A little late but here are some photos and video’s from last Sunday’s Ukrainian choir and dancers performing at the Toronto Christmas Market:
The annual Christmas Market in Toronto’s Distillery district will feature permormances by Vesnivka Women’s Choir and the Academy of Ukrainian Dance this Sunday:
Inspired by the Old World and influenced by the New, this free annual event captures all of the tradition, heritage and charm of a European Christmas Market, while showcasing hundreds of unique and local handcrafted products. Family friendly entertainment includes musicians, carolers and children’s choirs, holiday themed stage presentations, Rudolph’s Reindeer Zoo and of course … Santa and his roaming elves! There is great shopping, specialty beer and mulled wine gardens, sweets and treats, and all the great restaurants of The Distillery Historic District. Come and experience the fun and magic of Toronto’s first and only Christmas Market!
The market is open from 10am to 9pm, and here are the times of the performances:
12pm & 2pm - Vesnivka Women’s Choir – the Toronto Christmas Market is thrilled to present this Internationally award winning Ukrainian Choir performing a special holiday concert of original Christmas carols commissioned for the choir, some rarely heard folk carols and, of course, some classic Christmas favourites.
4pm & 6pm –
Academy of Ukrainian Dance – enjoy a special performance by this Toronto-based Dance Company whose members have been sharing their love of Ukrainian traditions with performances around world for over 25 years. Presented in association with the Community Folk Arts Council of Toronto
Leave a comment if you are thinking of attending.. see you there!
This morning the CBC’s Sunday edition interviewed 92 year-old Saskatchewan track star Olga Kotelko – the oldest long jump competitor in the world, holding 23 world records and considered one of the world’s greatest athletes.
Today’s show dealt with aging properties and looked into whether or not Olga had some extraordinary characteristics. She did in a few categories but surprisingly in many ways she is just your average 92 year-old. Olga revealed her secret of healthy eating and exercise as her key to longevity.
Unfortunately the interview did not mention her Ukrainian heritage, unlike her BBC interview earlier this year. Olga was also a torch bearer for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
Stream the interview at the Sunday Edition or Download the MP3 of the interview:
Hour One
Olga the Magnificent:
Saying Olga Kotelko is aging well is a little like saying Wayne Gretzky was pretty good with the puck.
The track and field star owns 23 world records, has won more than 650 medals.
And she is 92 years old.
She took up track and field when she was 77.
If you go to a Masters World Championship anywhere on the plant, people will know who Olga Kotelko is. Medical scientists took note when they heard about Olga.
Research into aging is a relatively new field of study. Until 20 years ago, most researchers thought turning back the aging clock was impossible. Aging may be inevitable but more and more scientists believe how we age can be changed.
Unlocking the secrets of Olga’s athletic prowess and remarkable longevity could mean future treatments for a host of age-related diseases, including dementia.
Here is John Chipman’s documentary "Olga the Magnficent," follwed by a conversation about the research of aging with two experts in the field.
Judith Campisi is a professor with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. The Buck Institute is America’s first independent research facility focused solely on understanding the connection between aging and chronic disease. Its mission is to increase the healthy years of life. She was in her office.
Siegried Hekimi is a professor or genetics and aging at McGill. He was in our studio in Toronto.
Another face-palming type of day as the far-right Wild Rose party attacks a Ukrainian Education minister for criticizing a disparaging comparison of the Holodomor:
The angry exchange erupted during a debate on the government’s new land-use law, Bill 19, when Wildrose critic Paul Hinman referenced the genocide in his remarks.
“We just had a commemoration of the Holodomor (genocide) of the starvation of Europe, and that wasn’t because of bad weather or not (being) able to produce,” Hinman said. “That was evil, corrupt government confiscating property from the people and trying to destroy a region which the government was having trouble controlling.
“Many of the acts that were taken in Europe during (the Second World War) and other times were very much brutal acts that didn’t respect property rights, and there are many areas in these (Alberta government) bills that have no respect for property rights.”That set off Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who called for Hinman to be censured by the Speaker, saying the opposition MLA was trivializing one of the worst atrocities in human history.
