1994: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Canada: Ukrainian issues come to the fore (12/25/94)

1994: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Canada: Ukrainian issues come to the fore

During 1994 Canada got its second ambassador from Ukraine, hosted the first state visit by a Ukrainian president and saw its government decide not to resolve the long-standing redress issue over the War World I internment of Ukrainian Canadians.

The newly established Toronto-based International Center for Democracy and State Development of Ukraine began work on assisting Ukraine with "the promotion and implementation of democracy and market-oriented reform." Similarly, the Canadian Association for the Development of Ukraine (CADU), which replaced the Canadian Friends of Rukh last year, announced plans to assist parties committed to democracy during Ukraine's March parliamentary elections.

Ukraine's second ambassador to Canada, Viktor Batyuk, presented his credentials to Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn in Ottawa on February 10.
A week later Canada's ambassador to Ukraine, Francois Mathys, told a Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) meeting in Winnipeg that Ukrainians are not well acquainted with the democratic process, and that there is a self-serving explosive element in Ukraine's power structure. Mr. Mathys urged the UCC to get involved in democratic reforms in Ukraine, but to tread carefully.
The CADU opened an office in Toronto in February and outlined a three-part media strategy to produce democracy-friendly commercials for Ukrainian television during the spring election campaign, and to fund a Ukrainian TV crew to cover the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
On March 15, UCC president Oleh Romaniw presented a 21-page brief to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister André Ouellet, suggesting a closer relationship be reestablished between the two countries. Among the recommendations: to unequivocally recognize Ukraine's geographic borders, to press NATO and the United States to guarantee Ukraine's security, and to amend the Immigration Act to create "An East European/Former Soviet Union Family Reunion Program."
A 13-member Canadian team of electoral observers monitored the March 27 elections in Ukraine. Canada gave Ukraine a $2.5-million boost to help with the vote, the largest contribution of any country.
André Ouellet visited Kyyiv from March 31 to April 1, becoming the first senior member of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Cabinet to visit Ukraine. Mr. Ouellet signed a Joint Declaration on Special Partnership between Canada and Ukraine and initialed a friendship accord between the two countries. Canada's foreign affairs minister also announced a $15 million nuclear-dismantling package and a $11.8 million technical and humanitarian aid package to Ukraine, including $5 million to clean up the Dnipro River and $6.5 million for humanitarian assistance and medical training.
The Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce signed an Agreement on Trade and Commerce on March 31.
Friction continued over the name-change between the Toronto-chapter of the Canadian Friends of Rukh, who refused to acknowledge the name-change last April, and CADU in early April. CADU president Volodymyr Pedenko said his group cannot support one Ukrainian political party and revealed that CADU chapter members have legal rights to the name, "Canadian Friends of Rukh."
The Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, consisting of 42 Canadian members of Parliament and the Senate, was formed in Ottawa in June. Walt Lastewka, Liberal MP for St. Catharines, Ontario, is elected its first president.
The Canadian government announced a $2 million, two-year expansion program of the Chornobyl Children's Project to provide specialty training in obstetrics, gynecology and neonatology, beyond pediatrics.
Canada convinced its G-7 partners to establish a $200 million (U.S.) fund to help Ukraine ensure the safety of its nuclear reactors and became the host of a Conference on Partnership for Economic Transformation in Ukraine to be held in Winnipeg in late October.
André Ouellet launched the $2.5 million Canada Ukraine Partners Program in August, which is to be administered by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). Two months later, former Canadian diplomat Mykola Switucha was named program manager for the program's Ottawa office.
Less than two years after occupying a controversial two-story office building in downtown Ottawa, the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa announced that it had bought another. The $1.8 million complex, once occupied by the national New Democratic Party and purchased by the UCC, will serve as the mission's main building: the other will handle consular matters exclusively.
Oseredok, considered one of the world's largest Ukrainian libraries and archives, announced a $10 million tri-phase construction and expansion project in Winnipeg in September.
Saskatoon's Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Basil Filevich ordained Ivan Nahachewsky, a married man to the priesthood in October. Despite concerns by the Vatican, the Rev. Nahachewsky became the 12th Canadian non-celibate to become a priest in the church.
The UCC launched the Canada-Ukraine Foundation in Winnipeg on October 26. The philanthropic and humanitarian volunteer organization still needs approval by both the Canadian and Ukrainian governments.
Ukrainian Canadians joined the anti-"60 Minutes" bandwagon in early November, following the October broadcast of the controversial "The Ugly Face of Freedom" program. Ukrainian World Congress president Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk accused the American network of promoting "hatemongers' anti-Ukrainian agenda." Meanwhile UCC president Oleh Romaniw issued a November 2 news release calling on "everyone who believes in fair, accurate and responsible reporting to protest the biased, inaccurate and blatantIy racist report."

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