Canadian professionals/businesspersons discuss community's future (08/24/97)

Canadian professionals/businesspersons discuss community's future

by Marco Levytsky
Ukrainian News (Edmonton)

CALGARY - The direction of Canada's Ukrainian community in the 21st century was the principal issue discussed at the 1997 biennial convention of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation held here August 1-4.

Some 135 persons representing Ukrainian professional and business associations from coast to coast participated. The associations represented were: Victoria, Vancouver, British Columbia; Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta; Saskatoon and Yorkton, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Windsor, Hamilton-Wentworth, Toronto, Oshawa and Ottawa, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Moncton and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The convention also elected a new executive headed by Calgary journalist Donna Korchinski, who replaces Torontonian Raya Shadursky, thus becoming the second woman to hold that post.

Other members of the executive are: Doris Watson (Calgary), executive vice-president; Hanya Skibo (Calgary), secretary; Ron Malashewsky (Calgary), treasurer; Nicholas Turinski (Ottawa), vice-president, government relations; Michael Kostiuk (Ottawa), vice-president, Internet; Marika Rypan (Toronto), vice-president, marketing; Nadja Piatka (Calgary), director, corporate sponsorship; Daria Luciw (Edmonton), director, publicity; Sonia Holiad (Toronto), director, Review; Michael Cheladyn (Edmonton), vice-president, British Columbia/Alberta; Kirby Bodnard (Regina), vice-president, Saskatchewan/Manitoba; Marika Lawrentiw (Toronto), vice-president, Ontario; Olya Williams (Halifax), vice-president, Quebec/eastern Canada; Bill Tretial (Montreal), director-advisor; Morris Cherneskey (Saskatoon), director - advisor; Gena Slawuta (Edmonton), representative of SUSK; Andrew Hladyshevsky (Edmonton), represtantive of the Taras Shevchenko Foundation; Christina Stodilka (Toronto), representative of the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (ex-officio); Russel Shulsky (Calgary), auditor (ex-officio); Nestor Budyk (Winnipeg), representative of the UCC; John Petryshyn (Winnipeg), representative of the UCC; Michael Wawryshyn (Toronto), representative of the UCC; and Michael Ilnytski (Calgary), advisor (ex-officio).

Among the resolutions adopted were several dealing with issues such as youth involvement, solemn commemoration of the Canadian government's internment of "enemy aliens" during World War I, and Internet communications.

A resolution, tabled from the previous convention, calling for the UCPBF to withdraw from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress unless certain conditions were met, died as no one was willing to move it.

Both Messrs. Petryshyn and Wawryshyn noted that a report recommending a number of changes for the structure of the UCC is being prepared and will be presented at its convention this fall.

The tone was set during the opening plenary session, on August 2, which dealt with the issue of "nation-building," based upon a term adopted by Saskatchewan's Ukrainian community describing themselves as "nation builders."

Adrian Boyko, president of the Saskatchewan UCC council, said the organized community is in decline. "It is possibly on the way to extinction in Canada, unless we take our rightful place in this society and play our true role as nation builders," he said in his plenary address.

Mr. Boyko added that the successes of 1960s and 1970s laid the foundation for the 1980s, during which a governor general, a Supreme Court justice, a lieutenant governor and two premiers of Ukrainian origin were installed in office. But this, in turn, led to complacency.

"I believe we thought that we had accomplished all the work that needed to be done for the Ukrainian community; [that] we were now part of the power elite. The reality is that these individuals achieved their success primarily on individual merit, and it had little to do with us as a community," he emphasized.

Mr. Boyko urged that guidelines be accepted to delineate how the community should approach issues as it goes forward into the 21st century.

Dr. Orest Talpash, a former UCFBF executive member and founding director of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, said the community had two "golden eras" of organizational development, namely the 1920s to 1950s, when most of the community halls were built and organizations begun, and then again in the 1960s and 1970s, which began with the Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism.

This began a process where Canadians began to look at themselves, and Ukrainians proved to be pivotal in gaining acceptance for the principle of multiculturalism. This was also a period of youth activism in the Ukrainian community, he added.

