25 Facts About Yuri Shymko

Yuri Shymko is a former politician in Ontario, Canada.

Yuri Shymko was a Progressive Conservative Party member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1978 to 1979 representing the downtown Toronto riding of Parkdale.

In 2008, Yuri Shymko received one of Ukraine's highest state honours when President Viktor Yushchenko awarded him the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise at a public ceremony in Kyiv.

Yuri Shymko was born in Cosel, Province of Silesia, Germany.

Yuri Shymko is the grandnephew of the renowned Ukrainian poet and social activist, Ivan Franko, whose granddaughter, Hanna Klyuchko, lived in Canada.

Yuri Shymko's family moved to Belgium, where he received his early education in a private school operated by the Catholic Redemptorist Fathers.

Yuri Shymko moved to Canada as a teenager and went to the University of Toronto where he graduated with a degree in modern history and languages.

Yuri Shymko is fluent in several languages, including English, French, Ukrainian, and Russian.

Yuri Shymko is the recipient of a number of Canadian and international awards, including the Outstanding Service Award from the Reena Foundation, which serves the needs of the Jewish community's physically challenged children.

Yuri Shymko was inducted into the Ordre de la Pleiade together with Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau and Ontario Court of Appeal Justice, Roy McMurtry.

Yuri Shymko ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, as a candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, in the riding of High Park.

Yuri Shymko was defeated by New Democrat Party incumbent Morton Shulman by 7,281 votes.

Yuri Shymko was defeated by a margin of 1,773 votes.

In 1978, Yuri Shymko was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election held on October 16,1978, defeating future cabinet minister Art Eggleton by 1,038 votes in Parkdale.

Yuri Shymko served for seven months as a member of the official opposition acting as the Human Rights critic.

Yuri Shymko was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community Services.

Yuri Shymko chaired the standing committee on Social Development which published a report on violence against women.

Yuri Shymko retained his seat, defeating NDP candidate Elaine Ziemba by 401 votes.

Yuri Shymko lost to Liberal David Fleet by 814 votes in the 1987 election.

In 1988, Yuri Shymko was appointed by the Government of Canada to serve on the Federal Immigration and Refugee Board.

Yuri Shymko, who was still a member of the refugee board, was admonished by the board chairman that such lobbying activities placed him in a conflict of interest and were incompatible with his duties as a member of the board.

Yuri Shymko argued that his participation with the UWC was as an unpaid volunteer and that he had asked to not participate in any refugee claims from the former Soviet Union.

Between 1999 and 2004, Yuri Shymko served as an election observer for several Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Yuri Shymko is an expert on Ukraine's Crimea region, having been responsible for overseeing the OSCE's Long-term Observer Mission in Crimea during the 2002 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

In 2007, Yuri Shymko was appointed for a three-year term by the Stephen Harper government to the Employment Insurance Board of Referees.