UNA president welcomes delegates (05/31/98)

UNA president welcomes delegates

Dear Delegates to the 34th Convention, members of the UNA General Assembly, UNA members and guests:

A sincere welcome to our 34th Convention, which is being held for the first time in the 104-year history of our organization outside of the United States, in Canada, in the beautiful city of Toronto. In Toronto are the headquarters of two Ukrainian world organizations, the World Congress of Ukrainians and World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, as well as the hometown of countless of other Ukrainian organizations that are united under the Toronto Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Toronto is also well-known for its vibrant Ukrainian cultural life based on a large Ukrainian Canadian community of over 120,000.

The Ukrainian community established a Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. The Toronto University Press was the publisher of the two-volume Ukraine: a Concise Encyclopedia, which the Shevchenko Scientific Society prepared and the UNA financed back in 1963 and 1971.

At the beginning of the 20th century the UNA started to accept members from Canada, but the first UNA branch in Canada was established in Toronto - Branch 49, the Brotherhood of St. Michael - back in 1916. The UNA is proud of its eight Toronto branches that unite 1,200 members; these branches make up the Toronto District Committee headed by Wasyl Didiuk, honorary member of the UNA General Assembly.

To a great extent, the success of any convention depends on the preparations, diligent work and dedication of the members of a local Convention Committee that, as a rule, is made up of outstanding local UNA activists and local membership.

On behalf of us all - delegates, General Assembly members and guests - I wish to convey to the Toronto Convention Committee our sincere thanks and deep appreciation for all their time, effort and devoted work in the planning of our convention activities to make this convention a successful, pleasant and memorable one.

Sincere thanks to the Convention Committee head, the Rev. Dr. Myron Stasiw, UNA advisor; Wasyl Didiuk, honorary member of UNA General Assembly; our branch officers, attorney Ben Doliszny, Yaroslawa Zorych, Ivan Shlapak, Anna Burij, Roman Benesh; and to all other committee members who joined the Convention Committee and helped plan the convention activities.

Ulana Diachuk, president