UCC
24th
Triennial Congress
By
Walter Derzko
------------------------
The
UCC 24th
Triennial Congress, which took place on November 8th
to 10th
at the Toronto Airport Marriott, was attended by almost 400
delegates, guests, speakers and media and over 50 delegates from the
UNF and Affiliated Organizations – one of the largest delegate
groups. It featured two days of well-planned plenary panel
discussions. The first topic on Religious, Academic and Media
Freedoms, was chaired by Daniel Bilak and featured Dr. Andrew Bennett
(Ottawa), Dr. Serhiy Kvit (NaUKMA) and Dr. Pavlo Khobzey (Ukrainian
Catholic University).
A
panel on the Canadian Museum of Human Rights led to a lively
discussion during question period on what next steps should be taken
by UCC.
Friday
night saw a new event for the Congress, the Ukrainian Dragon’s
competition, were over 40 community groups from across Canada
competed for prizes from the six dragons. The three finalist were
SUSK, The Vesnivka Choir and the Lemon Bucket Orkestra.
The
highlight of the conference was the 3d panel on Saturday afternoon on
Ukraine-One Year After the Parliamentary Elections, which saw Hanna
Herman (Party of Regions), Serhij Leshchenko (Ukrainksa Pravda) and
Andrij Mokhnyk (Svoboda) in a lively opinionated debate.
The
sold-out Gala dinner on Saturday night with 620 guests, featured the
Prime Minister of Canada. Instead of a formal speech, The Right
Honourable Stephan Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, sat down with
the moderator of the evening, Yuri Klufas from KONTAKT TV for an
informal “fireside chat” The dialogue ranged from the
light-hearted to the serious. The discussion kicked off with the
Prime Minister reflecting on his Ukrainian chef in Ottawa and his
love of hockey with his new, long-awaited book called A Great
Game: The Forgotten Leafs & The Rise of Professional Hockey,
which recounts the early years of professional hockey in Toronto in
the early 1900’s. Ottawa Senator’s owner, Eugene Melnyk, who
later thanked the Prime Minister for his appearance, was so excited
by the book that he bought 350 copies and donated the book to all the
UCC Congress delegates.
The
Prime Minister also touched on more pressing, timely and serious
matter such as redress for the internment, Canadian government
support for democracy, human rights, rule of law in Ukraine, the
Vilnius summit, the Tymoshenko situation, the two great evils of the
20th
century, Fascism and Communism, the Museum of Human Rights in
Winnipeg, and the proposed Tribute to Liberty memorial in Ottawa
that would commemorate the millions of victims of Communism worldwide
in the past century. This was followed by the presentation of the
Shevchenko medals and the St. Volodymyr medals.
Numerous
concurrent breakout workshops were also planned over the two days
giving delegates a choice of four or five topics to choose from. The
various topics were: Fundraising, Integration of the 4th
wave into the community, Beyond Red Boots-Today’s Ukrainian
Canadian Arts and Culture, Church and Community Roles, How can the
UCC engage the next generation, Changes in Charitable Regulations,
Restoring Ukraine’s Historic Memory, Ukrainian-Jewish Relations,
Government Relations, Holodomor –the Canadian Story,
Canada-Ukraine-People to People, Ukrainian Language Education in
Canada-Successes and Challenges, Profiles of Ukrainians in Today’s
Media.
The
third day, Sunday was reserved for finalizing the Congress
resolutions and the installation of the President of UCC, Paul Grod,
who was re-elected for a third term.
The
single oversight and suggestion that I heard from an Edmonton
delegate from the floor was that the next triennial congress should
provide some accountability for past resolutions from the last
congress. The resolutions from the previous congress in Edmonton,
Alberta were printed in the Delegate Program, but there was no
information about who proposed each resolution, who was responsible
for carrying it out and how much of each resolution was actually
implemented-all, partial implementation or none.
Overall
most delegates and guests were extremely pleased with the
organization and running of the Congress. Students and delegates
will especially remember the 2 days of fun, singing, the live band
Zapovid and the merriment which stretched well into the night in
Room 916. This Hospitality suite was hosted by the UNF of Canada
and The New Pathway Newspaper and sponsored by Les Salnick.
The
entire community wishes the new Board of Directors continued success
in all their endeavors.
PHOTOS
1
- Delegates UNF and Affiliated Organizations, guests at UCC 24th
Triennial Congress
2
– New UCC Board of Directors
