LETTER TO THE EDITOR (03/14/99)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A response to Kuropas re: MUN and Plawiuk

Dear Editor:

I am writing this letter regarding the column by Dr. Myron Kuropas that was published on January 24 under the rather interesting heading "Return of the Natives."

Because in our society it is intolerable and unacceptable to defame and attack our distinguished leaders, who by their devotion and self-sacrifice have worked tirelessly for our homeland, Ukraine - for which they deserve our mutual respect and honor - I, in concert with my fellow acquaintances, am compelled to write and rectify these errors.

In his article, Dr. Kuropas attempts, clumsily and comically, to divide our society into two groups: the "natives" and "others," and in so doing introduces a form of discrimination.

As a member since 1948 of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (known as UNO, from its Ukrainian-language name), I would like to point out the following:

1. Dr. Kuropas incorrectly asserts that Sen. Pavlo Yuzyk, Messrs. W. Topolnytzkyj, Ivan Hewryk, Mychailo Pohoretskyj and Wolodymyr Klymkiw were dismissed from membership in UNO. There was no "cleansing or gleaning" of membership. Any differences of opinion, a normal occurrence in any organization, were fully discussed and resolved at the organization's conventions, and never led to a break-up of the organizational structure of UNO in Canada.

2. It is truly a misstatement of fact to assert that in the 1960s the board of directors of UNO, headed by Mykola Plawiuk, moved to dismiss longtime UNO President Wolodymyr Kossar. Mr. Kossar was the president of the UNO national executive board from 1937 to 1954. In 1954, as a result of the transfer of the Central Organization of UNO from Winnipeg to Toronto, Vasyl Hultaj, a longtime member, became UNO president.

3. Dr. Kuropas notes that in 1960 he visited Toronto because he was concerned about the Ukrainian National Youth Federation in Canada (MUN). For many years MUN existed in Canada, thus the concern expressed by Dr. Kuropas seems odd indeed, since he was not able to preserve MUN's continued existence in the U.S. During this time Mr. Plawiuk was active in the leadership of not only UNO, but also Plast. His relationship with other youth organizations was quite evident through the work accomplished, and was not relegated to merely complaining about others. Perhaps this caused a tinge of jealousy on the part of Dr. Kuropas due to the lack of similar successes in MUN and other similar organizations in the U.S.

4. It is quite possible that Dr. Kuropas was not pleased by the fact that Mr. Plawiuk prized the work of Sen. Yuzyk quite highly and objectively. In fact, Sen. Yuzyk worked closely with Mr. Plawiuk for many years; they helped each other in their responsible civic and political work.

5. Judging by his article, it appears that Dr. Kuropas considers himself infallible and as such is able to criticize others. Strange indeed are his assertions regarding the vast problems created not only in the U.S., but also in Ukraine by Mr. Plawiuk. We are to conclude from this that the Ukrainian community in Canada made a serious mistake in electing Mr. Plawiuk chairman of UNO; that VZUN (Velykyi Zbir Ukrainskykh Nationalistiv) erred in electing him chairman of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists (PUN); and that it was a mistake to elect him vice-president of the Ukrainian National Council (Rada), and, after the death of President Mykola Liwytskyj, president of the Government Center of the UNR-in-exile.

As well, Dr. Kuropas would have us believe that the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the World Congress of Ukrainians erred by as bestowing upon Mr. Plawiuk their highest honors. It seems, that both presidents of Ukraine made similar mistakes: President Leonid Kravchuk by granting Ukrainian citizenship to Mr. Plawiuk, and President Leonid Kuchma by awarding Mr. Plawiuk a medal for distinguished work in rebuilding and preserving Ukrainian statehood.

Should he care to make the effort, Dr. Kuropas can avail himself of numerous documents in the Central Office of the Olzhych Foundation in Kyiv attesting to Mr. Plawiuk's diligence.

I believe that Dr. Kuropas possesses both the intellectual and physical potential to better serve the Ukrainian diaspora, which is currently enduring a smear campaign and attack by our "friends," as well as Ukraine itself in its efforts to rebuild our state and national spirit.

Dr. Iwan Woychyshyn
Toronto

The writer is chairman of the Olzhych Foundation of Canada.

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