Yushchenko Awards Order of Merit to Bardyn

KYIV–On the occasion of the 15th Anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine, President Victor Yushchenko awarded Ukraine’s Order of Merit to Toronto lawyer Ihor Walter Bardyn.

Bardyn is the founder and director of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP). CUPP is a Parliamentary Democracy Internship Program in the Canadian House of Commons.

Since its inception 16 years ago, CUPP has graduated close to 500 university students from Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The earliest graduates of the program are in their mid 30s; a majority of them hold a graduate or post-graduate degree from a Western university.

Currently, CUPP graduates hold positions at the World Bank, the IMF, United Nations Agencies, Ukraine’s Foreign Service, the Council of Europe, and Western banks and financial investment houses. They are also employed by Ukrainian and Western universities, as political analysts, and work for European NGOs, local governments, and private and public corporations and businesses.

The next group of CUPP students will arrive in Canada on September 12.