Tim Lougheed
Dr. Andrew Donskov, director of the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, points out that Russian scholars have their own fascination with Canada, which has been reflected in the creation of Canada College, an academic unit devoted to the study of this country at the University of St. Petersburg.
Such interest has driven the Slavic Research Group’s initiative to launch a Cultural Dictionary of Canada in Russian — the first in a series of such dictionaries to be published by the University’s Institute of Canadian Studies and composed in a variety of languages. The different versions will especially target languages spoken in countries that are major Canadian trading partners, as way of providing a comprehensive reference tool.
The dictionary is to be co-edited by a senior scholar with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Dr. Ludmila Vedenina, and Dr. John Woodsworth, a research associate with the Slavic Research Group, under the supervision of an editorial advisory board.Vice-rector Academic, Dr. Robert Major, will be responsible for entries on francophone culture.This work is just one of many projects and publications that have been undertaken by the group since it was established in 1998 with the initiative and support of Major and rector Gilles Patry.
The group has already published 17 volumes, mostly based on rare archival materials, and has made groundbreaking work in its short period of its existence.Made up of faculty members from the Departments of History, Criminology and Modern Languages and Literatures, as well as the Institute of Canadian Studies, the group also includes a number of external scholars in Canada, Russia and Poland.
Activities have evolved to keep pace with the changing political and cultural landscape of Central and Eastern Europe. Russia continues to be a major focal point, as the University establishes formal ties with organizations such as the Institute of Russian Literature in St. Petersburg, the Institute of World Literature in Moscow, and the Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana.These linkages have been highlighted by displays of books and paintings, special lectures, and conferences on topics such as the unity and diversity of Doukhobors in Canada.
Major observes that these events reflect an energy that ensures there will be many more to come. And he notes that a primary source of this energy is Donskov himself, whose Russian roots evoke a passionate response whenever he goes there.
Strengthening ties with Russia
