January 21, 2017

2016: Canada: marking 125 years of Ukrainian settlement

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At a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (from left) are: Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Andriy Parubiy, Mr. Trudeau and Member of the Parliament of Canada Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

While 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, 2016 was the year Ukrainians in Canada celebrated the 125th anniversary of their immigration to the country – and Saskatchewan kicked the year off on January 5 when the province’s premier, Brad Wall, officially proclaimed 2016 as the Year of Saskatchewan Ukrainians, who comprise 13 percent of the provincial population.

The first vice-chairman of Ukraine’s Parliament, Andriy Parubiy, visited Ottawa in February, meeting with Canadian officials, including the prime minister. At that meeting (from left) are Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Andriy Parubiy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Member of the Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

The first vice-chairman of Ukraine’s Parliament, Andriy Parubiy, visited Ottawa in February, meeting with Canadian officials, including the prime minister. At that meeting (from left) are Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Andriy Parubiy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Member of the Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Two months later, on March 10, Manitoba followed suit with its own proclamation, which recognized the contribution Ukrainian Manitobans have made to the province, “initially through agriculture, forestry, railways and mining and, presently, in most professional fields of the workplace,” and in the creation and promotion of multiculturalism across Canada. Then-Premier Greg Selinger designated 2016 the Year of Manitoba’s Ukrainian Canadian Cultural Heritage through the proclamation, which also noted the provincial capital, Winnipeg, as “the first major urban center of Ukrainian Canadians, where many of the earliest religious cultural institutions were founded, including the Canada-wide coordinating body known as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, established 75 years ago,” and as “the first city outside of Ukraine to dedicate a statue honoring the bard and freedom fighter of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, built on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress [UCC].”

2016 also marked the 55th anniversary of the Ukrainian education program in Manitoba, which was taught in the early decades until it was disallowed in 1916 and later reinstated in 1961, according to the proclamation, which highlighted three Ukrainian Manitoban institutions established at the University of Manitoba: St. Andrew’s College in 1946, Ukrainian Studies in the Department of German and Slavic Studies in 1949, and the Center for Ukrainian Canadian Studies in 1981.

The 125th anniversary celebrations continued through the year, with the July 21 launch of an exhibit – “Journey to Canada: Ukrainian Immigration Experiences 1891-1900” – at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Ukrainian Canadian community also unveiled a plaque as a tribute to the five waves of Ukrainian immigrants who came to Canada over the past 125 years, and which acknowledged their contribution to building Canada and championing such Canadian values as multiculturalism. “Ukrainian Canadians have enriched Canada through their industriousness, rich cultural heritage, strong religious beliefs and dedication to their community and ancestral homeland,” reads an inscription on the plaque.

Saskatchewan Ukrainians present Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall with an embroidered Ukrainian shirt in recognition of the province’s proclamation of 2016 as the Year of Saskatchewan Ukrainians. Pictured in the rotunda of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building on January 5 are (from left): Orest Gawdyda and Mary Ann Trischuk, vice-president and president, respectively, of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Saskatchewan Provincial Council; Premier Wall (holding the shirt); Gerald Luciuk, chair of the Saskatchewan-Ukraine Relations Advisory Committee; and Ken Krawetz, member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly and legislative secretary to the prremier for Saskatchewan-Ukraine relations.

Government of Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Ukrainians present Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall with an embroidered Ukrainian shirt in recognition of the province’s proclamation of 2016 as the Year of Saskatchewan Ukrainians. Pictured in the rotunda of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building on January 5 are (from left): Orest Gawdyda and Mary Ann Trischuk, vice-president and president, respectively, of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Saskatchewan Provincial Council; Premier Wall (holding the shirt); Gerald Luciuk, chair of the Saskatchewan-Ukraine Relations Advisory Committee; and Ken Krawetz, member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly and legislative secretary to the prremier for Saskatchewan-Ukraine relations.

Less than a month later, Alberta declared 2016-2017 as the Year of the Ukrainian Canadian. “Today, more than 345,000 Albertans are of Ukrainian descent and our province continues to welcome newcomers from Ukraine in this 25th year of Ukraine’s independence,” said Alberta’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade Deron Bilous, a Ukrainian Canadian, while speaking on August 7 at the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of Ukrainian immigration to Canada during Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village located outside of Edmonton.

National celebrations for the 125th culminated in the fall – back in Saskatchewan – where the XXV Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians was held in the capital, Regina.

