Issue 15
Jury Kopach
Recently there has been much in the media about Ukraine and what the Canadian Government is doing to support the Ukrainian cause and its drive for a true democracy.
Many people have asked me, a Ukrainian Canadian who came here at the age of one, in 1946 why is the Canadian government interested in Ukraine? Why do Canadians of Ukrainian origin still support Ukraine after having been here for many generations? How can Ukrainians “muster” such spontaneous support and keep the front pages of newspapers and TV media focused on the issues in Ukraine, and on Ukrainians here in Canada?
The answers to these questions and others are not simple and cannot be related only to one or two things, but rather it’s the mixture of the Ukrainian Canadian persona, the history of Canada and the history of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Canadian social structures that have evolved, and especially the political events in Ukraine over the last 14 years.
There are over one million Ukrainian Canadians in Canada. There are over 100,000 living in Toronto. Ukrainians first came to Canada in 1896. The first f immigrants came mainly for economic reasons. They not only helped settle Western Canada, they did settle in Western Canada. They fought for Canada in both world wars (e.g. Konoval won the Victoria Cross for bravery). Many of Canada’s politicians in the 1950’s and 1960’s grew up with Ukrainian Canadians and from them learned about Ukrainian customs and their culture. One such example is Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Many of these Ukrainian Canadian later became politicians themselves (e.g. Ed Schreyer, Premier of Manitoba, the late Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, Michael Starr minister in Ontario, Andrew Witer MP). Therefore there are strong political ties to Ukrainian Canadians going back to almost Canada’s beginnings.
It is fair to say that Canadian Ukrainians of this early era made every effort to maintain their identity and their roots. The Ukrainian Catholic Church under Archbishop Sheptyckij from Ukraine sent Bishops and priests to Canada to ensure that Ukrainian Canadians continue to receive their faith and their customs.
The third wave of Ukrainian Canadians came to Canada after 1945. These were political émigrés who came here because if they returned home to Ukraine they would be sent to the Siberian gulags, or shot by the Russian/ Communist oppressors who brutally occupied all of Ukraine after World War II. Many of these people were the intelligentsia. They strongly believe in preserving the Ukrainian culture, its history and its language because they knew very well that the Russian occupier will try to destroy as much as possible, alter historical facts, and try to subsume Ukraine into Russia so that the world will think that Ukrainians are Russians ….. and unfortunately in many cases the Russians succeeded, until this day when the world finally realizes the difference.
The third wave, settled mostly in eastern Canada. They rolled up their sleeves and with incredible energy and zest began the formation of social and cultural structures that paralleled those that they left behind in Ukraine. In a few short years they developed Ukrainian full time and evening grade schools and Ukrainian high schools that attained government recognition as full credits for secondary school diplomas. They began financial structures such as credit unions. They built churches (Toronto alone has 17 Ukrainian churches). They established Ukrainian Canadian art galleries. They started youth organizations, such as PLAST (Ukrainian Scouting) and SUM. A sample of these various organizations and information about them is on www.ucc.ca/Links/links-others.html
Many who are leading today’s in activities on the Canadian side, grew up together, participating in these organizations. This is not to say that they did not integrate themselves into Canadian society, but never did they forget their roots, their culture, their religion, their history, and the customs of their people. The names and faces you now see on TV screens and mentioned in the papers are ordinary Canadians: students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, managers, business owners but they posses a very strong sense of identity and unity. These are the same people and their children who traveled to Ukraine en-mass after the 1990 breakup of the Soviet Empire and who could speak Ukrainian to their counterparts and who were proud to be Ukrainian. In turn the people in Ukraine were astonished that people from outside of Ukraine knew their history better than they did, and that in many cases could speak Ukrainian better than they did without using Russian words. They shared the customs, the culture, they could sing the same songs, and knew how to make the same delicious food. In turn Ukrainians in Ukraine began setting up the same structures that the immigrants of the 1940’s and the 1950’s started to form in Canada. The circle became full…. 360 degrees.
People wonder about the spontaneity and the ability of Ukrainians to organize a 5,000 member demonstration at the Russian, or the Ukrainian consulate in Toronto, quite literally overnight. It’s the product of more than100 years in the making!
When the news of the rigged elections in Ukraine was made public on November 21, it did not take long for the Ukrainian community to mobilize as it has often done in the past (for example the Chernobyl disaster). Many Ukrainian Canadians having been to Ukraine and having listened to the residents of Ukraine knew what to expect from Russia and from its puppet president Kuchma. The Canadian Ukrainian network, which was well established since the 1940s, sprung into action as if a tightly wound spring. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) (www.ucc.ca) that oversees most Ukrainian organizations in Canada began to distribute contact points through its membership organizations. These included web sites from Ukraine (http://www.brama.com, www.maidan.org.ua), emails to Ukrainian Canadians with instructions on how to contact their members of parliament and media. And Ukrainian Canadians responded en masse, calling radio, newspapers and televison stations to demand coverage. The UCC also bought advertising space in major newspapers to ensure that the general Canadian population was aware of the importance of the events unfolding in Ukraine (Click Here for PDF) Regional chapters of UCC began organizing demonstrations in front of parliament building and embassies across Canada. Regional and local organizations also began a variety of actions from mailings, to calling newspapers, to sending emails to local members of Parliament. Local churches began drives for clothes, food and money for the demonstrators in Independence Square in Kiev, and individuals began signing up to be observers for the next elections. The response was overwhelming. The Canadian government pleded $3.5 million dollars to send observers to Ukraine for the December 26 round. Over 3,000 Ukrainian Canadians applied for 500 positions. During the busy holiday season, these people were willing to go over and help a country that they or even their parents have never seen. Every Ukrainian Canadian realized that this was the time in history where they counted. They instinctively knew that they could make a difference.
It should also be said recently there is a new wave of ‘economic refugees’ from Ukraine joining the Ukrainian Canadian community and its organizations. This group has become instrumental, as they are the ones with the most current contacts in Ukraine.
There are two common characteristics that all Ukrainians share as an integral part of their soul. One is to be free; the other is to have faith. It is precisely this point in history that these two characteristics come together in Independence Square in Kiev.
So why is the Canadian government interested in Ukraine? Why was it the second country (Poland was the first) to recognize Ukraine’s independence in 1991? Why is it sending 500 scrutinizers to Ukraine for the Dec 26th election? It is because Ukrainian Canadians believe deeply in their cause, and have contributed much to Canada’s development. The Canadian government realizes that when individuals strongly believe in something, they will make it happen. Government is only politics; it’s the people who count.
