareness and combating violence against women, hoping for a better future for women.
Helen Forsey was born in Ottawa, studied agriculture at McGill's Macdonald College and graduated in 1966 with a B.Sc. (Agr.) For two decades she worked in international co-operation in Ecuador, Ghana, and Jamaica, and in "development education" in Canada. Her jobs with CUSO, Oxfam Canada, and World Inter-Action Ottawa developed her political analysis and spurred her to activism against oppression.
She married in 1969 and had two children, but the marriage was abusive and ended nine years later. With International Women's Year in 1975, consciousness-raising with Coalition-femmes (Aylmer) spurred her to awareness, and she began applying feminist understandings in her personal life and in her jobs.
Helen Forsey's volunteer activism, like her professional work, have been deeply informed by her feminism and by her commitment to non-violence, social justice and participatory democracy. She has contributed to leadership and alliance-building around women's equality, peace and disarmament, rural community, agricultural sustainability, environmental sanity, Indigenous rights, eco-feminism and Canada's constitution.
She has been active with Interval House, the Ottawa Women’s Centre, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, Women for the Survival of Agriculture, Grindstone Island Co-operative, International Women's Week (Ottawa and Kingston), Rural Dignity, Action for Social Change, Women's Action for Peace, Federation of Egalitarian Communities, the Ontario and Canadian Environmental Networks, and the Council of Canadians.
Writing has always been part of her work, and she began writing for publication in the late 1980s, while living communally and farming part-time. Trilingual in English, Spanish and French, she also did freelance translation and editing, and was editor of the National Farmers Union's Quarterly in the early 2000s. Her articles and letters to the editor have provided meaningful feminist input on contemporary issues in numerous publications, among them Canadian Forum, CCPA Monitor, This Magazine, Upstream, Rural Delivery, Herizons, Communities, and Ottawa Citizen.
Her books include "Circles of Strength – Community Alternatives to Alienation" (1993), “A People’s Senate for Canada: Not a Pipe Dream!” (2015), and "Unsettling Mixture – An Activist’s
Writings,” (2019).
Helen Forsey lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and spends time each year at her former home in Algonquin Territory, Ontario.
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Helen Forsey est née à Ottawa, en Ontario. En 1966, elle obtient son B. Sc. (Agr.) au Collège Macdonald à l'Université McGill. Pendant deux décennies, elle a travaillé dans le domaine de la coopération internationale en Équateur, au Ghana et en Jamaïque, ainsi que dans le domaine de « l’éducation au développement » au Canada. Ses emplois à CUSO, Oxfam Canada et World Inter-Action Ottawa ont développé son analyse politique et l'ont incitée à militer contre l'oppression.
Elle s'est mariée en 1969 et a eu deux enfants, mais le mariage était abusif et s'est terminé neuf ans plus tard.
En 1975, à l'occasion de l'Année internationale de la femme, la Coalition-femmes (Aylmer) l'a sensibilisée et elle a commencé à appliquer les principes du féminisme dans sa vie personnelle et dans son travail.
Le travail bénévole d'Helen Forsey, tout comme son travail professionnel, a été profondément influencé par son féminisme et par son engagement en faveur de la non-violence, de la justice sociale et de la démocratie participative. Elle a contribué au leadership et à la création d'alliances autour de l'égalité des femmes, de la paix et du désarmement, de la communauté rurale, de la durabilité agricole, de la santé de l'environnement, des droits des autochtones, de l'écoféminisme et de la constitution du Canada.
Elle a contribué à de nombreuses organisations féministes telles que Maison Interval d’Ottawa, le Centre des femmes d'Ottawa, Conseil canadien pour la coopération internationale, « Women for the Survival of Agriculture », Coopérative de l'île Grindstone, la Semaine internationale de la femmes (Ottawa et Kingston), Dignité Rurale, « Action for Social Change », « Women's Action for Peace », « Federation of Egalitarian Communities », des réseaux environnementaux de l'Ontario et du Canada, et du Conseil des Canadiens.
L'écriture a toujours fait partie de son travail et elle a commencé à écrire pour publication à la fin des années 1980, alors qu'elle vivait en communauté et qu'elle était agricultrice à temps partiel. Trilingue en anglais, espagnol et français, elle a également fait de la traduction et de l'édition indépendant, et a été rédactrice en chef du Union Fermiere Quarterly au début des années 2000. Ses articles et ses lettres au rédacteur ont apporté une contribution féministe significative sur des questions contemporaines dans de nombreuses publications, notamment « Canadian Forum », « CCPA Monitor », « This Magazine », « Upstream », « Rural Delivery », « Herizons », « Communities » et « l’Ottawa Citizen ».
Parmi ses ouvrages, citons « Circles of Strength - Community Alternatives to Alienation » (1993), « A People's Senate for Canada : Not a Pipe Dream ! (2015) » et « Unsettling Mixture - An Activist's Writings (2019) ».
Elle réside à la fois dans la presqu'île d'Avalon, à Terre-Neuve, et dans le territoire algonquin, en Ontario.