But not everyone was celebrating with Canada’s Ukrainian community.

Canada’s relations with Russia

At a January 26 news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the previous Conservative Canadian government of “blindly following the demands of rabid representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.” The following day, and four days before his visit to Ukraine, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said the Liberal government would “not tolerate from any Russian minister any insults against the community” and “deeply disagree[s] with the invasion and interference of the Russian government in Ukraine.”

Mr. Dion echoed that position in March, when he released a statement marking the second anniversary of “Russia’s invasion and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.” He said that, “Russian occupation and aggression has led to human rights violations, including unlawful seizure of property, harassment and restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. Self-proclaimed ‘authorities’ use force and intimidation to foster a climate of intolerance, where residents who express views contrary to those of Russia face discrimination and persecution.” Mr. Dion accused Russia of “displaying a blatant disregard for international law, including the European Convention on Human Rights,” and said its actions “continue to undermine peace and security in the region.”

Canadian parliamentarians also heard about systematic violations of human rights by terrorists in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine and on the situation in Crimea from Andriy Parubiy, the first vice-chairman of the Verkhovna Rada during his late February visit to Ottawa. Mr. Parubiy also met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan to discuss Ukraine’s need for military equipment, joint training and continued training missions.

Mr. Parubiy (who in April became chairman of the Rada) also participated in an event on Canada’s Parliament Hill to commemorate the Maidan activists – the Heavenly Brigade – who were killed by forces loyal to Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. Mr. Parubiy also said he would help establish a friendship group involving Ukrainian and Canadian parliamentarians.

Russia’s imprisonment of Ukrainian national deputy and former military pilot Nadiya Savchenko captured global attention, including that of both the Canadian government and the UCC.

Members of the newly elected board of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, including re-elected President Paul Grod, at the 25th Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians, which was held on September 29-October 2 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Norbert K. Iwan

Members of the newly elected board of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, including re-elected President Paul Grod, at the 25th Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians, which was held on September 29-October 2 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

On March 8, Minister Dion released a statement in which he expressed concern about Ms. Savchenko’s health, noting that she had refused food and water after the Russian court adjourned proceedings and denied her the right to make closing remarks. “Canada has repeatedly underlined that Ms. Savchenko’s transfer to Russia was illegal, the charges brought against her politically motivated and her treatment during her detention a matter of grave concern,” said Mr. Dion, who noted that the court process had been “marked by irregularities from the start.” He called for Ms. Savchenko’s immediate release.

On the eve of Freedom for Nadiya Savchenko Global Day of Support, March 9, the day her trial was scheduled to resume, the UCC also issued a statement denouncing the “illegal” court proceedings and “fabricated charges” against 35-year-old Ms. Savchenko, which show “the Russian regime’s utter, cynical contempt for international law, due process and human rights.” The UCC also praised Ms. Savchenko, who was serving in Ukraine’s armed forces in eastern Ukraine when she was taken hostage in June 2014 by pro-Russian forces on Ukrainian soil, for responding to her imprisonment and prosecution “with bravery, dignity and heroism.”

“Her resistance to injustice is the embodiment of the determination of the people of Ukraine to defend their country against Russia’s brutal invasion,” said the UCC statement, which called on Canada and the international community to exert pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure the immediate safe return to Ukraine of Ms. Savchenko and all other Ukrainians illegally imprisoned by Russia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress delegation in Kyiv. The Canadian prime minister visited Ukraine on July 10-12.

UCC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress delegation in Kyiv. The Canadian prime minister visited Ukraine on July 10-12.

Ms. Savchenko was eventually released, in May, as part of a prisoner swap with Russia, and visited Canada in early December, meeting with Mr. Dion and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Ukrainian Canadian. Ms. Savchenko warned Canadian leaders of the global threat posed by Russia.

Canada should be “relentless in supporting human rights and political rights in Russia and in Ukraine” and “to be strong in how” that message is delivered to Russia, which “only understands the language of strength,” Ms. Savchenko said in an exclusive interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC). She said she expects that incoming President Donald Trump, who seeks to establish a better relationship between the U.S. and Russia, “will very soon find out that that you cannot have a warm relationship with a country that has no principles [and] that doesn’t respect other democratic rights.”

As for her own future, Ms. Savchenko told interviewer Terry Milewski that she is ready to serve her country “in any capacity, either as soldier, politician or president, as long as people want,” but that she is “not interested in the presidency for the sake of power.” Her involvement in politics, she said, is “a way to change politics in itself,” and added that she was “disappointed in the politics we have right now and politics as usual we’ve had for the last 25 years that has led us to nowhere.”

