CUPP Town Hall Meeting at UNF

By John Pidkowich

On October 23, the Ukrainian community had the opportunity to hear and meet 22 university students participating in 2008 Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program in the UNF Community Centre Foyer, Toronto. The Ukrainian National Youth Federation hosted the meeting in a “town hall” format with opening and welcoming remarks delivered by Taras Babyuk. Representing universities from all across Ukraine, most of the Ukrainian students shared their experience working on the recent federal election campaign and Voting Day on October 14. Reaching across Canada, each student was assigned an intern position with a federal Member of Parliament, crossing the Conservative, Liberal and New Democratic parties. The interns’ duties covered responsibilities both at the MP’s House of Commons, Ottawa and local constituency offices.

CUPP was created in 1991 for undergraduate students from Ukrainian universities with internship and scholarship opportunities to work and study in the Parliament of Canada, Ottawa. These Ukrainian students gain valuable experience and develop their interest in the parliamentary system of government. It is hoped that CUPP will contribute to the education of future leaders of Ukraine.

 According to Toronto lawyer Ihor Bardyn who is Director of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program: “CUPP is a long-term and long range marathon to educate the generations several years removed from the reigns of power to use and respect the Ukrainian language, without preaching, but by the simple challenge that if you wish to do an internship in the Canadian Parliament, you must be fluent in the language of your Homeland.” He added the fact that President Yushchenko uses Ukrainian consistently and that alone plays an important part in restoring Ukrainian, although tempered by the practical need for election campaign literature in Russian in order to reach the electoral public in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. Written exams and personal interviews in Ukrainian are evaluated to identify applicants who do not demonstrate fluency in Ukrainian and support Ukrainian as the Official Language of Ukraine.

 The CUPP students were articulate in Ukrainian and English introducing them in public and describing the internship work dynamics with their MP and Staff, sharing their election campaign experiences and contact with volunteer workers. Most students had prepared positions on State Language in Ukraine, all understanding and supportive of Ukrainian as the Official Language. Due to time constraints, only selected students briefly presented their position on language with respect to: “Proposals for its amelioration” by Kateryna Bondar, National University of Kyiv – Mohyla Academy; “Does the Ukrainian Language need protection?” by Taras Bratsiun, Hetman National University, Kyiv; “Systemic language policy” by Vasyl Khomiak, University of Kyiv; “Dangers for being Ukrainian and for the Ukrainian language – politico-legal aspect” by Yaryna Kobel, University of Lviv; “Does a State Language need state protection guarantees?” by Yaroslav Kovalchuk, Ostroh Academy among others.

The UNYF stepped up to the challenge of hosting the CUPP Town Hall Meeting and together with the community, UNYF members listened to the CUPP students share their ideas and experiences, discussing their views on politics in Ukraine, and insight in their observations on politics in Canada. There was ample opportunity for the students to mingle with the audience at the end of the meeting and discuss their practice of working on an electoral campaign, network and contact building. The town hall event was an effective and informative meeting, beneficial to young and old. It was an appropriate conclusion to the 2008 CUPP and a worthy component of the UNF Citizenship and Democracy Program.