Ray Hnatyshyn - Youth and Political Career

Youth and Political Career

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.