Editor’s Note

I shall soon be ending my tenure as editor of Canadian Ethnic Studies/Études ethniques au Canada.

As some of you know, I retired from the University of Manitoba on June 30, 2011, after thirty-three years of teaching, research, and administration. My Department (German and Slavic Studies) and the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies (of which I was the director for many years) held a reception for me on September 9, at which the Department announced the establishment of an award in my name (The Natalia Aponiuk Student Travel Award for Study Abroad). I was delighted to be honoured in this way.

It was probably inevitable that all of this would lead me to thoughts of complete freedom from deadlines and schedules for what would be virtually the first time in my adult life. However, circumstances were such that freedom had to wait, and I have stayed on as editor for the past year.

My time as editor has been a great learning experience. I learned about research in areas that were far removed from my own; I met—even if mostly through the internet—many interesting people whom I would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. And, of course, I learned a great deal about the intricacies of editing and publishing. Although the work was time-consuming, it was also rewarding.

There are many people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. First and foremost is the tiny group I was fortunate enough to be able to bring together to assist me in the publication of the journal. First among these is my assistant, Claire Hutchinson. Her background—a Master’s in English, experience as a script writer, and years of experience dealing with finances at the University of Manitoba—made her uniquely qualified to deal with the many aspects of the job she took on. I am also deeply appreciative of her personal qualities of dependability, reliability, discretion, and her ability to stick with a task to completion. I really could not have done my job without her assistance.

I was also fortunate in “finding” Jacqueline Barral, our French copy editor, who was painstaking in ensuring that the French in the journal was at the highest level—her own knowledge of the language was tempered by years of teaching, of literary editing, and of study of French literature at the doctoral level.

I would also like to thank Rachelle Painchaud-Nash, who initiated subtle, but significant, changes in the design and layout of the journal.

All three were dedicated to ensuring that each issue of the journal was of the highest quality on every level.

The students we were able to hire under various work/study programs were a great help to us.

At the University of Manitoba, I am particularly indebted to Dr. Richard Sigurdson, who, as Dean of Arts, was most supportive of the journal.

I would like to thank all the members of the journal’s editorial board for their support of the journal and of me personally. They all contributed mightily by writing articles and reviews, reviewing articles, suggesting reviewers, acquiring funding, offering advice and suggestions, and in many other ways. It was a pleasure to work with you.

Finally, I would like to thank all the contributors who submitted articles and reviews and all the anonymous reviewers who were so thoughtful and diligent in making their comments. I have no doubt that their comments were most helpful in ensuring that the journal was able to maintain the highest quality.

I wish the journal continued success in the future. It has been an honour and a pleasure to serve as the editor.