1995: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Canada's Ukrainians: confronting challenges (12/31/95)

1995: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Canada's Ukrainians: confronting challenges

There was less fanfare for Ukrainian Canadians in 1995 than the previous year, with Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn stepping down in January, and with no visits by the Ukrainian president to give people something to wave at.

And yet it was no less momentous. As the year drew to a close, Canada was at a historical crossroads, having narrowly escaped dissolution as a nation by barely more than 1 percent, as Quebec voters said "No" to sovereignty for the province in the October 30 referendum.

In a fit of alcohol-lubricated pique following his loss at the polls, separatist leader Jacques Parizeau decried "money and ethnics" for having scuppered his dream of an independent Quebec.

Although deeply troubling because of its racist connotations, this was a defining moment for the supporters of multiculturalism as a policy that strengthens the federation's fabric. It bolstered the hand of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, and of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who drafted position papers on the policy demanding that ethnic communities be treated as equals in Canada with the English and French, and not "draw from a diminishing 'multicultural' pot, but draw on the resources of the country directly."

Ukrainian Canadian Congress

It was also a watershed year for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress which, at its 18th triennial convention in Winnipeg held on October 6-9, moved to democratize its constitution. The veto power of the Big Five organizations (the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood, the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League, the Ukrainian National Federation, the League of Ukrainian Canadians and the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation) was dropped and their stranglehold on the UCC's national presidency and executive loosened.

Guided by the convention's slogan, "Evolution or Extinction: Challenge for the Future," the UCC struck committees to initiate a community and youth outreach action plan, an immigration policy directed at facilitating the arrival of Ukrainians from Ukraine and the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere to Canada, and coordination of efforts to maintain Ukrainian heritage and language instruction throughout the country.

These deliberations helped highlight the efforts of the Toronto-based Canadian Ukrainian Immigrant Aid Society, the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services and the Manitoba UCC Provincial Council in facilitating immigration. "It also brought into sharper focus the need to assist Ukrainians seeking to flee from war-torn Bosnia.

Adrian Boyko, president of the Saskatchewan UCC Provincial Council, was given support in drawing up an official UCC position paper on multiculturalism, slated for presentation to the federal government later in the year.

Ukrainian Canadians and Ukraine

1995 saw the emergence of new trends in the Ukrainian Canadian community's dealings with Ukraine. Oft-heard phrases were "realistic approach" and "end of post-independence euphoria."

One aid agency, the International Center for Democracy and Development in Ukraine, dissolved itself in March, having, to its mind, fulfilled its mandate. Two others, the Canadian Association for the Development of Ukraine and the Canadian Friends of Rukh, put aside their differences at a joint meeting in May, and recombined as the Canadian Friends of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress shuffled its Ottawa staff in April, with former UCC Information Bureau Chief Andrij Hluchoweckyj assuming the post of program manager for the Canada-Ukraine Partners program following the resignation of former Canadian trade commissioner Mykola Switucha after six months on the job. Lydia Migus, an assistant with CUP became the UCC bureau's acting administrator.

Mr. Hluchowecky now oversees the efforts conducted by four "project facilitators" affiliated with CUP: the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the Institute of Public Administration of Canada, the Agricultural Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for International Health.

A notable development, laden with controversy, was the UCC's progress in registering the semi-charitable Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Conceived by Shevchenko Foundation Chairman Dr. Roman Petryshyn, it was envisaged as a think-tank, advisory board and investment clearinghouse for Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians alike. It was officially registered with Revenue Canada in August.

At the UCC's triennial congress in October, a decision to base membership in the CUF on a $10,000 fee, a murkily worded mission statement and Foundation Steering Committee Chairman Ihor Broda's high-handed style of presentation drew fire from delegates. As of this writing, the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, one of the UCC's "Big Five" organizations and a seemingly natural support-group for the foundation, continued to express strong reservations.

The UCPBF was marked by vigor and groundbreaking at its biennial convention in Montreal, held from June 30 to July 2, electing the energetic Raya Shadursky as the first woman president of a national Ukrainian Canadian organization.

