At the 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May, the Association honoured its newest Members of Long Standing—individuals who have reached the milestone of 50 years of membership with the OAA as part of Ontario’s architecture profession. Among the recipients this year was Leonard Sedun.


Leonard Sedun’s family emigrated from Ukraine in 1929 with three children in their arms, and they had four more while living in rural Manitoba. After moving to Winnipeg, where his father became a carpenter, he and his brother Orest became the ‘cleanup crew.’ Progressing to the University of Manitoba and architecture was a natural for Leonard and his brother, as they’d had an early glimpse of construction. Leonard was very active in architecture, athletics and social life, and graduated in 1965. While still in architecture school, Leonard was hired by Parkin & Associates on a one-year contract, and moved to Toronto the day after graduation. He later took a position at Crang & Boake Architects. Leonard later made a decision to leave the firm and traveled to Europe, visiting Ukraine, and later the United States and the Caribbean. During that time, he freelanced for smaller architecture firms and did some professional acting.

Leonard met Seppo Kanerva while working at the office of Harry Kohl Architects, who unfortunately passed away during that time. This left several large projects on hold. When the clients asked if the two could continue the projects, given that the Kohl office was closing, Leonard accepted and, in the summer of 1971, the architectural partnership of Sedun + Kanerva was launched.


Leonard began work in health care, starting in 1973 with an addition to Hallowell House, a Nursing Home in Picton, Ontario. Leonard recognized the challenge of designing a long-term care facility was both demanding and rewarding, to be able to create a respectful environment within budget constraints. The firm grew over the years and expanded to include all aspects of senior citizen housing, creating more than 100 developments of senior’s apartments under the Provincial Non-profit Housing Program and Retirement Home Projects. Leonard was also responsible for the ‘Continuum of Care Development’ for the Finnish Canadian Community in Toronto—a combination of Seniors’ Apartments and low income housing. The firm continued to design multi-service Seniors Apartments, Community Centres, and Long Term Care Facilities, with many clients returning for additions and renovations as their business grew, or the ministry regulations evolved.

The firm also took on commercial and residential projects, including the design of churches, a pumping stations, loft apartments, and even single-family residential projects. The firm takes great pride in having completed over 1,600 projects to date. Since 2016 Leonard continues to work in architecture and is currently involved in a substantial addition to a LTC in Strathroy, and work on the second phase of Seniors apartments in Thunder Bay with Christopher McCormack. Leonard is looking forward to avoiding retirement for many more years to come in both architecture and acting, where he continues doing work on television and in the movies.