Another – much younger – victim of the hostilities in Ukraine also visited Parliament Hill.

Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi, the 11-year-old boy who lost his legs and an arm in Volodarsk, near the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, presents Prime Minster Justin Trudeau his coloring “Tree of Life” on November 9 on Parliament Hill. From left are: MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Prime Minister Trudeau, CUF Director of Humanitarian Initiatives Krystina Waler, Mykola’s mother, Alla Nyzhnykovska, Mykola, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko and Canada-Ukraine Foundation President Victor Hetmanczuk.

Adam Scotti/Prime Minister’s Office

Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi, the 11-year-old boy who lost his legs and an arm in Volodarsk, near the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, presents Prime Minster Justin Trudeau his coloring “Tree of Life” on November 9 on Parliament Hill. From left are: MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Prime Minister Trudeau, CUF Director of Humanitarian Initiatives Krystina Waler, Mykola’s mother, Alla Nyzhnykovska, Mykola, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko and Canada-Ukraine Foundation President Victor Hetmanczuk.

Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi, an 11-year-old boy who lost his legs and an arm in Volodarsk, near the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, traveled from Montreal’s Shriners Children’s Hospital to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau while spending the afternoon of November 9 on Parliament Hill as a guest of Toronto Liberal Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

On August 24, 2015, Mykola and his brother Danyo were playing with two other friends in a field near their home and saw an object that piqued their curiosity. Mykola picked up what he thought was a toy, but it was a grenade that detonated, immediately killing Danyo and leaving Mykola a triple amputee with severe injuries to his face, teeth, eyes and other parts of his body.

Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn, a plastic surgeon at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, led a team of 22 volunteer Canadian medical professionals who treated Mykola’s facial injuries at a hospital in Kyiv as part of a medical mission to Ukraine organized by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. The CUF also arranged for Mykola’s further treatment in Canada at Montreal’s Shriners Hospital, which has provided ongoing assessment and treatment of Mykola’s prosthetic needs.

Three members of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation’s Medical Mission team were recognized with awards presented by President Peter Poroshenko of Ukraine on February 24. Leaders and volunteers of the team are seen above (from left): head anesthetist Dr. Paul Slavchenko; honorees Dr. Carolyn Levis, Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn and Krystina Waler; and Victor Hetmanczuk, president of Canada Ukraine Foundation.

CUF

Three members of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation’s Medical Mission team were recognized with awards presented by President Peter Poroshenko of Ukraine on February 24. Leaders and volunteers of the team are seen above (from left): head anesthetist Dr. Paul Slavchenko; honorees Dr. Carolyn Levis, Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn and Krystina Waler; and Victor Hetmanczuk, president of Canada Ukraine Foundation.

In February, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko presented Dr. Antonyshyn with the Order of Merit, and two other members of the CUF medical mission team – plastic surgeon Dr. Carolyn Levis of Hamilton, Ontario, and Krystina Waler, director of humanitarian initiatives from Toronto – were awarded the Order of Princess Olga in a ceremony in Kyiv. All three were recognized for outstanding achievements in service to Ukraine.

Prolific Ukrainian Canadian journalist Victor Malarek profiled the CUF’s medical mission to Ukraine, along with Mykola’s plight, on CTV’s investigative-news program, “W5,” in January.

Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Ukraine’s First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv sign the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman of Ukraine witness the signing, which took place in Kyiv on July 11.

Adam Scotti/Prime Minister’s Office

Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Ukraine’s First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv sign the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman of Ukraine witness the signing, which took place in Kyiv on July 11.

Crimea on the agenda

Crimea was also on the agenda in Canada in 2016.

On May 18, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev met with Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Dion, who told him that Canada will never accept Russia’s military invasion and illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and that Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. Meanwhile, Mr. Dzhemilev, who sits in Ukraine’s Parliament, told CBC News that “if Western countries decide to re-establish relationships with Russia and become friends again, it is a disaster for the entire Crimean Tatar people.”

Over 20 Liberal Members of Parliament donned traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts to celebrate international Vyshyvanka Day on May 19. Seen above are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Liberal ministers and MPs, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, and interns from the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program.

Office of MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj

Over 20 Liberal Members of Parliament donned traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts to celebrate international Vyshyvanka Day on May 19. Seen above are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Liberal ministers and MPs, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, and interns from the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program.

