UNF KICKS OFF 80TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS IN TORONTO AND EDMONTON
(Toronto, ON, July 12, 2012). — The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada proudly begins the year-long celebrations commemorating the organization’s founding in Edmonton on July 17, 1932.
National President Taras Pidzamecky stated that “80 years ago in Edmonton, this organization was created to unite Ukrainian Canadians, irrespective of Christian denomination, around the objectives of preserving Ukrainian language and culture in Canada, promoting good citizenship, and supporting the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state.”
The founding president of the Federation was an Alberta school teacher, Alexander Gregorovich, who headed an organization that brought together both Canadian-born and immigrant members as it proudly continues to do today.
The forerunners of the UNF were the Ukrainian War Veterans Association (est. 1928) and the Ukrainian Women’s Organization (est. 1930), which became UNF affiliated organizations together with the Ukrainian National Youth Federation of Canada (est. 1934).
The contribution of the UNF and its members over almost eight decades is notable. Among the UNF’s important contributions to the community in past have been pioneering the development of Ukrainian dance and choral ensembles across Canada through its branches, and later through the establishment of Oseredok in Winnipeg; combating the spread of totalitarian communism in Canada in the pre-World War II period; participation of its members in the Canadian war effort during WWII; youth leadership and cultural educational courses in the post war era, and the promotion of the vision of Canada as multicultural country in the 1960’s as embodied in the life work of leading UNF member, Senator Paul Yuzyk (1913-1986).
Together with the UNYF, in 2009 the UNF launched the Paul Yuzyk Institute for Youth Leadership. The goal of PYI is to develop new generations of young leaders for the Ukrainian Canadian and broader community for the 21st Century. (For the upcoming PYI Canada’s Parliament Educational Forum to be held in Ottawa Oct.3-7, 2012, see www.unfcanada.ca).
The UNF and its affiliates has branches in Vancouver, Vernon, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Windsor, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto, Oshawa, Ottawa-Gatineau and Montreal.
