section_path: Emigration to Canada
section_name: Emigration to Canada
paragraph_text: Emigration to Canada
  
  In 1971 Ivana married Alfred Winklmayr, an Austrian ski instructor and her platonic friend, in order to obtain Austrian citizenship. The marriage granted her the freedom to leave Czechoslovakia without defection so she could retain the right to return to visit her parents. As Ivana Winklmayr, she received her Austrian passport in March 1972. The following year, she obtained an absentee divorce from Alfred Winklmayr in Los Angeles, California, where he had moved to teach skiing.
  
  Ivana was romantically involved with the lyricist and playwright Jiří Štaidl who was killed in a car accident in 1973. After Štaidl's death, Ivana moved to Canada where she lived with George (Jiří) Syrovátka whom she had dated since 1967; Syrovátka had defected to Canada in 1971 and owned a ski boutique in Montreal. She claimed at the time to be married to Syrovátka, though the two never wed. Ivana worked as a ski instructor while living in Canada. She lived in Montreal for two years where she continued to improve her English via night courses at McGill University. Working as a model, Ivana told the Montreal Gazette in 1975 that she considered modelling to be a job, rather than a career. Her modelling clients included Eaton's department store and the fashion designer Auckie Sanft, along with promotional work for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
  
  In 1971 Ivana married Alfred Winklmayr, an Austrian ski instructor and her platonic friend, in order to obtain Austrian citizenship. The marriage granted her the freedom to leave Czechoslovakia without defection so she could retain the right to return to visit her parents. As Ivana Winklmayr, she received her Austrian passport in March 1972. The following year, she obtained an absentee divorce from Alfred Winklmayr in Los Angeles, California, where he had moved to teach skiing.
  
  Ivana was romantically involved with the lyricist and playwright Jiří Štaidl who was killed in a car accident in 1973. After Štaidl's death, Ivana moved to Canada where she lived with George (Jiří) Syrovátka whom she had dated since 1967; Syrovátka had defected to Canada in 1971 and owned a ski boutique in Montreal. She claimed at the time to be married to Syrovátka, though the two never wed. Ivana worked as a ski instructor while living in Canada. She lived in Montreal for two years where she continued to improve her English via night courses at McGill University. Working as a model, Ivana told the Montreal Gazette in 1975 that she considered modelling to be a job, rather than a career. Her modelling clients included Eaton's department store and the fashion designer Auckie Sanft, along with promotional work for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.