Later in the year, in November, Crimean democracy advocate Hennadii Afanasiev met with parliamentarians and attended a working dinner in his honor with members and associate members of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee. He shared details of his kidnapping, torture by Russia’s Federal Security Service and imprisonment in Russia, after a Russian court convicted him of terrorism and sentenced him in December 2014 to seven years in a maximum security prison. Freed in June 2016, Mr. Afanasiev, who was born in 1990 and holds a law degree from Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University in Kyiv, now serves as a special representative of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is responsible for helping to free 42 Ukrainians illegally imprisoned in Russia, including filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, who have also been convicted on trumped-up charges of terrorism.

In September, Edmonton Conservative MP Kerry Diotte introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons to establish a Crimean Tatar Deportation (known as the Sürgünlik) Memorial Day and recognize the mass removal of more than 230,000 Crimean Tatars from their ancestral homeland by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s regime in 1944 as an act of genocide. The bill, which received support from the UCC, was defeated at second reading in December.

Bilateral trade opportunities

But it wasn’t all bad, or sad, news from Ukraine. Bilateral trade opportunities were a top issue for Canada’s government and business communities.

On June 20, a Canada-Ukraine Business Forum, which was presented by the federal department of Global Affairs Canada and Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, in partnership with the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (CUCC) and the Ottawa-based national think-tank, the Conference Board of Canada, was held in Toronto. The forum focused on four key sectors: information and communications technologies (ICT), agriculture and food, infrastructure and logistics, and energy efficiency and renewables within the framework of the Canada-Ukraine Trade and Investment Support project (CUTIS), a five-year initiative sponsored by the Canadian government to increase trade and investment between the countries that is being implemented by the CUCC and the Conference Board.

Prime Minister Trudeau was the headline speaker at the one-day event, where he announced that he would make his first official visit to Ukraine in July, and meet with President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Parubiy, after attending the NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw. While in Ukraine, Mr. Trudeau would also witness the signing of the much-anticipated Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA).

Canada would continue to defend Ukrainian sovereignty “in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, as well as its support to insurgents in eastern Ukraine,” and Canada stands “firmly” beside Ukraine in its efforts to “strengthen democracy, respect the rule of law, and encourage economic growth,” the prime minister told the business forum. “We will continue to contribute assistance and expertise whenever possible, because we understand that a strong democracy is at the heart of economic prosperity,” he said. “Ultimately, we want to help create stability in Ukraine so that the middle class can grow and thrive.”

That goal took a step closer on July 11 when International Trade Minister Freeland and Ukrainian First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv signed CUFTA in Kyiv in the presence of Messrs. Trudeau, Poroshenko and Groysman.

The trade agreement represents an “endorsement” of the Ukrainian economy and “is about Canada strengthening and deepening its historically close friendship with Ukraine, and of supporting Ukraine at a crucial moment” in its history, Ms. Freeland told The Weekly in a telephone interview from Lviv. “We really understand, as do the Ukrainians, that a very important front on which Ukraine is fighting today is the economic front.”

Mr. Trudeau’s prime ministerial predecessor, Stephen Harper, had announced in July 2015, during then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk’s visit to Canada that a bilateral trade deal had been reached following five years of negotiations. A year later in Kyiv, Prime Minister Trudeau told reporters that CUFTA “will improve market access and create more predictable conditions for trade.” The milestone agreement, he said, will “bolster” the Canadian and Ukrainian economies, “spur innovation” and “contribute to a stable, secure, prosperous economic future for the people of Ukraine.”

Once CUFTA is in force, Ukraine will drop tariffs on 86 percent of Canadian imports, with the rest to be phased out or subject to tariff reductions over the next seven years. Ukrainian tariffs will be eliminated on all Canadian industrial products – from automobiles and medical-testing equipment, to industrial machinery, chemicals and plastics. Meanwhile, Canada will eliminate tariffs on almost all (99.9 percent) Ukrainian imports. Ukrainian products to have duty-free access to Canada include all industrial products, fish and seafood, sunflower oil, sugar and sweets, baked goods, vodka, clothing, ceramics, iron and steel, and minerals.

Ms. Freeland, the 48-year-old Alberta-born daughter of two lawyers who speaks Ukrainian fluently, said that “as a very proud Ukrainian Canadian,” affixing her signature to the trade pact had “particular emotional resonance” and was a “great moment” for her – and her family.

