Diaspora

The ancient Ukrainian tradition of the eggs painting originates in sun worship that goes back in time for more than two thousand years, and always has been considered a way to protect against evil. It sparks creativity and imagination every spring before Easter. People also enjoy to put together Pysanka puzzles; famous designers incorporate Pysanka’ s symbols and patterns in their fashion creations. Long before Christianity it was believed that the universe and life originated from an egg (Iaitse-Raitse, as Ukrainians call it): iaitse - an egg, the root word rai means Eden...

Ukrainians began immigrating to Canada as early as the 1880s from a society where the Church was an integral part of daily life. Out of necessity, the initial years in Canada were devoted to basic survival. By 1918, after almost 25 years of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, the Ukrainian Canadian community had become strong enough financially and organizationally to respond to the spiritual, social and cultural needs of the community by establishing the Church of their forefathers in their new homeland, thereby contributing to Canada’s developing cultural fabric...

Russian president Vladimir Putin has once again committed an act of aggression against Ukraine. On April 24, 2019 he signed a decree setting out which groups of Ukrainians are entitled to apply for a fast-track Russian citizenship. The simplified procedure of obtaining a Russian passport would apply to the residents of Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk currently under occupation by Russian forces. The Russian president made the decision “in order to protect human and citizen rights and freedoms” based on “commonly recognized principles and norms of international law” in accordance with the Russian Law on Citizenship from May 31, 2002...

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau: As part of ongoing international efforts to assist Ukraine in building its military and security capacity, approximately 200 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel are currently deployed to Ukraine to provide Ukrainian soldiers with training. Since 2015, the program has trained more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers. I was honoured to be part of your delegation in 2016 when we visited the base in Western Ukraine where CAF personnel train Ukrainian soldiers. At that time, you stated, “The reason we’re here supporting Ukraine is not just because Ukraine is a good friend to Canada and the Ukrainian people are good friends to us. It’s because the values, the principles that they’re fighting for are the values and principles that we stand for and that we fight for.”...

On November 25, 2018, in a deliberate and unprovoked attack, Russian warships attacked and opened fire on Ukrainian navy ships in neutral waters in the Sea of Azov. Russia’s attack can only be seen as a premeditated act of aggression to gain control over the Azov Sea and blockade Ukrainian maritime traffic in and out of the Kerch Strait in order to destabilize Ukraine in the run-up to Ukraine’s 2019 elections. The time for empty rhetoric of condemnation and grave concern has ended. Concrete action is necessary now. The international community must respond forcefully to this disgraceful act of aggression by Russia. The League of Ukrainian Canadians calls on Canada, the...

Dear Readers, Contributors and Clients, On behalf of the Ukrainian Echo we wish you a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! Christmas is a time of unconditional love, charity and joy. The birth of Jesus Christ has taught us to find kindness and understanding for those less fortunate than ourselves. For most of us Christmas will consist of celebrating midnight Mass, singing Carols and of course, Christmas dinner with family and friends. However, this year Christmas takes on an additional meaning, for the unthinkable violence that headlines our news day-in and day-out cruelly robbing families of their loved ones in Ukraine. Christmas will only serve as a stark reminder of the...

The XI Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) elected Paul Grod President. The UWC Congress also elected the UWC leadership for the next four years, including the Executive Committee, Board of Directors and an Advisory Committee. The announcement was made on November 28, 2018 at press briefing about the XI Ukrainian World Congress (UWC). In addition to newly-elected President, the Board of Directors who will lead the UWC for the next four years includes the First Vice President- Stefan Romaniw, Second Vice President - Anna Kisil, and Third Vice President - Andrew Futey. Paul Grod is an active leader of the Ukrainian community in Canada. For 10 years he has been...

BCU Financial Group - Buduchnist CU is honoured to be a major sponsor of the Holodomor Memorial in Toronto. BCU CEO, Oksana Prociuk, the Board of Directors, and BCU staff proudly participated in the official unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial Parkette which took place on Sunday, October 21st on the grounds of Exhibition Place. In a moving speech, 91-year-old Holodomor survivor, Mykola Latyshko, shared his recollection of the extreme hunger he experienced as a seven-year-old boy during the man-made Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. Toronto Mayor, John Tory, and Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, spoke during the ceremony. First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Stepan Kubiv, delivered a personal greeting from Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko...

On Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 4:00pm, the Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) and the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation unveiled a multilingual – English, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Yiddish – plaque at the UIA honoring Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the “father of the U.N. Genocide Convention”, specifically in reference to the speech he gave in New York City (September 20, 1953) describing the Famine of 1932-1933 on Ukrainian lands as a Soviet genocide. Professor Lemkin, of Polish Jewish descent, was born in what is now Belarus. His early life was marked by tragedy as his family was forced off their land during World War I, but this perhaps sparked his lifelong interest in what he termed “crime against international law”. Professor Lemkin is credited with coining the term “genocide” in his studies of “Crimes of Barbarity”. Ultimately, this led to his presentation in 1948 at the United Nations General Assembly that called for the adoption of a resolution and the establishment of a “Convention for the Prevention and Punishment for the Crime of Genocide”...

The Ukrainian diaspora is praying for the repose of Vasyl Stus, a martyr for Ukraine who was tortured to death in Lukyaninska prison in 1985. Our prayer services are taking place on September 2, 2018 on the eve of the anniversary of his death, September 4. Vasyl Stus is remembered with veneration as a fearless Ukrainian freedom fighter who gave his life in the struggle to secure universal values of humanity - of individual liberty and national freedom - for his countrymen and women. He was an intellectual, writer and poet, and exponent of nonviolence. For his writings alone he paid the ultimate price. Subjected to sadistic physical and psychological torture he died in prison rather than renounce his struggle for freedom and justice for his nation...