“It was a very important historical event that killed thousands upon thousands, millions of people, including many relatives of Albertans,” Lukaszuk said.
“He’s comparing the policies we’re passing in the legislature right now to Stalin’s genocide in Ukraine. If this isn’t reaching a new bottom for the Wildrose, I don’t know what is. This is disgusting.”
Regardless of how you feel about Alberta’s land-use policy, it is completely unprofessional and offensive to trivialize the Holodomor as an attack point in provincial politics. This sort of ignorance does nothing but enhance the century-old tensions between the Ukrainian and Anglo-Saxon communities of the Praries.
Don’t be afraid to let Paul Hinman what you think about his remarks about the Holodomor, and note the special toll-free number to dial first. While no postage is required to write to federal politicians, it is required for these provincial ones.
Coming to Hinman’s aide was fellow Wild Rose member and MLA Rob Anderson:
“I would ask that member (Lukaszuk) to take his remarks back and apologize for insinuating such absolute stupidity, because that’s what it was. It was a stupid comment.”
Who later made this comment, according to Lukaszuk:
@RAndersonMLA #ableg #wrp #abgov Rob, Paul Hinman just said to me “You come from communism. You know about that”. Still denying?
You can also let Rob Anderson know what you thought about his remarks.
This isn’t the first time Alberta’s politicians have shamefully used the Holodomor to further their own political agenda, two years ago NDP leader Brad Wilson made the same despicable comparison.
Update: Hinman apologized last Wednesday for the remarks:
“I sincerely apologize if anybody would think that I would ever trivialize any of these atrocities in history,” Hinman said. “I have absolutely no intentions of that. … I did not in any way intend to correlate the two when I was talking about property rights.”
The Edmonton Journal also has a good opinion piece on the situation:
Is Bill 19 perfect? No. But frankly, concerted opposition from all the opposition parties, and the public, has made it better. That kind of debate is important and healthy – and in this case, it has led to significant and important improvements to protect the legal rights of property holders.
But the bill – which allows the government to assemble land for public projects like ring roads and water reservoirs – can in no sane way be compared to the forced collectivization of land in the U.S.S.R or Hitler’s seizure of the property of German Jews. The Redford government isn’t plotting an ethnic genocide – it’s trying to make sensible plans for future public infrastructure which while serve all Albertans. Any time a government expropriates private land for the “greater” public good, it’s unfair to individual landowners. That’s why it’s essential that the law provide landowners fair compensation and adequate legal recourse. But political hyperbole that in any way attempts to conflate straightforward, essential land use planning with the techniques employed by two of human history’s most evil butchers is insulting to the memory of the millions who died – and to the intelligence of today’s Albertans.
The Wildrose Party is quite right to raise serious questions about the weaknesses in Bill 19. Individual property rights are an important part of our democratic political tradition. I don’t like to see any legislation that would allow the state to run roughshod over civil liberties or the right to own and sell personal property. But if we want a province that has roads, and power lines and high speed railways and environmental preserves, we do need to give the government the right to assemble land for sound public policy reasons – provided that individual landowners are fairly compensated, and that the government’s plans are made with reasonable and open consultation, in the best community interest.
Klitschko, a documentary about the lives and careers of the Ukrainian heavyweight champion brothers, Wladmir and Vitali Kitschko, premiered last Friday at the Projection Booth (1035 Gerrard East) in Toronto and runs until this Thursday December 1st:
Six-foot-six Ukrainian brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko moved to Germany to begin careers in heavyweight boxing in 1996, and the sport was never the same. After a 15-year reign over the ring, they made history in 2008, becoming the first brothers in the sport to hold world titles at the same time. Through an engaging mix of candid interviews and absorbing fight footage, Klitschko offers a captivating glimpse into the makings of these champion boxing brothers. But who are these smart gentlemen of boxing, each with a PhD and fluent in four languages? Will Wladimir dominate Heavy Weight Boxing for another five years; and will Vitali, the politician, someday become the President of Ukraine? Will they really stick with the promise they made to their mother, never to fight against each other?
Rotten Tomatoes gave it a pretty good rating. Here’s the trailer:
It looks pretty good, if you get a chance to see it at theatre, please let us know in the comments.
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