Nicholas Leonidovitch Ignatieff

Nicholas Leonidovitch Ignatieff (1940-2014)

Nicholas may be spelt Nicolas, Nikolai.

Ignatieff may be spelt Ignatiev.

Predecessors of Nicholas Leonidovitch Ignatieff

After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the grandparents of N L Ignatieff, Count Pavel Ignatieff and his wife Princess Natalia Nikolaevna Meshcherskaya, fled their home in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and they eventually settled in England in 1919.

By the end of the next decade, the family had migrated to Canada.

Count Paul and Countess Natalie Ignatieff, along with their 5 children, Nicholas, Vladimir, Alexei, Leonid and George, settled in Upper Melbourne, Québec.

The grandparents of Nicholas Leonidovitch reposed in the Lord before he was of school age.

Early life of Nicholas Leonidovitch Ignatieff

On 30 June, 1940, Nicholas Leonidovitch Ignatieff was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, into the Ignatieff family of Ontario and Québec. Nicholas Leonidovich was born to Leonid Pavlovitch Ignatieff and his wife Edith Oehmke (Emke).

In the manner of the whole Ignatieff family, Nicholas Leonidovitch was raised as a Russian Orthodox Christian and in the Orthodox Christian Faith (which he embraced in his heart).

His father, Leonid Pavlovitch, became a university professor, and he was for some time the head of the Department of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

Higher education

Nicholas received his higher education at Upper Canada College, the University of Toronto (Trinity College), and the University of Manitoba, from which he graduated and from which he received academic degrees.

Marriage

Nicholas L Ignatieff was married to Cecilia B Anderson.

In time, they received from the Lord their children Nicholas Alexander and Natalia.

Cecilia was a competent concert pianist, and a teacher.

Career in public administration, 1963

Nicholas then pursued a career in public administration : first, from 1963, with the Government of Canada, and later with the Government of Ontario.

His developed expertise was in Labour Policy and Occupational Health and Safety policy.

Throughout his career, he sought to guide successive administrations at Queen’s Park (the provincial government centre in Toronto) towards more progressive and humane regulatory measures.

Parish, diocesan activity

Service in the parish

Nicholas was an active participant for many years in his home parish of Christ the Saviour in Toronto, Ontario. He was certainly concerned about the use of the English language in services, and he supported moves to increase its usage.

He was also very involved locally (especially from the late 1980s) in meeting the needs of the ever-increasing number of refugees from the Soviet Union of that time. This need, and his concern, continued to increase after the fall of communism there and the rise of the new Russia, since many more people were arriving in Canada. As was the case for the previous many decades, persons arriving from this part of Europe were not eagerly received in Canada, although the immigration door was now open to them. Nicholas was involved locally with several groups of concerned people who sought to help refugees to find a way to stay. There were many successes. Once legal immigration became possible, the need for help in finding a place in society did not decrease.

Bereavement, 1988

On 2 December, 1988, Leonid Pavlovitch Ignatieff, the father of Nicholas, fell asleep in the Lord at the North York General Hospital. He had been ill for a long time.

The Funeral Services for the Burial of a Lay-person were offered by Priest David Belden at the Saint Joseph of Arimathea Orthodox Church in Toronto, a parish of which he was a founder in the early 1980s.

It was said by the parishioners that Leonid Pavlovitch was a determined champion for English-language Orthodox services, and that he greatly supported and encouraged the faithful of the Parish.

Following the funeral services, his body was interred at Saint Andrews Cemetery in Melbourne, Estrie Region, Québec, in the family's portion of that cemetery.

Service on the Archdiocesan Council of the Archdiocese of Canada, 1990

In 1990, Nicholas was elected to the archdiocesan council at the 1990 Archdiocesan Assembly of the Archdiocese of Canada in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Although his first official responsibility was to lead in the preparations for the bi-centennial celebrations of the arrival of the first missionaries in Alaska, he was involved in raising concerns about refugees and immigrants as well. Amongst these concerns were assorted difficulties faced by clergy who were arriving as refugees, and by those clergy whom the bishop invited to immigrate for parish-service.

Nicolas did more than raise concerns in meetings. He personally took charge of the plight of many persons in need, and he helped them in every way possible. Indeed, he was able to find the right ways for many persons to become productive citizens of Canada.

This was during the same period when the Miloserdie/Compassion Group at Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Sobor in Vancouver, British Columbia, was active in gathering medical and practical relief for hospitals and children in Moscow, Russia.

