Plast Ukrainian Scouting 100^th Anniversary

Statement by The Honourable A. Raynell Andreychuk, Senator

Thursday, May 3, 2012, The Senate of Canada

National Scouting Organization of Ukraine - Plast

Hon. A. Raynell Andreychuk: Honourable senators, I rise today to recognize the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization on its centenary. Created by Dr. Oleksander Tyovsky on April 12, 1912, Plast was founded on the values of service to God and one’s country, helpfulness to others, leadership and citizenship.

Plast has a proud history in Canada. Ukrainian Canadians kept the Plast tradition alive in Canada through the years of the Soviet occupation of Ukraine when Plast was banned behind the Iron Curtain.

Following the collapse of the U.S.S.R., Ukrainian Canadian volunteer organizations, with the support of the Canadian government, played a critical role in fostering the re-emergence of Plast in Ukraine.

Today, Plast is active in all the provinces of Ukraine, in eight countries around the world, and in eight Canadian cities. This August, Plast will celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary at a world-wide jamboree at its birthplace in Lviv, Ukraine. Some 400 Canadians aged 12 and up will attend that celebration.

I applaud them for making what promises to be a life-changing voyage and encourage them to carry the Plast tradition in Canada into the next generation.

I join with the Ukrainian Canadian community in celebrating Plast’s contribution to the lives of thousands of young Canadians and to Canadian society as a whole, as well as to Ukrainian society today, where it is most needed.