Emil and Lynette Hain Scholarship in Ukrainian Studies

Emil & Lynette Hain

Emil and Lynette (Tripney) Hain established this scholarship because of their belief in the value of post-secondary education, both to the individual and to society.  The scholarship supports and encourages secular Ukrainian studies, with an emphasis on the Ukrainian Canadian experience, a country where approximately 1.2 million people have Ukrainian roots.

Emil’s grandparents (Bereziuk / Kushniryk) immigrated to Canada in 1900 from Western Ukraine, which was then occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Born in Manitoba, Emil completed his primary, secondary and post-secondary schooling there.  In 1959, he graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BSc (Civil Engineering) and joined MacMillan Bloedel in 1960 where he spent the next 10 years working in progressive positions in wood products marketing and research in Winnipeg, Vancouver and London (UK).  From 1970 to 1975 he held senior management positions with Northwood Building Materials Ltd (a Division of Noranda) in London (UK) and Montreal. Semi-retiring to Victoria in 1975, he undertook consulting projects for the UNFAO, World Bank and various forest industry organizations involving world-wide travel. Emil fully retired in 1990.

Lynette’s parents emigrated separately from Scotland and England in the 1920s and took up residency in the South Island of New Zealand, where she was born and raised.  She obtained her RN degree in 1962 in New Zealand and pursued a varied nursing career in Sydney, Australia and Glasgow, Scotland.  In 1965, she completed a Midwifery Diploma in Glasgow and immigrated to Canada in 1970, becoming a proud Canadian citizen in 1975.  She worked in the maternity departments of Burnaby General Hospital from 1970 to 1976, and Victoria General Hospital from 1976 until her retirement in 2004.

Emil and Lynette met in Victoria in 1975 and married in 1978. The University of Victoria has been an important part of their lives—they’ve taken numerous courses, both full-time and part-time, and enjoy the many cultural and educational opportunities that UVic offers.