| The Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn PC, CC, CMM, CD, QC (Can), QC (Sask), FRHSC(hon) |
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24th Governor General of Canada |
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| In office January 29, 1990 – February 8, 1995 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney Kim Campbell Jean Chrétien |
| Preceded by | Jeanne Sauvé |
| Succeeded by | Roméo LeBlanc |
| More... | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 16, 1934 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
| Died | December 18, 2002 (aged 68) Ottawa, Ontario |
| Spouse(s) | Karen Gerda Nygaard Andreasen |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
| Religion | Ukrainian Orthodox |
| Signature | |
Ramon John Hnatyshyn PC CC CMM CD QC (Can), QC (Sask) FRHSC(hon) ( /nəˈtɪʃən/; March 16, 1934 – December 18, 2002), commonly known as Ray Hnatyshyn, was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 24th since Canadian Confederation.
Hnatyshyn was born and educated in Saskatchewan and also served in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets prior to being elected to the House of Commons in 1974, whereafter he served as a minister of the Crown in two non-successive governments until 1988. He was in 1989 appointed as governor general by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, to replace Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé as viceroy, and he occupied the post until succeeded by Roméo LeBlanc in 1995. As the Queen's representative, Hnatyshyn proved to be a populist, reversing some exclusive policies of his predecessor, such as opening up Rideau Hall to ordinary Canadians and tourists alike, and was praised for raising the stature of Ukrainian Canadians.
On June 4, 1979, Hnatyshyn was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada,[1] giving him the accordant style of The Honourable; however, as a former governor general of Canada, Hnatyshyn was entitled to be styled for life with the superior form of The Right Honourable. He subsequently practiced law and sat as Chancellor of Carleton University before dying of pancreatitis on December 18, 2002.
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Hnatyshyn, a Ukrainian Canadian, was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Helen Hnatyshyn and her husband, John, whose political links and friendship with John Diefenbaker, the future prime minister, would provide his son with frequent exposure to high-calibre political debate.[2] Hnatyshyn attended Victoria Public School and Nutana Collegiate Institute, and enrolled in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, where he was placed in the Spitfire Squadron in Saskatoon and given the designation Air Cadet #107. He then, after graduation from high school, went on to attend the University of Saskatchewan, earning there in 1954 a Bachelor of Arts and, two years later, a Bachelor of Law. On January 9, 1960, Hnatyshyn married Karen Gerda Nygaard Andreasen, eventually having and raising two sons with her.[3]
Two years after he was called to the bar of Saskatchewan in 1957, Hnatyshyn's family moved to Ottawa upon his father being summoned to the Senate. There, Hnatyshyn worked for his father's law firm while also lecturing at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Law.[2] However, he eventually set these jobs aside in order to run for the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1974 federal election, therein winning a seat representing Saskatoon—Biggar in the House of Commons.[3] Following the dissolution of parliament that saw his riding abolished, Hnatyshyn won a commons seat for the riding of Saskatoon West, for which he served as representative until he lost his position in the election of 1988. During this time, he was appointed first, on April 2, 1979, to the Cabinet chaired by Joe Clark (as Minister of Energy, Mines, and Resources), and then to that headed by Brian Mulroney (as Minister of Justice) on June 30, 1986, the same year he was called to the bar of Ontario.
It was on December 14, 1989 announced from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada that Queen Elizabeth II had, by commission under the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada, approved Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's choice of Hnatyshyn to succeed Jeanne Sauvé as the Queen's representative. He was subsequently sworn-in during a ceremony in the Senate chamber on January 29, 1990.
Hnatyshyn thereafter made an effort to open up Rideau Hall — the monarch's and governor general's residence in Ottawa[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] — to the public, establishing a visitors' centre and initiating guided tours of the palace and the royal park in which it sits. These moves marked a complete reversal of the policies of Hnatyshyn's predecessor, Jeanne Sauvé, who had closed Rideau Hall to the general public. In 1991, Hnatyshyn, on the other hand, staged on the grounds the first of the annual Governor General's Summer Concert Series, and, the year after, mounted His Excellency's Most Excellent Rock Concert and re-opened the skating rink to the public. These events blended with some of Hnatyshyn's self-imposed mandates during his viceregal tenure, which included a desire to engage Canadian youth and focus attention on education, and to encourage the arts. In these veins, he established in 1992 the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Arts, and the Governor General's Flight For Freedom Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literacy. Further, he founded the International Council for Canadian Studies, the Governor General Ramon John Hnatyshyn Education Fund, the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law, and the Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies.[3]
Amongst numerous other official and ceremonial duties, the Governor General presided over celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of Confederation,[2] and welcomed to Rideau Hall the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with a host of foreign dignitaries such as President of Russia Boris Yeltsin and King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. Further, Hnatyshyn undertook a number of state visits, including one to Ukraine,[3] before his time serving at Her Majesty's pleasure ended on February 6, 1995.
