UNF Redefined

By Volodymyr Kish

The Ukrainian National Federation of Canada and Affiliated Organizations held an Extraordinary National Convention in Toronto this past weekend to consider a number of constitutional changes as well as to introduce a newly developed “Operations Manual” for its branches. Most of the branches in Eastern Canada sent significant delegations as did the Edmonton Branch, while the Saskatoon and Regina Branches participated via an Internet video conferencing link, a first for this organization, as it seeks to better utilize the tools of today’s technology to improve communications and relations with its far-flung branches.

In contrast to the sometimes heated nature of such Conventions in the past, the delegates managed to deal with some particularly difficult and potentially controversial issues in a constructive manner characterized by a spirit of cooperation and compromise that led to practical solutions on a range of issues that ranged from a revised statement of goals and principles of the organization, to the creation of a “family class” of membership, to the development of a policy on how to deal with the disposition of assets of defunct branches. One delegate who had been absent from the organization for several decades made a point of telling me how impressed he was with the level of professionalism and cooperation that he saw at this Convention.

Although the adoption of new technologies is a significant step, it has also become evident that the UNF has, over the past decade, developed a revitalized new vision and set of priorities aimed at dealing more effectively with the changing nature of the Ukrainian community in Canada.  Next year will mark the 80^th anniversary of the organization in Canada, and during that time it has redefined itself a number of times in response to historical conditions and needs of the community.

It first saw the light of day in the early 1930s at a time when there was a great deal of turmoil and conflict within the Ukrainian community.  For the first several decades after 1891 when Ukrainian immigrants started to come in numbers to Canada, their life was governed mostly by the need to survive in both a hostile geographic environment on the Prairies as well as overt discrimination by the resident Canadian establishment.  It was only in the 1920s that we began to see significant organizational efforts that resulted from two factors – a developing class of Canadian-born and educated Ukrainians, and the influx of refugees from the post revolutionary conflicts in Ukraine, amongst whom were significant numbers of military veterans, as well as better educated political migrs.  Added to the mix was a chaotic religious environment where the efforts of the local Canadian Catholic, Protestant and Russian Orthodox Churches to bring Ukrainians under their fold created deep divisions in the Ukrainian community.

The first effort to try and unify the Ukrainian community under one umbrella came in 1927 with the formation of the Ukrainian Self Reliance League (Soyuz Ukrayinskykh Samostiynykiv) or SUS as it was known by its Ukrainian acronym.  Although it managed to attract a large number of members to its platform which was a mix of Ukrainian nationalism combined with Canadian patriotism, its growth was hampered by its close association with and the overlap of its leadership with the newly formed Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada.  Because the majority of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada were from Western Ukraine where the Ukrainian Catholic Church predominated, membership in SUS was problematic for a lot of Ukrainian Canadians.

Next on the scene was the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF), formed in 1932 with the same goal of unifying the Ukrainian community, and because it emphasized its non-sectarian nature and was not tied to any particular church institution in Canada, it did manage to grow quickly over the succeeding decades.  What was not widely known at the time was that the UNF was in fact formed as the Canadian wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), an underground organization formed in Ukraine to combat both Polish and Communist oppression.  Virtually all the leaders of the UNF at its birth and for most of its existence were indeed members of OUN.  

The growth of the UNF was not without conflict, as for several decades SUS and the UNF waged a heated ideological battle with each other particularly on the pages of each organization’s respective newspaper – Ukrayinske Slovo and Noviy Shliakh.  It was not until World War II and the formation of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee that an uneasy truce descended between the two organizations.  Of course, after the War and the arrival of a new wave of political activists and the creation of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, a whole new political dynamic emerged that created new tensions that lasted another four or five decades and which still echo to some extent even today.

Of course, the independence of Ukraine in 1991 had a significant impact on the raison d’tre of most of the remaining national Ukrainian organizations in Canada and has left them struggling to redefine their mission, purpose and priorities.

Over the past decade, the UNF appears to have found its focus again, one based on rebuilding the membership base, investing in engaging and educating the youth, and retooling the organization to balance its priorities between supporting meaningful political goals within a Canadian context and a genuine dedication to Ukrainian community service.  The Convention this past weekend certainly showed that the interest, dedication and spirit certainly is not lacking.