Canada's Embassy clamps down on Canadian tour promoters

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - The Canadian Embassy in Kyyiv is clamping down on "bad" tour promoters.

Any Canadians now wanting to bring over sports or performing groups to Canada from Ukraine will have to guarantee they will be taken care of. Ihor Shawarsky, director of public relations for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) in Winnipeg, said that "more than a handful" of Ukrainian groups have arrived in Canada, only to be left on their own. He said that last summer, a musical group landed in Winnipeg with hopes of heading onto Edmonton.

However, once they arrived in Manitoba, they didn't even have a place to stay.

"They must have had $20 between five of them," explained Mr. Shawarsky. Luckily, half the troupe stayed with a local priest, the other, with a UCC staff member.

More recently, in February, a Kyyiv hockey team was invited to play 20 games in Canada by a Toronto promoter. They were left stranded.

No game was arranged in Montreal, where they landed, nor in Niagara Falls, and they barely managed one meal a day. At the time, Canadian Press reported that the promoter handed them $30 to feed all 28 members.

And of the three nights spent in Montreal, one night was spent sleeping in a bus terminal.

The Canadian agent even reneged on a promise to reimburse the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine for the group's air fare. An unidentified Toronto man ended up putting the team up in a motel and paying for bus tickets to Montreal, where the stranded players caught a flight home.

"Are these people being taken advantage of?" Mr. Shawarsky wryly asked. "One can certainly make that inference. Read between the lines. They're being taken advantage of by some pretty unscrupulous people."

Mr. Shawarsky declined to identify any of the promoters involved, who are scattered across the country.

However, three months after Canadian Ambassador Francois Mathys met with members of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) executive in Winnipeg to discuss the problem, something is finally being done to prevent it.

From now on, would-be Canadian promoters inviting a Ukrainian artistic or athletic group to visit Canada must provide the following:

A copy of the contract between the group and the Canadian promoter or organizer; a detailed itinerary of bookings and accommodation arrangements; guaranteed financing to cover the group's expenses while they're in Canada; and letters of support from cultural, sporting or religious organizations indicating awareness of the groups' plans and any assistance provided.

Mr. Shawarsky said the UCC has sent out notices to all of its Canadian affiliates, informing them of this new "signed, sealed and delivered" policy. Should it fail, he said the UCC would inform the Canadian Embassy in Kyyiv and, if possible, the police. However, Mr. Shawarsky explained that in the past, those Ukrainians affected have been reluctant to provide evidence for possible civil or criminal action.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 15, 1994, No. 20, Vol. LXII

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