Legendary Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev held several informative briefings on Parliament Hill on May 18. He is seen above with executive members of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group and members of the diplomatic corps.

Legendary Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev held several informative briefings on Parliament Hill on May 18. He is seen above with executive members of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group and members of the diplomatic corps.

The minister’s late mother, Halyna Chomiak Freeland, was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany when her Ukrainian Catholic parents – Mykhailo Chomiak and Alexandra (Loban) Chomiak – fled their home in western Ukraine before World War II when “they knew the Soviets would invade,” Ms. Freeland told the Toronto Star in 2015. She said her maternal grandparents’ experience had a “very big effect” on her, and that “they were also committed to the idea, like most in the [Ukrainian] diaspora, that Ukraine would one day be independent and that the community had a responsibility to the country they had been forced to flee… to keep that flame alive.”

During her visit to Ukraine in July, Ms. Freeland noticed a change in the country where she once lived and studied, at the University of Kyiv as an exchange student from Harvard, and where she began her journalistic career as a stringer for the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Economist in the late 1980s.

“Ukraine is more united and more determined than at any time I’ve seen it,” said Ms. Freeland, who first traveled to the country in 1980. “There has been a big transformation over the past three years – a uniting of Ukrainian society. The Ukrainian people are taking responsibility for themselves and their country.”

She said the 2014 popular uprising on Kyiv’s Maidan “was called the Revolution of Dignity for a reason, because it was about people taking charge of their own lives. And you can really see that and people are aware of that.”

During his visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister Trudeau, who was also accompanied by Mr. Wrzesnewskyj (chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group) and a delegation of community leaders from the UCC led by President Paul Grod, visited the Babyn Yar Monument, the Park of Eternal Glory and the Holodomor Monument and Holodomor Commemoration Museum. The prime minister also visited the Maidan, where he laid flowers honoring the Heavenly Brigade, and the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv in the Lviv region, where he met with Canadian Armed Forces personnel who are providing training to Ukrainian forces as part of Operation UNIFIER.

During his visit, Mr. Trudeau announced that Canada would provide $13 million (about $9.7 million U.S.) in humanitarian assistance to support the humanitarian needs of the conflict-affected population in eastern Ukraine; deploy additional Canadian monitors to the Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; and deploy additional Canadian police to Ukraine, focusing on training and institutional development.

Following his meeting with the Canadian prime minister, President Poroshenko stated, “Canada is not just a special partner, but also a true friend that will not leave Ukraine in a difficult situation.”

In November, Minister Freeland tabled legislation in the House of Commons to implement CUFTA, which is expected to soon receive the parliamentary green light in both Canada and Ukraine.

Mr. Wrzesnewskyj told The Weekly that Ukrainian businesses operating in Canada under CUFTA would be able to take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that includes Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. “A company located in a place like southern Ontario would have access to the U.S. market,” Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said.

But such an entrée won’t be that straightforward, according to the president of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (CUCC). “If a Ukrainian company makes a product in Ukraine and brings it to Canada, it won’t be able to send it on to the U.S. because it’s not a Canadian product,” said Zenon Potoczny. “But if a Ukrainian company brings part of a product to Canada and adds something to it in Canada, it can export the product to the U.S. under NAFTA,” which Mr. Trump talked about scrapping during last year’s American presidential campaign and which Mr. Trudeau said his government would be open to renegotiating.

CUFTA is also seen as providing Canadian businesses with a cost-effective gateway into the lucrative European market, to which Canada will soon have access once a trade agreement with the European Union, signed in late October, is ratified. The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is massive, and will give Canada access to a market of more than 500 million people in 28 countries, with a combined GDP of more than $14.9 trillion (U.S.). By comparison, CUFTA addresses a market where bilateral trade amounted to nearly $207 million (U.S.) in 2015, of which most was Canadian exports to Ukraine.

The benefit for Canada, in Mr. Wrzesnewskyj’s view, is that small and medium-sized Canadian businesses can set up a plant or facility in Ukraine and operate it at a much lower cost than in an EU-member country, such as France. A Canadian business can use Ukraine as its home base in Europe, and tap into the broader continental market through the free-trade agreements Canada and Ukraine have both signed with the EU.

