The Canadian in Ukrainian-Canadian

By Volodymyr Kish

With my involvement in some seven different Ukrainian organizations, keeping an up to date calendar of events is crucial in planning where I will be in the weeks and months to come.  There are no shortages of events vying for my time, and conflicts are all too frequent.

In catching up with my filing recently and reviewing the many events I have either attended or been involved with over the past year or two, I was struck with the realization that though I make a point of categorizing myself as a Ukrainian Canadian, most of my Ukrainian organizational life seems to be centred around the Ukrainian, rather than the Canadian side of that dual identity.  Whether as part of the UNF (Ukrainian National Federation) or the UCC (Ukrainian Canadian Congress), or the CUF (Canada Ukraine Foundation), or any of the other organizations I am involved with, most of the activities seem to revolve around responses to or commemorations of events or individuals in Ukraine.

Some of these are observances of historical events, such as Ukrainian independence celebrations in August, or commemorations of the Holodomor in November.  Next year, we will also be commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the Chornobyl tragedy.  Others honour important or heroic figures in Ukrainian history such as Taras Shevchenko, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, Ivan Mazepa or Olena Teliha.  In the sphere of current events, organizations are involved in such things as relief efforts for the recent H1N1 outbreak in Ukraine or election monitoring initiatives for the frequent Ukrainian elections.

What troubles me is how little of what we do as Ukrainian Canadian organizations has origins in the history and accomplishments of Ukrainians in Canada.  This is particularly pertinent as next year marks the milestone 120^th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada.  Since that time, Ukrainians have made a tremendous impact on this adopted country of ours.  Ukrainians have risen to prominence in all fields of endeavour – sports, politics, business, literature and the arts.  Yet, we do far too little to recognize and celebrate them and their accomplishments.  In particular, we do far too little to educate our younger generations of Ukrainians in Canada about our history in this country or present them with home-grown heroes and role models they can be proud of.

Although I am well plugged into the Ukrainian mainstream organizations in Canada, I have not heard of any plans of consequence to mark the 120^th anniversary of Ukrainians in Canada on the scale and with the enthusiasm that such an occasion deserves.

The same holds true for honouring the many Ukrainians in Canada that have contributed immeasurably to making this country the best in the world.  As one example, this year is the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Michael Starr, undoubtedly the most successful Canadian politician of Ukrainian origin ever.  He rose progressively from being an Alderman and Mayor of the City of Oshawa, to Federal MP, to the first Ukrainian Canadian Federal Cabinet Minister to the Leader of the Opposition for the Progresive Conservative Party of Canada.  Surely, the Ukrainian community in Canada should see fit to honour this Ukrainian Canadian hero on this memorable milestone in some appropriate fashion.

Several years from now in 2013, similarly, we will have the 100^th Anniversary of the birth of Senator Paul Yuzyk, a giant not only for his work within the Ukrainian community but also the acknowledged Father of Canadian Multiculturalism.  We should be already thinking of appropriate ways to celebrate and honour his life’s work.

All of this is not intended to imply that we should not do such things as honouring Shevchenko or commemorating the Holodomor.  However, we should start realizing that the Canadian part of the Ukrainian-Canadian identity is as important as the Ukrainian part, and we should devote at least half of our time and energies towards recognizing that reality. 

We should devote significantly more effort than we have in the past towards giving our youth a much better picture of what their parents, grandparents and great grandparents did here in Canada.  We should give them some heroes and role models who were born, lived and achieved great things here in this country.  Ukrainian history, at least for us here in Canada, did not stop at the borders of Ukraine.  We have much to be proud of, and it is time we made it better known.