Ukrainian Canadian

From the Interlake Spectator:

The Fifth St. North church, an impressive example of Byzantine architecture opposite Gimli Park, marked its 50th birthday last June with a celebratory mass followed by an anniversary dinner at the New Horizons club.

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That dates back to 1956 when the Gimli Ukrainian citizens decided they needed a central church to succeed several small churches with somewhat irregular services in outlying areas such as Dnister, Foley and Fraserwood.

The first step by parishoners was the purchase of the Gimli building lot from Tony Shymko for $550. Construction followed in stages by volunteer labour with money for the work being raised through donations, draws, bingos, bake sales and other fundraisers. In 1958, the first services were held in the basement – now the parish hall – while building continued upstairs in the two-towered church each topped by Greek crosses.

“The work by volunteers went on for years,” says Sacred Heart first vice-president Stephie Hykawy whose daughter Kathy was among the first children baptised in the church. “It finally ended in 1975 with the completion of the church steps and sidewalk.”

Congratulations!

From the Embassy:

Among the many things attracting more attention than the government’s lackluster Throne Speech on Monday was the renovation Michael Ignatieff has given to the Liberal front bench.

With his shadow cabinet shuffle last week, Mr. Ignatieff’s consolidation of power appears complete, with few supporters of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion remaining in prominent positions.

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Former citizenship and immigration critic Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who opposed Mr. Ignatieff during his rise to power, was also cut from the ranks, along with Montreal MP and famed human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler. Mr. Cotler’s position of human rights critic has been done away with altogether.

Longtime Iggy supporters, meanwhile, have been rewarded. Scott Brison has moved from finance to international trade, replacing David McGuinty, who has been given the energy and environment portfolio. Maurizio Bevilacqua has been assigned to immigration, while Glen Pearson (who has three children adopted from Sudan) has taken over as critic for international co-operation.

Borys was the Critic for Citizenship, Immigration & Multiculturalism and a great leader in the Ukrainian Canadian community.  Here are some of Iggy’s thoughts from his 1993 book ‘Blood and Belonging’:

“I feel like declaring my basic prejudices on arrival”, “Isn’t nationalism just an exercise in kitsch, in fervent emotional insincerity? Especially so in Ukraine. It has been part of Russia for centuries.”

“Into this inauthentic void streams nationalist emotionalism”, “striving to convince them that there always was a Ukrainian nation; that it has been suppressed for centuries; that it has at last found its freedom, and so on. The reality is different”

“My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside, I’m also what Ukrainians would call a Great Russian, and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these “little Russians.” The thought of their independence conjured up only “images of embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phoney Cossacks in cloaks and boots, nasty anti-Semites.”

You can write to Ignatieff postage-free (as well any MP) at:

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has chosen to continue to be the country’s opposition to the Conservatives, supporting their budget.  His only stipulation was requesting periodic updates on the economy. The NDP & Bloc have stated they will vote against the budget.

If anyone’s forgotten why we keep an eye on Iggy:

‘Ancestors in the Attic’ aired tonight on Global an episode about a man trying to look up his Ukrainian roots at the WWI internment camp in Spirit Lake, Quebec:

Growing up as a Ukranian-Canadian, Jerry Bayrak always faced prejudice. But he also heard whispers that his family dealt with even worse when they first arrived in Canada. No one would ever tell him anything about those early days. All Jerry’s Mom would reveal was that she grew up in a small town called Spirit Lake, near Montreal. But it wasn’t until Jerry began digging that he discovered that Spirit Lake was actually a World War I internment camp. Now, with the help of Ancestors in the Attic, Jerry begins a dramatic search to discover the truth about Spirit Lake and about one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.

The issue of Ukrainian internment is one that still remains a secret in Canadian history.   From Wikipedia:

The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of “enemy aliens” in Canada during and for 2 years after the end of World War I, lasting from 1914 to 1920. About 5,000 Ukrainian men of Austro-Hungarian citizenship were kept in twenty-four internment camps and related work sites, also known, at the time, as concentration camps. Another 80,000 were registered as “enemy aliens” and obliged to regularly report to the police. Those interned had whatever little wealth they owned confiscated.

There also exists other witness accounts, even CBC radio covered Spirit Lake.  In addition there were other camps, including Fort Henry and Kapuskasing in Ontario.

Last year, the government announced it will provide a grant of $10 million to the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko to establish an endowment fund to support initiatives related to the First World War internment experience that predominantly affected the Ukrainian and other East European ethnic communities in Canada.

From the Telegraph:

At night, they emerge to steal, forage and earn money from prostitution; by day, they cuddle up to the giant hot water pipes that serve public buildings. These are the street children of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine.

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Many parents, unable to care for their children, consign them to orphanages. Twelve-year-old Artom is one among thousands to have chosen to live on the streets. He says that he never knew his father, his mother drinks and his stepfather is “not kind”. He was put in the orphanage three years ago. He escaped to live underground where he was found by Father Vitaliy, a Catholic priest working for the Depaul Foundation, a UK charity working with street children.

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These children’s first need is food. With the help of the Scottish charity Mary’s Meals, founded in 2002 to provide the world’s poorest children with a free daily meal at school, Fr Vitaliy has been able to lure children into some semblance of a normal life. Every night, a minibus tours the city, dispensing free meals. Each stop appears to be in the middle of nowhere, but out of the darkness they appear, first checking for police, then sneaking into the dining area.

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Mary’s Meals is one of three organisations benefiting from the Telegraph Christmas Charity appeal. The closing date for donations – currently at £625,000 – is next Saturday, January 31. To make a last-minute donation, click here