Mr. Wrzesnewskyj also expects CUFTA to provide a boost to both Ukraine’s and Canada’s strengths in the agricultural and food-processing sectors. “For centuries, Ukraine was a breadbasket country that had a capacity to produce vast amounts of food, and now has tremendous potential to return to that position,” he explained. “Canada has that potential too, since in many ways it is looked upon as an incubator for new products and new ideas in the food-processing industry.”

The CUCC’s Mr. Potoczny believes CUFTA could also help Ukraine tackle corruption, since the pact devotes an entire chapter to transparency, and a section outlining measures to combat bribery and corruption in trade and investments by criminalizing such activity. Those provisions, along with another made-in-Canada chapter on labor that gives workers the rights to join unions and collective bargaining, and sets out employment standards, such as minimum wages and overtime pay, could also serve as a model for Ukraine domestically, he added.

CUFTA’s labor provisions mark the first time Canada has incorporated a “progressive” and comprehensive chapter in a free-trade agreement that also addresses such issues as eliminating all forms of forced labor and banning child labor, Canadian Employment, Workforce Development and Labor Minister Mary Ann Mihychuk told The Weekly in an interview following a November visit to Ukraine to strengthen collaboration between Canada and Ukraine on workplace safety in the context of CUFTA.

Ms. Mihychuk, a Ukrainian Canadian who also serves as the Liberal MP for the north Winnipeg federal riding of Kildonan-St. Paul in the House of Commons, also met with representatives of the International Labor Organization – the only tripartite United Nations agency that brings together governments, employers and workers to develop and set labor standards and policies – to create a training plan involving Ukraine, Canada and the ILO with the goal of improving the safety surrounding working conditions in Ukraine’s extractive sector. The three-party, workplace-safety strategy is also supported by CUFTA’s labor chapter that requires both countries’ labor laws and practices to adhere to ILO principles and rights, including the prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses, and offer compensation in such cases.

A geoscientist for 20 years before entering politics in her home province of Manitoba in 1995, Ms. Mihychuk said that according to Ukrainian government statistics, 26 percent of Ukrainian workers faced hazardous conditions on the job in 2015 – and “in particular, the extractive mineral industry was the most hazardous industrial sector.”

She also visited the site of the former Chornobyl nuclear power plant where Canada has contributed $3.6 million ($2.7 million U.S.) toward a replacement sarcophagus to help contain and safely store radioactive materials resulting from the catastrophic accident in 1986.

Ms. Mihychuk expressed hope that Ukraine will soon be energy-independent and not have to rely on natural gas imports originating from Russia. Ukrainians need “cheap and reliable fuel,” she said, and “coal is under their feet,” despite the serious risks this energy source poses to both workers and the environment.

But the Minister added that, as abundant as coal is in Ukraine, it could only be a temporary supply for Ukraine’s energy needs, particularly in light of the Paris climate-change accord that came into force on November 4. Both Canada and Ukraine have ratified the global agreement that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated in large part by coal – and Canada could help Ukraine move toward a greener economy and “embrace the principles of climate change,” she said. “Canadian companies are looking for opportunities to do some drilling in Ukraine to look for natural gas, which is much cleaner than coal. Ukraine could then be economically self-sufficient – and green.”

Closer to home, Ms. Mihychuk said she was exploring the possibility of helping Ukraine’s health system through an initiative under way in her home riding. Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks General Hospital is home to the Wellness Institute – a world-class facility that promotes healthy living – and the Ukrainian Canadian minister said she would like it to be used as a model to develop a similar center in Ukraine. She raised the idea with Ukraine’s acting Minister of Health Dr. Ulana Suprun, a Detroit-born radiologist, whose husband, Marko, is a native Winnipegger.

Minister Mihychuk also wants to memorialize the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, which marks its centennial two years from now. The massive labor disruption, which lasted six weeks, involved more than 30,000 people, shut down Canada’s then third-largest city and culminated on June 21, 1919, a day known as Bloody Saturday, which is chronicled in Ukrainian Manitoban director Danny Schur’s stage musical, “Strike!” The musical features two principal characters of Ukrainian origin and which is being adapted for film with shooting schedule to begin in the summer of 2017 in Winnipeg.

Ms. Mihychuk said she plans to work with members of the UCC and Manitoba’s labor movement to create a bronze monument in the form of an overturned streetcar, an iconic image from the 1919 strike. “We want it to be a structure where people can see how the labor movement changed history, not only in Winnipeg but in the world, and how Ukrainians made a positive change for workers,” she said.

Internment camp in the news

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has tried to have detainees at an internment camp in Quebec properly remembered.