Ukrainian Canadian of the year

The Ukrainian Canadian of the year was, without question, Roy Romanow. Leading the only New Democratic government with a solid base of popular support in the country, Mr. Romanow was re-elected as premier of Saskatchewan in June.

As attorney general under Premier Allan Blakeney in the early 1980s he was part of the legal team that patriated Canada's constitution in 1982 and froze out Quebec in the process. A staunch federalist, Mr. Romanow was singled out as a bête-noire by separatist leader Lucien Bouchard in public debates on Quebec sovereignty prior to and after the referendum in October.

Mr. Romanow led a high-profile economic, cultural and educational mission to Ukraine in early October, signing a Saskatchewan-Ukraine Cooperation Agreement with President Leonid Kuchma at the Mariyinsky Palace, receiving an honorary doctorate from Chernivtsi University, setting up a coordinating council dealing with oil exploration in Ukraine, and signing nine letters of intent for projects in cultural industries.

Of course, he couldn't have done it all himself. The latter initiative had been developed by the UCC Saskatchewan Provincial Council's Saskatchewan-Ukraine Advisory Committee, chaired by Dr. Peter Woroby of Regina. Mr. Romanow announced his government's approval of a plan of action at the UCC-SPC's triennial general meeting in May.

This meeting was also attended by the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce's founding president, Bohdan Onyschuk, who delivered a characteristically positive assessment of Ukraine on the road to reform under President Leonid Kuchma, enjoining those seeking business opportunities to "Go East, young man, go East!"

In the fall, Mr. Onyschuk made way for Gerald Fedchun, who became the CUCC's new president.

From prosecution to deportation: war crimes

The issue of war crimes committed during World War II emerged again, as Federal Justice Minister Allan Rock opted for citizenship revocation and deportation proceedings against suspects. The decision, announced on January 31, was assailed by the UCC and the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association as an abandonment of the "made-in-Canada solution" of trying accused individuals in a Canadian criminal court.

This approach had been adopted by the previous, Progressive Conservative government in 1987, but a number of prosecutions since had ended in acquittals at the Supreme Court level. This prompted the new cabinet to adopt a different strategy rather than amend existing legislation.

Walt Lastewka, a member of Parliament from St. Catharines, made headlines across the country when he broke ranks with his ruling Liberal Party over the issue in May.

However, in a move that evoked criticism from the UCCLA, Mr. Lastewka also came out publicly in defense of an ailing constituent, Johann Dueck, who was slated for denaturalization hearings over accusations he had participated in atrocities in eastern Ukraine. "Whether the person is dying or not," UCCLA Chairman John B. Gregorovich thundered, "if he committed crimes, he should be tried for them," adding that "We have a law in Canada, prosecute the man in Canada."

Canadian governmental matters

On August 23, the Canadian government named Christopher Westdal, a career diplomat and former ambassador to South Africa, as its latest representative in Kyiv, succeeding Francois Mathys.

In preparation for his assignment, Mr. Westdal underwent intensive Ukrainian-language training in Ottawa, and traveled the length and breadth of the country, meeting with Ukrainian community leaders to hear their concerns and benefit from their experience.

Mr. Westdal attended the UCC's triennial congress, held in his home town of Winnipeg, was keynote speaker at a special luncheon organized by the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce in Toronto and made stops in Regina, Edmonton and Montreal. Originally slated to arrive in Kyiv in early December, the new ambassador told The Weekly he would present his credentials to the Ukrainian government early in the new year.

Canada's chairmanship of the G-7 industrialized nations' nuclear safety committee bore fruit as Ukrainian environment minister Yuriy Kostenko came to Ottawa on December 20 to sign an agreement providing for $498 million in grants and $1.8 billion in loans to finance the closure of the disabled and dangerous Chornobyl power station by the year 2000.

Although hamstrung by cuts, the Canadian Industrial Development Agency continued its program of bilateral technical cooperation, support for democratic development and good governance, social protection and private sector development, in cooperation with various international agencies and the UCC's CUP program.

| Home Page |