OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress held its annual general meeting (AGM), as well as a meeting of its board of directors on Saturday and Sunday, September 26-27, in Ottawa.
Community leaders and executive members from across the country came to the nation’s capital to meet and discuss the priorities of the Ukrainian Canadian community and the action plans the UCC will concentrate on in the next year in the run-up to the XXV Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians being held in Regina, Saskatchewan.
As a prelude to the weekend, the Executive Committee on Friday, September 25, held a priority-setting session, followed by a joint meeting of the UCC National Executive and provincial council presidents. In addition, UCC National President Paul Grod, Executive Director Taras Zalusky and Government Relations Director Paul Migus met with senior representatives of Export Development Canada. That evening a special community gathering was hosted jointly by the Embassy of Estonia, the Embassy of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin featuring the lively music of a Ukrainian band from Estonia, Svjata Vatra.
At the AGM on Saturday morning, the UCC welcomed new board members as follows: Liza Zienchuk from Ukrainian Orthodox Youth of Canada (known as CYMK); Lesia Perritt from the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada; and Evhen Duvalko from the Canadian Ukrainian Immigrant Aid Society. The UCC accepted the membership of the Ukrainian Canadian Bar Association and accepted Ms. Alexandra Chyczij as its board representative.
A roundtable featuring priorities and challenges facing local branches also took place. The lunch speaker was Bill Petruck, advisor to the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, who presented its “Our Legacy, Our Tomorrow” campaign.
In the afternoon, the board meeting began with a priority-setting session that established the priorities of the UCC for 2015-2016 year. The priorities agreed to were to focus on building Ukrainian Canadian communities and on assistance for Ukraine. It was also decided that the UCC will focus on the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, as well as the 75th anniversary of the UCC. Other areas of focus will be community engagement and capacity-building; public relations; government relations and fund-raising. In this regard, it was announced that Lesia Spolsky will be starting as director of development.
The Board of Directors also had presentations on Canada-Ukraine issues from Mr. Grod; the UCC’s 2015 Federal Party Leader Questionnaire by Mr. Zalusky; and the UCC “Ukraine Appeal” website and program to coordinate humanitarian assistance to Ukraine by John Holuk.
The board heard a presentation by Ambassador John Herbst of the Atlantic Council on its “Ukraine in Europe” initiative.
On Saturday evening, a gala banquet was held on Parliament Hill in Aboriginal Room (160-S) of the Center Block. The evening was emceed by UCC Ottawa Branch President Yaroslav Baran. Sen. Raynell Andreychuk brought greetings, as did Ukrainian World Congress President Evhen Czolij and UCC President Grod. The keynote speaker was Ambassador Herbst who spoke about Russian involvement in the invasion of Ukraine and the current state of affairs in Ukraine.
Mr. Czolij presented the UWC’s Taras Shevchenko 200th anniversary medals to Manitoba Parents for Ukrainian Education (accepted by Oksana Bondarchuk) and UCC Manitoba’s Taras Shevchenko 200th anniversary committee (accepted by Myroslava Pidhirnyj).
Singer Olesia Shevchenko entertained the assembled crowd, and the evening concluded with a short performance by Ruslan Trochynskyi from Svjata Vatra.
On September 27, Father Petro Galadza led a divine liturgy for those assembled. Afterwards, the board meeting heard reports from committees and had a panel discussion with provincial council presidents. Mr. Victor Hetmanczuk, president of the Canada Ukraine Foundation, spoke during lunch, updating the board on CUF’s numerous projects and activities, including support of humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and historical recognition through the Holodomor National Awareness Tour project.