Canadian Ps and Bs seek allies in next Parliament (06/15/97)

Canadian Ps and Bs seek allies in next Parliament

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - By Raya Shadursky's count, the June 2 federal election in Canada produced one Ukrainian Canadian member of Parliament: Jim Pankiw in the Saskatchewan riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt. Ms. Shadursky, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, admits her opinion is a guess, based on name recognition.

Figuring community representation in the House of Commons can indeed be tricky, if a person's Slavic-sounding moniker is the measuring stick. However, there was news about several known Ukrainians.

For instance, Ontario Liberal MP Walt Lastewka, who represents the St. Catharines riding, was re-elected by a margin of more than 2,000 votes.

Voters in the Saskatchewan riding of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Center also returned John Solomon, of the left-of-center New Democratic Party, to office. Liberal MP Morris Bodnar, in the Saskatchewan riding of Black Strap, wasn't as lucky; he was defeated by right-wing Reform Party candidate Allan Kerpan.

Similarly, in Winnipeg North-St. Paul, where many Ukrainian Canadians live, NDP candidate and university professor Dr. Roman Yereniuk failed in his bid to wrest the seat from the Liberals' Dr. Rey Pagtakhan. Progressive Conservative candidate and former UCPBF Ottawa president Margaret Kopala was also about 18,000 votes shy of beating incumbent Liberal Marlene Catterall in Ottawa West-Nepean.

Presumably, the list is longer than this. But in a race for 301 seats in the Commons, using names to identify candidate ethnicity is almost an impossible task.

Still, having Ukrainian Canadians run, and obviously win, seats in Parliament is very important for the community, said Ms. Shadursky.

"We are always looking for allies, especially to help show us how to leverage the [political] system in order to be able to access information, support and resources."

As president of the UCPBF for the past two years, Ms. Shadursky is also cognizant of the need to increase awareness of non-Ukrainian-Canadian MPs on issues facing the community.

To that end, the federation issued a questionnaire to members of its 16 branches across Canada midway through the recent federal election campaign. The idea was to gauge partisan response to several Ukrainian Canadian issues: multiculturalism, immigration, Canada-Ukraine foreign relations and technical assistance, and the yet-to-be resolved question of redress for World War I internment of Ukrainian Canadians.

Sample questions included:

"The Ukrainian Canadian community believes that the concept of two founding nations [English and French], whether officially recognized, claimed or hidden, is destructive and divisive to Canada as a federation. This concept and thinking also threatens other cultural and native communities in Canada. What does your party believe are the consequences of this thinking ... to Canada?"
"Does your party support the idea that communities in Canada, be they geographic, religious or ethnic, play a significant role in the successful establishment of new immigrants?"
"If elected/re-elected, what would your party's stance be with respect to Ukraine's political aspirations and in assuring Ukraine's security?"
"What role should the Ukrainian-Canadian community be playing in the delivery of Canadian technical assistance to Ukraine, if any?"
"Is your party prepared to acknowledge the injustice done to Ukrainian Canadians, and to guarantee that the issue of restitution of the internee's confiscated valuables and properties will be dealt with properly?"

Since the federation launched its survey too late to be effective in helping Ukrainian Canadians decide on their choices at the polls, the project has been shaped into more of a prototype for similar efforts in the future, said Nicholas Turinski, UCPBF vice-president for government relations, who chaired the questionnaire subcommittee.

"It's important for us, as a community, to be aware of where the parties stand on issues facing us," he said.

The federation has yet to analyze the results of the politicians' survey. Mr. Turinski said he was unaware of how many candidates were contacted.

But as the UCPBF prepares for its August national conference in Calgary, Ms. Shadursky said the federation's recent exercise could kick-start the organized Ukrainian Canadian community's somewhat indifferent approach in scoring a public profile.

"We have to start being taken seriously," she said, noting the Ukrainian Canadian Congress' muted response to the recent federal election. (However, a few UCC executive members were part of the UCPBF's questionnaire subcommittee.)

"All I hear from the community is that the government doesn't do this or the government doesn't do that," said Ms. Shadursky, who completes her term as federation president in August. "But at no point in time does anybody provide solutions on how we can access politicians and get our message across."

At a recent UCPBF multiculturalism symposium, recently re-elected Independent MP John Nunziata (in the Metro Toronto riding of York-South Weston) listened to questions from Ukrainian Canadians angry with the federal government, of which he was once a member. "Nunziata replied that he hadn't received one letter in his riding from anyone with Ukrainian background," said Ms. Shadursky.

But even if the federation finds its parliamentary Ukrainian Canadian allies by name, there's no guarantee they will find support in terms of policy.

Newly elected Mr. Pankiw in Saskatchewan, for one, holds membership in the Reform Party, which has long opposed publicly funded multiculturalism programs.

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