Dion Visits Ukrainian Folklorama Pavilion

WINNIPEG - Liberal Leader Stphane Dion attended the Ukraine-Kyiv Pavilion last Sunday during Winnipeg’s Folklorama Festival, where he was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Ukrainian community.

“I was honoured to be hosted here in Winnipeg at the Folklorama Festival by the Ukrainian community,” said Mr. Dion.  “The community did a wonderful job showcasing crafts such as embroidery, pysanka writing, wood-working and weaving and the amazing flavours of the traditional Ukrainian cuisine.”

Mr. Dion had many discussions with members of the Ukrainian community in which he emphasized the Liberal Party’s continued commitment to the concept of multiculturalism and had a frank dialogue about the Conservative government’s campaign of misinformation and obstruction to cover up its rejection of an agreement between the previous Liberal government and the Ukrainian community to redress wrongs suffered by Ukrainians under wartime internment measures.

“It is not only unacceptable for Conservative Secretary of State Jason Kenney to turn his back on a commitment made to the Ukrainian-Canadian community by the previous Liberal government, but reprehensible for him to deny the commitment was ever made,” said Mr. Dion.

On August 24, 2005, an agreement in principle was signed with the Ukrainian-Canadian community, allocating an initial $2.5 million from the Liberal Acknowledgement, Commemoration, and Education (ACE) Program for them to commemorate Ukrainian wartime hardships. 

Further verbal negotiations resulted in an additional $10-million commitment to the Ukrainian-Canadian community, which was carried through in the November 2005 Economic Update, which set out a further $30 million allocation to the ACE Program. 

The Conservatives cancelled the $55-million ACE program and replaced it with a more general $24-million Community Historical Recognition Program to provide funding for community projects linked to wartime measures and immigration restrictions and a $10-million national historical recognition program to fund federal initiatives.  The terms and conditions of these programs are still to be set a year after they were announced in June 2006.

The Conservative Government is now denying the $10-million commitment of the previous Liberal government to the Ukrainian community ever existed.

“The campaign of misinformation that the Conservatives have initiated about the nature of the agreements between the previous Liberal government and various communities affected by wartime measures is not only reprehensible, but insulting to the community groups who have come forward and confirmed that the additional $10-million allocation had been negotiated with them,” said Mr. Dion.