Ms. Shadursky said that the past 10 years have seen a decline in organizational membership, as fewer and fewer people are willing to contribute their time. As a result, the community was not prepared for the declaration of the independence of Ukraine. As new groups are forming, the older ones are unwilling to change, she continued.

Ms. Shadursky said that the community no longer has political leverage, and complained that some Ukrainian candidates running for office in recent elections were unable even to get support from some local organizations, which did not want to be seen as favouring one party over another. "Maybe we don't need large memberships in organizations, but maybe we need more advocacy groups," she said.

Another panelist, Edmontonian Volodymyr Boychuk, past president of the Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (known by in its Ukrainian acronym, SUSK) urged the UCPBF to establish youth leadership awards and organize leadership seminars and conferences for youth. "The bottom line is that we must nurture our future leaders, because if we don't, it may be too late," he declared.

The convention later adopted resolutions calling for the organization of youth leadership workshops, establishing a youth leadership award and a nationwide mentorship program.

Vancouver's Roman Onufrijchuk, a community animator and director of TV programming for Knowledge Network BC, said ethnocultural minorities form a "third solitude" in Canada, but one that is as diverse as the origins of its members. He urged the community to become media savvy and return to the spirit of sacrifice that prevailed in the earlier communities. "You can't have a community without sacrifice," he said.

Following a luncheon, University of Alberta historian Dr. David Marples gave an overview of Ukraine's first six years of independence.

(A revised version of that presentation appears on page 15 of this issue.)

During the afternoon, workshops were held on action planning, communications and working with other organizations.

The next day's plenaries featured a presentation by Mr. Kostiuk and Dariusz Polanski of PCS Communications on Internet applications for the Ukrainian Canadian community.

Also on the program was a panel on government relations. Opening the discussion, moderator Ms. Korchinski said that during the past few years the Ukrainian community has taken a beating: "We've been smeared, and we have to square off on some very tough issues with the federal government."

Longtime community and political activist Dr. Savaryn from Edmonton said involvement in politics is essential for the Ukrainian community in Canada. "In my time I've spoken on the theme 'language and culture' as an assignment for the UCPBF. For that no one has better 'credentials' than the members of the clubs and the federation." He said. "Today I will add politics. For what is life - if not politics? And who has the biggest access to politics, if not the professionals and the businesspeople? Who will be reckoned with the most?"

Dr. Savaryn's son Michael, a lawyer and trustee with the Edmonton Catholic School Board, said the community has to be more actively involved in recruiting candidates to run for office. "And community involvement cannot stop there," he added.

"The community has expectations of its candidates while they're in office, and it's only fair that there be reciprocity, and the candidate should be allowed to have certain expectations of the community - if not in direct campaign support, then certainly in ongoing assistance during a politician's tenure, since they cannot act in a vacuum," said Mr. Savaryn.

Mr. Turinski said that a subcommittee of the UCPBF and the UCC has come out with a report that identified five key issues for the Ukrainian community in Canada. These are: immigration, multiculturalism, foreign relations, bilateral relations and final resolution of the internment issue.

This report, he said, provides a plan of action for the future. "This is probably the first time in a long time that we have produced an open document that has provided us with visibility and a common mission," he added.

Mr. Petryshyn said the Ukrainian community should find issues that are Canadian in general and not just exclusively Ukrainian. "You will succeed as a Ukrainian, but everybody will support you," he explained.

Mr. Wawryshyn said one of the reasons for the community's current weakness is the lack of national leadership - "especially within the UCC."

He added that the objectives of the community in political action should be to be seen as leaders in the dialogue with all levels of government, to encourage and support local organizations to focus on local issues, and to establish both the federation and local associations as consultants on all government levels.

During the luncheon Mr. Cherneskey delivered an address on "nation-builders." (Excerpts of his speech appear on page 3.)

The afternoon was devoted to workshop reports, elections and the general meeting.

The convention closed with a banquet during which the recipients of the new "Nation-Building Awards" were named. They are Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy; Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow; Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of Baton Broadcasting Inc.; and Jon Tomas, past president of SUSK.

On August 4 delegates were taken on a guided tour of Banff National Park, which included a stopover at the Castle Mountain internment site, where a memorial statue and plaque were recently unveiled.

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