Throughout his tenure as the Canadian viceroy, Hnatyshyn was both defended and criticised by the Monarchist League of Canada. In their final summary of Hnatyshyn's years in office, though, the former governor general was generally viewed to have not stood up for the Canadian Crown that he represented, choosing to follow, instead of Vincent Massey's example, that of Sauvé, who was herself seen as a republican. This lack of loyalty, it was argued, left Hnatyshyn with few defenders when he was targeted by members of the Reform Party for his salary and taxes.[11]
After his departure from Government House, Hnatyshyn returned to practicing law at the firm of Gowling, Strathy & Henderson, where he had previously worked between 1989 and 1990. In 2002 he was installed as Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa, however, only months later, shortly before Christmas, Hnatyshyn died of pancreatitis. Per tradition, and with the consent of his family, Hnatyshyn lay in state for two days in the Senate chamber, and, though he was Ukrainian Orthodox, he was commemorated in his state funeral in a multi-faith ceremony on December 23, 2002 at Ottawa's Christ Church Cathedral. The service included the funeral rite of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — officiated by Archbishop Yurij, Bishop of Toronto, and the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — and a eulogy from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge,[12] and Adrienne Clarkson, by that time the sitting governor general, paid tribute to one of her predecessors via video, as she and her husband were en route to spend Christmas with Canadian troops stationed in the Persian Gulf.[13] Hnatyshyn was then buried at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.
Various memorials followed Hnatyshyn's passing: On March 16, 2004, Canada Post unveiled at a ceremony, attended by Hnatyshyn's widow, a $0.49 postage stamp designed by Vancouver graphic artist Susan Mavor, and bearing the formal portrait of Hnatyshyn taken by Canadian Press photographer Paul Chaisson on the day Hnatyshyn became governor general, along with a tone-on-tone rendering of part of Hnatyshyn's coat of arms. Two years later, a 48 minute documentary DVD examining the life of Hnatyshyn, A Man for all Canadians was released in Canada by IKOR Film.[14]
| Viceregal styles of Raymond Hnatyshyn (1990-1995) |
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| Reference style | His Excellency the Right Honourable Son Excellence le très honorable |
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| Spoken style | Your Excellency Votre Excellence |
| Alternative style | Sir Monsieur |
Hnatyshyn's style and title as governor general was, in full, and in English: His Excellency the Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada, and in French: Son Excellence le très honorable Raymon John Hnatyshyn, chancelier et compagnon principal de l'ordre du Canada, chancelier et commandant de l'ordre du mérite militaire, gouverneur général et commandant en chef du Canada.
In his post-viceregal life, Hnatyshyn's style and title was, in English: The Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Companion of the Order of Canada, Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Member of the Order of New Brunswick, and in French: le très honorable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, compagnon de l'ordre du Canada, commandant de l'ordre du mérite militaire.
Hnatyshyn's post-nominal letters are, in order according to the Oxford University Calendar Notes on Style:[15] PC, CC, CMM, CD, QC (Can), QC (Sask), BA LLB LLD(hc) Sask, LLD(hc) Queen, LLD(hc) Nfld, LLD(hc) Alb, LLD(hc) BCO, LLD(hc) NBC, LLD(hc) RMC, LLD(hc) RRMC, LLD(hc) Man, LLD(hc) Carl, LLD(hc) Osg, LLD(hc) McGill, DCL(hc) Bishop, JCD(hc) Vic, DUniv(hc) Ott, LLD(hc) Chernivtsi, DPhil(hc) Yonsei, FRHSC(hon)
| Ribbon bars of Ray Hnatyshyn | |||
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| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jeanne Sauvé |
Governor General of Canada 1990 — 1995 |
Succeeded by Roméo LeBlanc |
| Political offices | ||
| 21st Ministry – Cabinet of Joe Clark | ||
| Cabinet Posts (1) | ||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Alastair Gillespie | Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources June 4, 1979 – March 2, 1980 |
Marc Lalonde |
| 24th Ministry – Cabinet of Brian Mulroney | ||
| Cabinet Posts (2) | ||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| John Crosbie | Minister of Justice June 30, 1986 – December 7, 1988 |
Joe Clark (acting) |
| Erik Nielsen | President of the Privy Council 1985 – 1986 |
Don Mazankowski |
| Parliament of Canada | ||
| Preceded by New electoral district |
Member of Parliament for Saskatoon West 1979 – 1988 |
Succeeded by Electoral district abolished |
| Preceded by Alfred Pullen Gleave |
Member of Parliament for Saskatoon—Biggar 1974 – 1979 |
Succeeded by Electoral district abolished |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Arthur Kroeger |
Chancellor of Carleton University 2002 |
Succeeded by Marc Garneau |
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