Human Rights A Day

Former Winnipeg Mayor Stephen Juba dies.Stephen Juba was born in Winnipeg on July 1, 1914 to immigrants from the Ukraine. When his father’s business fell on hard times in 1929, Juba was forced to quit school at age 15. He started a number of business ventures, growing wealthy around 1945. Always a great self-promoter, Juba decided to try his hand in politics. Early attempts at getting into office were unsuccessful, but gained him some name recognition. Finally, in 1953, he was elected to Manitoba’s legislature as an Independent. His success in reforming the province’s outdated liquor laws eventually took him to Winnipeg’s city hall. On October 24, 1956, he became the first Canadian of Eastern European ancestry to be elected mayor of a large Canadian city. There, he continued sitting in the legislature and was re-elected MLA one more time before he decided to work full time as mayor. As skilled at promoting his city as he was at promoting himself, Juba arranged for Winnipeg to host the Pan-American Games in 19