Ukrainians in Canada

Sam Lawrence Park sits along the escarpment in Hamilton with clear views of downtown and Burlington Bay. On the evening of 18 February 2018 the sky was clear and the air was brisk. The Ukrainian community was commemorating the Heavenly Hundred by lighting candles that were formed into a “100” symbol and placed alongside the Ukrainian national flag. The Heavenly Hundred is comprised of more than one hundred people who were killed by the Ukrainian Berkut Special Forces during the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. At first, the Revolution was a push for European integration of Ukraine and by the end was a manifest of the Ukrainian people’s deep distrust and dislike of Yanukovych, who governed in a corrupt and brutal way. Yanukovych fled the country shortly after the deaths of hundreds on the capital’s Independence Square, the maidan, and is now in hiding in Russia...

On February 22 the Ukrainian Canadian community welcomed the announcement by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, of a three-year grant valued at $1.45 million to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom "the HMC". The funding announcement was made in Toronto by Arif Virani (MP, Parkdale - High Park), Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly. The HMC is a state-of-the-art interactive audio-visual learning centre geared to high schools, universities and the public. The Tour and the HMC educates Canadian students, community leaders and the public about the events of the horrific Holodomor Famine-Genocide in Ukraine 1932-33, and its relevance to the world today. Since its launch in 2015, the HMC has toured Canada from coast to coast. Over 25,000 people including more than 18,000 students and educators have visited the HMC, learning about the values of multiculturalism, diversity, human rights and respect for human dignity...

Dr. Ireneus Zuk is the 2016-2017 recipient of the Queen’s University School of Music Excellence in Teaching Award. The award ceremony took place at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston, Canada on Friday, October 13 during the annual Homecoming Showcase Concert. This concert presented five of the large student ensembles from the Dan School of Drama and Music and was well attended by students, faculty, alumni and music enthusiasts from the community at large. This honour is awarded to a member of the...

Every year Ukrainian Canadians from across the Greater Toronto Area come together to commemorate those who fell in the service of their country. Remembrance Day stands as a hallmark to both the living and the fallen. It serves as a reminder of the tremendous sacrifices Canadians and Ukrainians have made so that we who are left remember them. This year, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Toronto Remembrance Day Service commemorated several key moments in Canadian history. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the Battles of Vimy Ridge, where Canadian divisions, drawn from...

At 11:00 AM the Interns held a Prayer for Peace in Ukraine and Throughout the World at the Reconciliation: The Peacekeeping Monument. Fr. Okhrimtchouk, Rabbi Michael Goldstein, Mackenzie Esson and Kyrylo Korol read the prayers for peace. Former Ambassador for Religious Freedom Andrew Bennett delivered the closing prayer. Ukrainian Day on Parliament Hill, organised by Canada Ukraine Parliamentary Program 2017 Interns took place on October 31st, 2017. The evening reception took place at Sir John A. Macdonald Building, featuring many distinguished guests and speakers. Among the speakers were...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the members of the Standing Committee on National Defence, for convening these important hearings and conducting the study on Canada and the Crisis in Ukraine, and for the invitation to appear alongside such an impressive group of renowned experts with whom you have been consulting over the past few weeks. I can clearly recall how five years ago I appeared before similar hearings convened by the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and International Development. At those hearings, I emphasized the authoritarian criminal regime of the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and Russia as the two major threats to the Euro-Atlantic future of Ukraine as well as security and stability of the West...

On 12th September, Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Roman Waschuk welcomed a group of CUPP Alumni and Interns selected for the 2017 Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP) at his residence in Kyiv. The occasion was to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary and provide an opportunity for Ambassador Waschuk to prepare the Interns for their internship in the Canadian Parliament. In addition to celebrating Canada’s 150th Anniversary, the meeting was an opportunity to celebrate the strong ties between Canada and Ukraine, the countries’ common values and shared ambitions. In light of this Ambassador Waschuk spoke about Canada’s proud traditions of multiculturalism and of his belief that ‘Ukrainian DNA’ has been deeply integrated into the Canadian identity, placing particular stress on the important role that Ukrainians have played in contributing to the ethnic diversity and history of the Canada that we know so well today...

The 2017 Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program began in September, with the arrival of 14 university students from Ukraine. We came prepared to serve an internship in the offices of Canadian Members of Parliament, celebrate Ukrainian Day on Parliament Hill, Prayer for Peace in Ukraine, and meet Canada’s government officials and parliamentarians. On arrival we were happy to learn that we would also participate in celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday, the Invictus Games and the Terry fox Run to defeat cancer. The Invictus Games, an international sports competition for wounded, injured and ill soldiers was taking place in Toronto and Ukraine was sending a team for the first time...

The award-winning feature documentary film “Recovery Room” directed by Adriana Luhova is now being screened across Canada and in the United States. The film tells the story of the impact of the current war in eastern Ukraine and the diaspora’s response on a humanitarian level. It shows the courage and sacrifice of the young Ukrainian soldiers defending their eastern territory against Russian aggression. The documentary is under the patronage of the Ukrainian World Congress. A highly successful Montreal screening was organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), Montreal branch, at the Ukrainian Youth Center on June 15, with over 150 people in attendance, including special guests from Montreal’s ethnocultural communities...

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) extends congratulations to its President, Eugene Czolij, on being selected by his peers for inclusion in the Twelfth Edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada 2018 in his practice areas of Corporate and Commercial Litigation, as well as Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law...