UCC Establishes New Dauphin Chapter 

Winnipeg - On Saturday, April 6, 2013, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) National and UCC Manitoba Provincial Council met with the leadership of the Ukrainian community in Dauphin and Parklands region. The UCC is pleased to announce the establishment of a new UCC Branch in Dauphin and Parklands region, Manitoba. Len Derkach, former Cabinet Minister and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, was selected as the inaugural President of the UCC Dauphin and Parklands Branch.

“It is a tremendous accomplishment by UCC along with Provincial Council President Oksana Bondarchuk, past-President Lesia Szwaluk and UCC (National) Executive Director Taras Zalusky to establish a branch in Dauphin, the home of Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival. The UCC brings together all the diverse community organizations under one umbrella to unify, coordinate, represent and lead the Ukrainian Canadian community,” stated UCC National President Paul Grod. “The UCC gains its strength by reflecting and representing the interests of the grassroots of our community. The historic creation of the Dauphin and Parklands Branch is a very tangible step in our efforts to continue to develop the Ukrainian community across the country, and to increase the capacity of our organizations.”

The founding meeting of the UCC Dauphin and Parklands Branch took place at Smith Jackson Ukrainian Bilingual School in Dauphin. The meeting was attended by the leadership of the Dauphin area’s Ukrainian community as well as Robert Sopuck, local Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette. “I am very familiar with the good work done by the UCC nationally and view the creation of a branch here in Dauphin as a very positive step for our community,” stated MP Sopuck.

The meeting adopted a constitution and by-laws for the UCC Dauphin Branch and selected its Executive as follows: Len Derkach, President; Paul Trochanowski, Vice-President; Shirley Nowalkowski, Secretary; Jennifer Chatyrbok, Treasurer.

“I would like to thank Len Derkach for accepting to be the inaugural President of UCC Dauphin and Parklands Region. From his time in government, Len is very familiar with the work of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress,” stated UCC Manitoba Provincial Council President Oksana Bondarchuk. “We believe that there will be tremendous benefits to the Dauphin and area communities (to uniting) under the UCC banner. Having this branch and the ability to share, cooperate and network will be beneficial to all Ukrainians in Manitoba.”

For more information, please visit the UCC Manitoba website at: www.uccmb.ca