During this same period, the Saint John of Kronstadt Charity at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Montréal, Québec was particularly active in organising aid, and helping immigrants under the wise guidance of Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns).

The third of these efforts which developed was "Project Ukraine", which aimed its support efforts at helping needy and orphaned children (particularly in western Ukraine), and also helping to shelter battered women.

At that time, there were no such supports for women with such needs. Such were the concerns about immigration difficulties that, in accordance with an Archdiocesan Assembly resolution, a letter was prepared and sent in 1993 to the Minister of Immigration. With this concern in his heart, Nicholas also accepted to represent the Archdiocese of Canada in the Faith and Witness, and the Justice and Peace commissions of the Canadian Council of Churches.

Focus on aid for the newly-arrived in Canada

After his acceptance of another 3-year term on the Archdiocesan Council from 1993, Nicholas accepted the focussed responsibility of “Immigration” ; but he was not limited to that particular concern alone in his service. Because of his experience, wisdom, Christian love and understanding, he was able to help the diocesan council and the administration a great deal in learning how to approach the Government of Canada at one or another level with regard to various concerns. Nicholas continued this important and crucial service into the next term to which he was elected in 1996, and then again in 1998.

The many years of his service in the Archdiocese of Canada coincided with a period of rapid expansion and development in the life and service of the archdiocese itself. His experience helped the administration greatly in managing to keep the multitude of activities in a healthy balance.

The more visible active service of Nicholas Ignatieff ended in 2001 with the next Archdiocesan Assembly, but his service and care continued, in that he was beloved of the members of the council, and he was often consulted personally and privately. It will be noticed, in reading public reports, that the name of Nicholas does appear, thus showing his presence and activity ; but also that there is no public attention drawn to him specifically and to what he was doing.

Nicholas was very effective and active and responsible, indeed, but he was also both shy and humble (in the best sense of this word). He had these characteristics in common with his cousin and friend, Andrew Georgevich Ignatieff. Except for an obituary, we lack public evidence of the fact that he was married to an excellent musician, and that he had children and grandchildren. His life and attitude serve as a good example to the many who have known him and love him. What matters is not what people think about a person, but rather what the Lord thinks about a person. In this regard, the lively and loving relationship between Nicholas and the Lord gives us many clues in that regard.

Service after retirement

After retirement from the public service, Nicholas served as a consultant to various government agencies. He worked for causes such as refugee integration, and local sustainable development.

Nicholas was active in the Russian Orthodox Church community in general, and he supported missionary work in several missionary communities in Ontario (which used both the Russian and English languages). His love for the Lord supported and encouraged others merely by his presence.

Repose, 2014

On 15 January, 2014, Nicholas Ignatieff fell asleep in the Lord peacefully, in Lammermoor, Lanark Highlands, Ontario, after a long struggle with Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, a rare form of blood cancer.

On Saturday, 18 January, 2014, the Funeral Service for the Burial of a Lay-person was celebrated for Nicholas L Ignatieff at the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral (15, Eccles Street) in Ottawa, by the Archpriest James Griggs, the Dean of the Cathedral, together with other clergy.

The interment of his body was in the White Cemetery at Lammermoor, Poland, Lanark County Ontario.

Grave-marker

Reflections

During his final illness, Nicholas was cared for until the end in his home by his wife Cecilia, his children Nicholas Alexander (Anne-Catherine) and Natalia (Colin), and his sisters-in-law Deborah (Franco) and Eden (John). In his repose, he left behind also his grandchildren Marie-Alexandra, Sarah-Gabrielle, Louis Philippe, Yevgenya and Anisya, as well as his loving cousins (in particular Andrew Ignatieff) and the extended Ignatieff and Fraser families.

Nicholas may well be remembered for the peace, patience and attentive kindness which were the main expressions of his daily living out of his Orthodox Christian Faith. He knew his Faith, and he lived his Faith, which was at the core of his being. His love for the Lord was evident not only in what he said and did, but also in how he spoke and acted.

Nicholas Leonidovitch was fondly remembered by colleagues and friends for his integrity, his care for others, and for his commitment to truth and justice. An historian by training, Nicholas held a strong interest in his dual Scottish and Russian ancestry, whose legacy formed his vision of a Canada shaped by immigration and diversity.

From childhood, he had been profoundly attached to the natural world and to the Canadian wilderness, and particularly his final resting-place, the Lanark Highlands of the Ottawa Valley.