Fedorowich, Rudy (1906-2002)

Rudolph Fedorowich was born on October 25, 1906 in the town of Lemberg in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is now the western Ukraine. As a young man, he experienced World War I raging around his home, saw the rise of the Bolshevik Revolution, and heard Leon Trotsky speak. He also fought for Ukrainian independence and witnessed the formation of the Soviet Union. In 1922, Fedorowich immigrated to Regina and finished his schooling at Central Collegiate, where he trained to be a mechanic.

During the Great Depression, Fedorowich, along with tens of thousands of other young unemployed men, was forced into a “relief camp” in Alberta, where make-work projects were the order of the day. He joined the Relief Camp Workers Union (RCWU), an affiliate of the Workers Unity League and a Communist-led trade union federation. In 1935, he joined the On-to-Ottawa Trek and returned to Regina “riding the Rails” with the Trekkers. After the Depression, Fedorowich joined the Canadian army and served during World War II. He stayed in the military after the war, married in 1949, served in the Korean War, and raised five children.

After retiring from the army in 1956, he worked with the Corps of Commissionaires in Regina for thirty-two years. Rudy Fedorowich was one of the most decorated veterans in the province. He was also proud of his association with the early Labour movement and the radical union protests of the 1930s. He died on June 24, 2002.

Garnet Dishaw