In early 2016, the UCCLA appealed to the Canadian government to recover the camp cemetery at Spirit Lake, known today as La Ferme, which has fallen into disrepair.

Between January 13, 1915, and January 28, 1917, when Spirit Lake was functioning as an internment camp for so-called “enemy aliens” under the War Measures Act of 1914, the camp had a maximum population of 1,312 internees, including entire families – some 60 of them. Many of those interned were parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Montreal; most of them were men.

UCCLA chairman Roman Zakaluzny called on Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, who represents a Quebec riding in the House of Commons, “to investigate how a cemetery, set up by the federal government, came to be sold to the Province of Quebec, and then re-sold to a private landowner, and whether this internee cemetery, one of the very few of its kind in Canada, should be designated a national historic site.” He said that, at a minimum, “this sacred space should be re-consecrated and restored, allowing for internee descendants to hallow the memory of those who died at Spirit Lake – people held behind Canadian barbed wire not because of any wrong they had done, but only because of who they were and where they had come from.”

The museum at Spirit Lake broke an attendance record in 2016. Last summer, over 4,000 visitors came to the Internment Interpretative Center, which opened in 2011 and chronicles the history of Spirit Lake – the second largest internment site in Canada – and early 20th century Ukrainian immigration to Quebec.

About 30 miles from there, the Quebec municipality of La Morandière permanently erected the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow national flag next to the flags of the municipality, Quebec and Canada in front of city hall in recognition of the direct contribution early 20th-century Ukrainian immigrants made to this northern region of Quebec. La Morandière is the result of a 1983 amalgamation of two communities – Lac Castagnier (originally called Sheptytsky Colony) and La Morandière – both located 357 miles north of Montreal.

Holodomor awareness

Meanwhile, Holodomor history went on the road in 2016 via a classroom in a 40-foot customized RV that visited six Ontario high schools and three Ukrainian Saturday schools in March and April, reaching more than 650 students with up to four lessons a day.

The Holodomor Mobile Classroom is the centerpiece of the Holodomor National Awareness Tour, a project of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, developed in partnership with the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC), the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and which received funding from the Canadian, Ontario and Manitoba governments.

On November 29, the UCC, in partnership with the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group and the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada, held a solemn commemoration in Parliament to mark the 83rd anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine in which millions of people died from starvation under Stalin. Nadia Zelem, daughter of Holodomor survivor Halyna Zelem, lit a candle at the ceremony attended by dozens of MPs and senators. Canada became the first country to officially recognize the Holodomor as genocide in 2008.

The mood on Parliament Hill was lighter on May 19 when over 20 Liberal MPs, including Prime Minister Trudeau, donned traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts and sang “Vziav By Ya Banduru,” to celebrate international Vyshyvanka Day.

Unbeknownst to the MPs, their performance of the Ukrainian song was recorded and became a major news item in Ukraine, gathering 70,000 views via Mr. Wrzesnewskyj’s Facebook page.

Two members of Mr. Trudeau’s Cabinet, Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr and Minister of Small Business and Tourism Bardish Chagger, also became the first Canadian MPs to answer questions during Question Period while wearing colorful Ukrainian embroidery.

UCC’s 75th anniversary

In 2016, the UCC turned 75 years old, and to mark that milestone, Mr. Grod and Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, went on a cross-Canada tour, visiting Ukrainian communities from Ontario to Alberta before the UCC held its triennial (and 25th) congress in Regina in the early fall, when Mr. Grod was re-elected as national president.

Mr. Grod said that among the UCC’s priorities over the next three years would be to increase support for Ukraine’s reforms process and strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s war of aggression; build on the UCC’s relationship with the Canadian government and elected officials; and increase youth engagement and re-establish the UCC parliamentary internship program. He noted that over 40 of the some 250 delegates at the 2016 congress represented Ukrainian Canadian youth organizations, almost twice as many as at the previous congress in 2013.

At the 75th anniversary banquet on October 1, Shevchenko Medals – the highest honor bestowed by the UCC – were presented to 13 people, including writer, translator and cultural activist Orysia Paszczak Tracz, whose “The Things We Do” column appeared regularly in The Weekly. She died on November 10 in Winnipeg after suffering a stroke.

Minister Dion also attended the congress and announced that Canada would provide up to $8.1 million (about $6.1 million U.S.) in new funding to support the National Police of Ukraine through training and equipment. “We will stand shoulder to shoulder to support Ukraine in its quest for a secure, stable and prosperous country that could serve as a model in the region and become in itself the best rebuke to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s attempts to determine its future,” he told delegates.

