Arbor
and Canada-Ukraine Awards
(CUPP
Media) On September 12, 2012, President Dr. David Naylor
presented the prestigious Arbor Awards to alumni and friends for
their volunteer commitment to the University of Toronto. This annual
award is the University’s way of thanking and acknowledging the
recipients in that their substantial contributions of time, energy
and experience do not go unnoticed. Ihor Bardyn, President of the
Chair of Ukrainian Studies Foundation at the University of Toronto,
was one of the 2012 recipients of the Arbor Award. The Latin motto of
Universitas Torontonensis is “Velut arbor aevo” or in English:
“As a tree through the ages”. Mr. Bardyn is the second Ukrainian
community recipient of the Arbor Award, after John Yaremko.
On
December 5, 2012, at the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine in Kyiv,
Ambassador Troy Lulashnyk presented Ihor Bardyn with the Exceptional
Achievement Award, for outstanding contributions to Canada-Ukraine
relations. Mr. Bardyn is the founder and director of the
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP), an internship program
for university students from Ukraine and diaspora, now in its 23rd
year of operation in the Parliament of Canada. He was a co-founder of
the World Congress of Ukrainian Jurists – established in Kyiv, and
Amnesty International’s country representative on behalf of Stepan
Khmara, an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience.
Previous
recipients of the Exceptional Achievement Award were Ruslana
Wrzesnewskyj (2010) of the Help Us Help the Children Program
(Canadian Children of Chornobyl Found), and Professor Yurii Makar
(2011) founder of the Canadian Studies Program at Yurii Fedkovych
National University of Chernivtsi.
Mr.
Bardyn was the Chairperson of the Model Ukraine conferences
dedicated to promoting good government and the rule of law in
Ukraine. This prestigious series of conferences, initiated in Ottawa,
was attended by government, university and business representatives
from Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the UK, the
USA and Ukraine and were held at George Washington University (2010),
University of Ottawa (2010), Oxford University (2011) and the
National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy (2012).
Mr.
Bardyn is currently National President of the Ukrainian National
Federation of Canada.
PHOTO
Ihor
Bardyn