Hawrelak: The Story

Bruce Grainger is head of Public Services at the Macdonald Library,
McGill University.

William Hawrelak was a forceful personality who as mayor of Edmonton
initially enjoyed widespread political support from a cross-section of
the electorate. In 1951 he was the first mayor of a Western Canadian
city of Ukrainian descent. Support for Hawrelak crumbled when he became
involved in several conflict-of-interest situations involving land deals
in Edmonton. Despite being forced to resign twice from the mayoralty, he
was able to take advantage of support in the ethnic communities and
achieve re-election after each controversy. He died in office in 1975.

Diane King Stuemer is a granddaughter of William Hawrelak, and despite
her professed journalistic principles, her version of “the story” of
Hawrelak is more a family history than an objective political biography.
There is a cloying familiarity in the tone and content of her writing,
as when she refers to Hawrelak as “Bill” and includes numerous
trivial details of family life. This contrasts with her treatment of
corruption in the Edmonton police department, which is dealt with in one
brief paragraph. The book will interest members of the Hawrelak clan,
but for others it lacks a critical examination of Hawrelak’s political
career and of municipal politics in the Edmonton of the period.