Liberal Leader Ignatieff Meets Toronto’s Ukrainian Community

By John Pidkowich

Over the noon hour on Friday, May 8, Official Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff met with organizational representatives and members of the Ukrainian community in the Toronto Area at the Ukrainian National Federation Community Centre, situated in the electoral district of Etobicoke Lakeshore which Mr. Ignatieff represents as Member of Parliament. The event was organized by Ukrainian Canadian Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Lakeshore) with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Toronto Branch.

Opening remarks were given Yvan Baker, UCC Toronto Vice President, who welcomed Mr. Ignatieff as the newly-elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and stressed the significance of such a meeting as the opportunity for him and the community to gain better understanding of one another, as well as, the chance for MP Ignatieff to get to know his Ukrainian Canadian riding constituents. In reference, Mr. Baker remarked that leadership and learning go hand-in-hand and a leader cannot lead unless he or she learns (from others).

The meeting’s framework delimited four central issues as proposed by the organizers, core to the Ukrainian Canadian community. The first being Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Ukraine’s entry into NATO. The second is Canada’s support for building a civil society and democratic institutions in Ukraine. Third being Ukrainian immigration to Canada and the processing of visas at the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv, and fourth being Canada’s official policy on Multiculturalism.

In introducing his Liberal Leader and neighbouring MP Mr. Ignatieff, Borys Wrzesnewskyj made reference to the multicultural nature of Canada and its case brought forward to then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. As first settler pioneers, Ukrainians are referred to as a founding nation of Canada. If not for their great numbers settling Canada’s West, Canada’s own territorial integrity was at risk and its borders may be quite different, given the increasing numbers of US settlers arriving in the West. Canada’s multicultural nature was articulated and first introduced by Senator Paul Yuzyk in his Maiden Speech delivered in The Senate of Canada in 1963. Mr. Wrzesnewskyj shared with the audience what he sees in Michael Ignatieff - an expressed deep respect for the Ukrainian Canadian Community and sincere belief in Ukrainian independent statehood. He went on to say that Michael Ignatieff shows understanding of the Ukrainian experience in Canada, its trials and tribulations. Both he and Michael Ignatieff share in Liberal Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier’s categorical opposition to internment of Ukrainians and others as stated in hansard during debates on Canada’s first internment operations during World War I. Also, Mr. Ignatieff has empathy for and grasps the horrors inflicted upon Ukraine over the centuries.

Mr. Ignatieff began speaking by briefly stating that he supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Ukraine’s membership in NATO, and understands Ukrainians to be central to Canada’s multicultural policy, exemplified by the Heritage Language Programs. However, he went on to say that he was truly hurt by the controversy over his use of words in his book Blood and Belonging when writing as an academic about his Russian heritage and family history in Ukraine around Vynnytsya and Uman, where his grandfather had worked along side Ukrainians for many years. In later writings, Mr. Ignatieff wrote about his father’s lived experiences and those of his own. Known as “White Russians”, the Ignatieff’s lost everything after the Bolshevik Revolution and eventually immigrated to Canada “to start all over”. As an immigrant, his father worked in a tree cutting camp operation in British Columbia where the senior Ignatieff was called a “bohunk” along with Poles, Ukrainians and all other Slavs. This anti-Slav epithet made no distinction between Slavs, however, was intended to be discriminatory and a derogatory name spoken by Canadians at the time. From his own experience several years ago, Michael Ignatieff visited his family’s home in Central Ukraine and met with Holodomor survivors [Famine Genocide in Ukraine 1932-33] and he assured his audience that the Holodomor is a crime against humanity, not to be denied by any official Russian government administration.

In elaborating further on support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and NATO membership, Mr. Ignatieff stated strongly he was opposed to external interference (“and we all know who we mean”) in Ukraine, which could be catastrophic to Ukraine, and could even lead to instability in Europe. Ukraine’s strategic difficulty is its energy dependency on Russian gas and electricity. This dependency could be reduced if Ukraine were to source energy elsewhere and develop its own nuclear industry through knowledge/technology transfer assisted by Canada and CANDU nuclear reactor technology. He also added that Russia’s recent attempt to claim sovereignty over an area of the Artic “North Pole” is of a great concern to him and to Canada’s own territorial integrity.

On Multiculturalism, Mr. Ignatieff is dismayed by Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney and opposes the apparent “federal hostility to heritage language programming”. According to Mr. Ignatieff, heritage language programs are appropriate to fulfill a major role promoting Canada’s Multicultural policy.

Through a wide range of topics during a question and answer period with community members, Mr. Ignatieff addressed staffing cuts to the immigration section at the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv and the resultant drop in Ukrainian immigration to Canada to low if not stagnant levels. He added that one step to reverse the slow visa processing time is the need to open a Canadian consulate in Western Ukraine [Lviv] for Canada “to invest in Ukraine as an immigration source”. Michael Ignatieff stated that he is proud of his Russian heritage but has loyalty not to any other country but Canada. His Russian background has no affect on Canada’s foreign policy, particularly as it applies to Ukraine. Also, Mr. Ignatieff stated the need to “depoliticize” aspects and practices of Canada’s Multiculturalism policy, particularly public appointments, and reach for post-partisan consensus to support multiculturalism as core Canadian value and again emphasized that multiculturalism is a “good thing”, seen in heritage language programs, leadership development, festivals and other cultural activities.

Michael Igantieff’s community visit concluded with meeting community media representatives and interview, to be further reported and commented upon, and anticipated shortly in the electronic and press media.