Born in Hairy Hill, Alberta, 1926, William (Vasile) Yurko was the first Canadian of Romanian descent to be elected to either a provincial legislature or to Ottawa’s House of Commons. His grandparents, Nazarie and Acsenia Yurko had arrived in what is, today, Boian, Alberta, from Bukovyna, 1899, at that time part of the Austrian Empire but, today, a Romanian-speaking section of both Romania and Ukraine. Serving two years in the Canadian Air Force as a World War II gunner before graduating as a Chemical Engineer from the University of Alberta, 1950, Bill spent 17 years in the private sector, including a stint of six years with Atomic Energy of Canada, before being elected in a by-election to the Alberta Legislature, 1969. Re-elected, 1971, he was appointed Environment Minister, the first politician any-where in Canada to hold this portfolio. In 1979, Bill left provincial politics and was elected federally as a Member of Parliament for Edmonton-East. After his re-election, 1980, he moved in Parliament to “patriate” the Constitution, a motion receiving unanimous consent three times in the House of Commons and resulting in patriation of the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain, 1982. After leaving politics, 1984, Bill was made a Member of the Senate and Board of Governors, University of Alberta, 1985-91. In this 1987 view, the Hon. William Yurko, whose ancestral home has been restored at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, Vegreville, Alberta, is seated next to Jean Chrétien at which time Canada’s future Prime Minister was granted an Honorary Degree in Law from the University of Alberta. [Photo, courtesy Bill Yurko]