In October, the UCC’s Ukraine Appeal initiative shipped 10 ambulances to Ukraine as part of a project that began in 2015 to address the humanitarian crisis that has left over 9,500 people killed and more than 20,000 injured or wounded as a result of the ongoing conflict with Russian-backed rebels.

On November 1, the UCC launched a national fund-raising campaign to raise money for local programs and projects, along with national educational and charitable initiatives, such as ensuring that the Holodomor is included in school curricula across Canada and supporting the completion of a memorial to victims of Communism in Ottawa.

Then, on December 3-4, the UCC Board of Directors, along with special guests, gathered in Toronto for a strategic planning session. The session focused on developing the resolutions set out by the umbrella organization’s recent triennial congress, as well as other key priorities. The board determined three strategic pillars for the upcoming three-year term of the UCC: developing the Ukrainian Canadian community; celebrating and advancing the Ukrainian Canadian identity; and supporting Ukraine.

Over the summer, the UCC participated in public consultations concerning Canada’s new defense policy and submitted a position paper, which addressed several key points, including a call for Canada to help deter further Russian attacks against Ukraine or other states in the region and play a lead monitoring role at the Ukraine-Russia border in any future peacekeeping mission; help Ukraine strengthen its security forces against foreign aggression; increase the number of the current 200 Canadian military personnel training Ukrainian forces under Operation UNIFIER and extend the mission from 2017 until at least 2020; and conclude negotiations on the Canada-Ukraine Defense Cooperation Agreement to improve interoperability and deepen cooperation and investment between Canada’s and Ukraine’s military.

In September, the UCC also called on G-20 leaders, who were to meet in Hangzhou, China, to suspend Russia’s participation in that world body and bolster sanctions against the country to pressure Mr. Putin to end Russian hostilities against Ukraine and its occupation of Crimea, as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Three legislators of Ukrainian heritage who have done much for Alberta’s Ukrainian community were honored at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton on May 25. During the presentation of gifts (from left) are: Peter Dackiw and Gene Zwozdesky (former member and speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly), Ivan Fedyna and Ed Stelmach (former Premier of Alberta), Ivanna Szewczuk and Janice Sarich (member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly).

Lidia M. Wasylyn

Three legislators of Ukrainian heritage who have done much for Alberta’s Ukrainian community were honored at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton on May 25. During the presentation of gifts (from left) are: Peter Dackiw and Gene Zwozdesky (former member and speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly), Ivan Fedyna and Ed Stelmach (former Premier of Alberta), Ivanna Szewczuk and Janice Sarich (member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly).

In Edmonton in May, the Ukrainian Youth Unity Council honored three Ukrainian Albertan legislators, including former premier Ed Stelmach, former Alberta Member of the Legislative Assembly and Speaker Gene Zwozdesky (who successfully introduced the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide [Holodomor] Memorial Day Act, which passed with unanimous support in 2008), and former MLA Janice Sarich, who represented the provincial riding of Edmonton-Decore, where the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex is located.

In other news, $1.5 million (about $1.1 million U.S.) was raised to support an initiative to name a central pathway at the site of the First World War Battle of Hill in honor of Ukrainian Canadian Filip Konowal, the only soldier of Eastern European origin to receive the prestigious British Victoria Cross. The Battle of Hill 70 memorial will be officially unveiled near Lens, France, on April 8, 2017.

A pysanka coin

And finally, to crown the 125th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint released a $20 silver coin in the shape and in the colors of the beloved pysanka in early 2016. An image of Queen Elizabeth II (not in color) appears on the verso. The Hutsul pysanka coin (the world’s first-ever in the shape of an egg) sold out in a day at a price of $114.95 (about $87 U.S.). Only 4,000 coins were produced.

The $20 fine silver pysanka coin released by the Royal Canadian Mint to mark the 125th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada.

The $20 fine silver pysanka coin released by the Royal Canadian Mint to mark the 125th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada.

As for who came up with the idea for the design, perhaps it originated from the late Ms. Tracz, who wrote about the coin in a front-page story in The Weekly’s February 14 issue. In 2014, she had written to the mint and suggested the pysanka-design for a $1 or $2 coin. Ms. Tracz got that – and 10 or 20 times more.

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