The chair of the Rada BNR turns 90 today.
Ivonka Survilla was born on April 11, 1936, in Stoubtsy. In 1944, she emigrated with her family. She studied at the Higher School of Art in Paris and graduated from the linguistics department of the Sorbonne University.
She lived in France, Denmark and Spain. She now lives in Canada.
For many years, she has been involved in public activity: in the mid-1970s she was elected chair of the Belarusian Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada, headed the Coordinating Committee of Belarusians in Canada and served on the board of the Ethnocultural Council, which represents and defends the interests of various ethnic groups.
Together with other members of the diaspora, she founded a fund to help victims of the Chornobyl disaster in Belarus. The fund organized the collection and transfer to Belarus of three planes carrying medicines and medical equipment, and hosted thousands of children from affected regions of Belarus in Canada for treatment and recuperation.
For a quarter of a century, she has headed the Rada BNR, becoming its seventh leader after taking over from Yazep Sazhych. Even before knowing she would be elected, Ivonka Survilla compiled a list of requirements for the new chair: that the person know languages, understand how governments in Canada work and how to communicate with them, but first and foremost — love Belarus endlessly. She matched these requirements perfectly.
For her contribution to the democratization of Belarus, Ivonka Survilla was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.
In March, the publishing house Polatskiya Labirynty published Ivonka Survilla’s memoir “At the Age of Eight, I Was at War.” In the epigraph, editor Siarhei Padsasonny included the words of the Belarusian activist: “My life had meaning because of my Belarusianness.” In the editor’s view, “the person survived during years of hardship, went through such trials — all of this so that she could do something for Belarus.
For Ms. Ivonka, for 90 years there has been nothing else! Language, history, culture, the Children of Chernobyl fund to help Belarusian children, the Rada BNR… Everything to somehow help Belarus — this is an unprecedented example for all of us in today’s conditions”.
