27.04.2013

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) urges all Canadians to voice their concerns over the content and layout proposed for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (Museum). "On a recent site tour of this taxpayer-funded museum, I was shocked to discover how shamefully Ukrainian Canadian and Ukrainian themes are to be presented in this national institution. We are deeply troubled that neither Canada's first national internment operations nor the Holodomor will have permanent and prominent exhibits and galleries in the Museum," stated UCC National President Paul Grod. "It is outrageous that in the province of Manitoba, which has the highest proportional percentage of Ukrainians in Canada, the human rights stories that have impacted our community have either been ignored or minimalized. We have attempted to work in good faith with the Museum for the past 2 1/2 years, yet they remain...

27.04.2013

Help Us Help The Children, a project of Children Of Chornobyl Canadian Fund is a voluntary, non-profit charitable initiative dedicated to improving the quality of life of children living in orphanages in Ukraine. The purpose and mission of Help Us Help The Children (HUHTC) is to provide immediate aid to those most vulnerable in Ukraine - the children. 20 years ago, Help Us Help The Children made at least two humanitarian trips a year, personally delivering supplies to orphanages in all parts of Ukraine. To date, outreach teams have traveled a combined distance of over 170,000 km throughout 25 Oblasts (Provinces) of Ukraine. Over 35,000 children in more than 205 orphanages, 16 hospitals, rehabilitation centers and clinics, have benefited from supplies of medication, infant formula, clothing, as well as educational toys and materials. Members of the Help Us Help The Children and our Ukrainian team have distributed over 980 tons of purchased and/or donated goods with a retail value of approximately $16,000,000 CAD. With improvements in...

27.04.2013

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) welcomed the Final Report of the Canadian government sponsored International Election Observer Mission for Ukraine's October 2012 parliamentary elections released by Head of Mission Senator Raynell Andreychuk. "The Ukrainian Canadian community is grateful that the government of Canada sent this largest ever independent Election Observer Mission to monitor the election process in Ukraine. We noted with interest that the mission concluded that the elections fell short of meeting international standards in regard to free and fair elections," stated UCC National President Paul Grod. "We are thankful to the Canadian government for placing Canada at the vanguard of nations when it comes to promoting and monitoring democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine." The government of Canada sponsored a 500 person electoral observation mission including 422 through CANADEM and the remainder through the OSCE. These were in addition to the nearly 300 self-financed observers under the...

27.04.2013

Go see Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness, both because it’s an excellent film about the Holocaust in wartime Lviv and because it demonstrates just how deeply rooted some ethnic stereotypes can be. The story is simple: an anti-Semitic Polish sewer worker and part-time crook, Poldek Socha, finds himself in the unexpected position of hiding a group of Jews in Lviv’s sewers. At first, he does so only for money. In time, he abandons his anti-Semitism and acts with altruism. The film ends with the liberation of Lviv by the Soviets and the emergence of the surviving Jews from the sewers. “These are my Jews!” Socha beams. “These are my Jews!” In an interview, Holland emphasized what she thought was one of the film’s strong points: its avoidance of one-dimensional characterizations. Here’s what she says about Socha: First of all, the main character, this Polish guy, was ambiguous, both hero and not hero, and a very simple, ordinary man, not very good. What wa...

27.04.2013

15 February 2013—Two professors of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, Drs. Zenon Kohut and Frank Sysyn, have been honoured with the Antonovych award for 2012. The award ceremony took place on 10 November 2012 at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C. Dr. Kohut received his award “for his contribution to the study of Cossack Ukraine,” and Dr. Sysyn “for his contribution to scholarship in Ukraine.” In his introduction, the president of the foundation, Ihor Voyevidka, described both laureates as “shining examples of many years of work in spreading knowledge about Ukraine, from the Cossack period to the present, and its integration into modern European history.” Dr. Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, chair of the award jury, noted that the research work of both scholars has challenged the dominant Polish and Russian interpretations of the early modern period and...

27.04.2013

Yvan Baker’s endeavours have previously been reported in our press: a successful management consultant, a lecturer in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business (York University), a recent president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Ontario), an active and consistent public figure in various spheres of public life. The Ukrainian community remembers his significant contribution to the revitalization of community life, including the establishment of / Ukrainian Heritage Day/ in Ontario. It is the official recognition of the great contributions of many generations of Ukrainian immigrants in the growth of this country of the maple leaf. Of course, the...

27.04.2013

Yvan Baker’s endeavours have previously been reported in our press: a successful management consultant, a lecturer in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business (York University), a recent president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Ontario), an active and consistent public figure in various spheres of public life. The Ukrainian community remembers his significant contribution to the revitalization of community life, including the establishment of / Ukrainian Heritage Day/ in Ontario. It is the official recognition of the great contributions of many generations of Ukrainian immigrants in the growth of this country of the maple leaf. Of course, the...

10.02.2013

The Ukrainian World Congress strongly believes that the integration of Ukraine into Europe is of great strategic importance to Europe, Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, whose interests are represented by the Ukrainian World Congress. As stated in its Resolution of 25 November 2010 on Ukraine, the European Parliament also: 2. Stresses that Ukraine has a European perspective and strong historical, cultural and economic links to the European Union and that it is one of the Union's key partners in its Eastern neighbourhood, exerting a significant influence on the security, stability and prosperity of the whole continent. Therefore, the Ukrainian World Congress urges the European Union (EU) leadership to move their existing timetables forward in order to expedite the signature of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement – even by 25 February 2013 – at the EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels. EU-Ukraine Association Agreement The decision...

10.02.2013

As dictatorships collapsed toward the end of the last century and into this one, many people assumed that history moves in only one direction. The tide of freedom had lifted East Asia and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Indonesia. In an era of global trade and communications, the rest of the world surely would follow. Academics and think tanks studied democratization, often presuming that it could be observed and predicted like any other natural process — that the democratic West didn’t have to do much but watch and wait. Anne Applebaum, a historian and...

10.02.2013

On the last weekend of November Kyiv Mohyla Academy hosted a conference “Model of Ukraine” titled “Different Roads to the Rule of Law.” One of the initiators and organizers of this conference, which was held for the fourth time, is the director of the Canadian-Ukrainian Parliamentary Program Ihor Bardyn – Canadian citizen of Ukrainian origin. He was born in Poland: his parents escaped there from Galicia after the World War II. And in 1950 his parents moved to Canada, where Bardyn received a law degree. First two years he worked in the law firm and then he opened his own firm, which employs 14 lawyers (half of whom are Ukrainians) and 25 people working as an assistant staff. This is the average for Canadian standards firm which is, at the same time, the largest Ukrainian law firm by the number of Ukrainians working for it. In his interview for The Day Mr. Bardyn told what prompted him to initiate the establishment of a parliamentary program and how he sees the...