The
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP) is an internship program
at Canada’s House of Commons, established by agreement with the
speaker of the House of Commons in 1990. The first interns arrived in
Ottawa in the spring of 1991.CUPP Model Ukraine White Paper Committee Workshop
By Walter Derzko
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The
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP) is an internship program
at Canada’s House of Commons, established by agreement with the
speaker of the House of Commons in 1990. The first interns arrived in
Ottawa in the spring of 1991.
Since then, more than 700 students from universities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belarus, China, Georgia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine have completed 2 to 12 month internships in the House of Commons.
In 2010, the first of four MODEL UKRAINE conferences were organized for CUPP interns and alumni at George Washington University. This was followed by conferences at the University of Ottawa (Fall 2010), Oxford University (Spring 2011), and Kyiv-Mohyla University (Fall 2012).
The purpose of the conferences has been to discuss the current state of affairs in Ukraine, and identify the keys to unlocking the potential of Ukraine’s new educated generation, among whom is a growing number of western-educated individuals who speak English or French and who have completed internships whether in the Canadian Parliament or in the parliaments of Germany, Ukraine and Europe. The four conferences dealt with the important areas of governance, civil society, and life in a post-totalitarian society.
CUPP participants agreed that the conferences would be followed by a wrap-up workshop to deal with the four key that affect Ukraine’s future. These include: 1) Rule of law; 2) Education; 3) Identity, citizenship, and civics; 4) Freedom of expression and the media’s role in the 21st century.
After two days of intensive expert presentations and discussions, the 34 CUPP 2013 interns and 32 CUPP alumni drafted a set of recommendations on day three. This will be formulated into a white paper that will be presented to the President and government of Ukraine, the Canadian and EU governments and the general public. (see opening address by Derek Fraser on page 6 of this issue, as well as future interviews)
PHOTO
CUPP Workshop participants