Category Archives: canada

canada, event

The last secret of WW2: Operation Keelhaul – Betrayal of the Cossacks in Lienz

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From Surviving Lienz:

A little-known story of betrayal and treachery during Operation Keelhaul at the end of WWII will be revealed to Canadians by Professor Doctor Harald Stadler and author Anthony Schlega. They will be visiting several Canadian cities from May 4–16, 2009 to raise awareness of this shameful historical event, and funds for a memorial at the site of the massacre in Lienz, Austria.

Sunday, May 10 – 6pm Holy at Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Winnipeg, MB

Monday, May 11 – 6pm at Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon, SK

Friday, May 15 – 6pm at Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Elia in Edmonton

A little background:

The Lienz Cossacks were ‘white Russians’ who’d fought bitterly against communism and the rise of the Soviet Union following the Russian Revolution. During the Second World War, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Lienz Cossacks sided with the Nazis in order to try the topple the communist regime and bring ‘freedom’ to their country.

The Lienz Cossacks who’d fought with the Germans were rounded up by the British. It was up to the United Kingdom to decide what to do with them.

Continue reading The last secret of WW2: Operation Keelhaul – Betrayal of the Cossacks in Lienz →

canada, news, radio

CBC funds lavish getaways while shutting down Ukrainian RCI

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Fellow blog Ukemonde got a response from CBC in regards to them shutting down their Ukrainian language broadcast of their Radio Canada International service:

As I am sure you understand, it was made after extensive consultation and a great deal of careful consideration, and in response to the very difficult financial situation at CBC/Radio-Canada. Although it is bound to Foreign Affairs objectives, Radio Canada International remains fully accountable for its programming. We recognize that the Ukrainian section that opened in 1952 is one of the service’s oldest. We also realize how important it is to the Ukrainian community, in both Canada and the Ukraine. That said, RCI must pull out all the stops to fulfill its mission with a considerably reduced workforce now. Despite the closing of the Ukrainian section and the cancellation of programming in Cantonese, RCI will continue to faithfully carry out its mandate, which is to produce and distribute programming that targets international audiences, with a view to raising awareness of Canada, its values, and its social, economic and cultural life.

But another blog Nash Holos points out that CBC hosted lavish events for their top executives (April 22, 2009):

CBC’s top executives spent more than $60,000 over six months holding meetings in luxury hotels and resorts and expensing such items as sparkling wine and limousine rides. …

More than $21,600 was spent sending 21 CBC and Radio-Canada human resources managers and senior executives to the ritzy Chateau Beauvallon in Mont-Tremblant, Que., for two days. The limo costs alone for one vice-president amounted to $1,009.94.

Is the CBC justified in cutting their Ukrainian language broadcast while using tax-payer money for executive fun?  You can let them know.

canada, event, holodomor, news

It’s official – Ontario recognizes the Holodomor

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image While we’ve been tracking its status since last year, and when it was put forth this year and passed its third reading, I forgot to post when Ontario’s Holodomor bill received it’s Royal Assent last week – making it official:

Ontario will observe Holodomor Memorial Day, after a private member’s bill originally spearheaded by Brant MPP Dave Levac received Royal Assent.

Bill 147, which Lt.-Gov. David Onley signed into law late Thursday afternoon, sets aside the fourth Saturday in November each year as the day that Ontarians commemorate victims of the Holodomor, the manmade famine of Ukraine.

"This marks an important day for Ukrainian-Canadians and especially for the family and friends who fell victim of the Holodomor," Levac said in a telephone interview after the signing.

"Through the creation of a Holodomor Memorial Day, we mend a wrong in world history and in defiance to tyranny and oppression, continue to preserve the culture, heritage and way of life of the Ukrainian people.

"Royal Assent will allow us to never forget these horrors from the past."

The Holodomor is the name given to the famine in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, engineered by the regime of Josef Stalin to consolidate what was then a province of the Soviet Union.

About 10 million Ukrainians are thought to have perished from the regime’s policies of forced collectivization of agriculture that created mass starvation in an area that was a grain breadbasket, because nearly all production was sold abroad for cash to afford a costly industrial policy.

You can view the bill here, which is the province’s first-ever tri-sponsored private members’ bill passed by MPP’s Dave Levac of Brant, Frank Klees Newmarket-Aurora, Cheri DiNovo of Parkdale-High Park. Congratulations!

So now that’s Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the entire country and parts of the USA – where to next? 🙂

canada, event

2009 Ukrainian Cultural Festival in Mission, BC this Saturday

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Edit: Information about the 2010 one is coming, they’ve changed their website URL to http://www.bcucf.ca/

The 14th annual BC Ukrainian Cultural Festival is happening this Saturday May 2nd, 2009 at the Clarke Theatre Heritage Secondary School at 33700 Prentis Avenue, Mission, BC.

Here’s the schedule:

8:50AM – 7PM Dance competition commences: participants from Prince George, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland and Seattle
10AM – 5PM Display Arts & Crafts
10AM – 3PM Cafeteria opens
10AM – 4PM Entertainment cafeteria & display area
10AM – 5PM Pictures in gym
5PM – 8PM Evening food in cafeteria
7:30PM – 10:30PM Family zavaba (dance)

Tickets at the door. Programs will be available at the festival.

Their website should be updated soon

canada, news, ukraine

GG pitches Candu reactors to Ukraine

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From the Calgary Herald

Governor-General Michaelle Jean is calling for intensified energy cooperation with Ukraine, including in the nuclear sphere, to help it achieve energy self-sufficiency.

Ms. Jean, interviewed by Reuters on Saturday during a state visit to Ukraine, also said it was up to Canada and other industrialized nations to help Ukraine find permanent solutions to the dire, long-lasting consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Read the rest of the article