Dear Editor:
The Civil Liberties Commission (CLC) began its work on March 15, 1985, defending Canada's Ukrainians against the specious allegations then being made about alleged "war criminals" hiding in our midst and articulating the community's position about how any war criminals who might be found in Canada should be brought to justice. Credit for appreciating the need for such a commission, constitutionally responsible for reporting directly to periodic national congresses of the Ukrainian-Canadian community, belongs to Yaroslav Sokolyk, then president of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee's Toronto Branch and to the UCC's president at that time, John Nowosad.
Proof of the high regard in which the CLC is held by the Ukrainian-Canadian community is reflected in the fact that during the two UCC congresses (1986 and 1989) held since its formation the CLC's unique mandate was unhesitatingly renewed.
It is also worth noting that, from its inception to the present, the CLC has been chaired by a Toronto lawyer, John B. Gregorovich. Under his capable direction the commission has continued to act effectively as an educational and lobbying group on all issues having to do with Ukrainian-Canadian civil liberties, broadly defined. Thus it was the CLC which raised and has since orchestrated the Ukrainian-Canadian community's campaign for an acknowledgement that Canada's first world war internment operations were unwarranted and unjust and which has pressed the federal government for appropriate redress.
Dr. Cipywnyk, the UCC's current president, was supportive of the CLC's work in defending the good name of the Ukrainian people against the miasma raised during the Deschênes Commission. Both before and after his election as the UCC's president, in the late fall of 1986, he accepted the CLC's mandate to deal with the redress question. By that time the CLC had been working for nearly two years on the "war crimes" issues and was preparing to initiate the redress campaign.
Giving credit where credit is due, your reporter (Chris Guly) should have written that Messrs. Sokolyk and Nowosad deserve recognition for the CLC's existence. And Mr. Gregorovich should be appreciated publicly for managing the CLC's ongoing work, as it monitors developments with respect to the "war crimes" issue and strives to secure redress from Ottawa.
I can attest to these facts because I have been an active member of the CLC from its inception in 1985 to the present and was myself primarily responsible for initiating and promoting the idea that Canada's Ukrainian community should seek acknowledgement and redress.
Lubomyr Luciuk
The writer is director of research at the Civil Liberties Commission of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
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Copyright © 1994 Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Copyright © 1994 Lubomyr Luciuk
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Originally Composed: Tuesday December 3rd 1996.
Date last modified: Thursday October 30th 1997.