UNO at 75

Remarks of Dr. Myron B. Kuropas at the UNF of Canada 75^th Anniversary Banquet, held November 17, 2007.

 Seventy-five years ago, Canada was in the throes of the Great Depression.  Thousands of people were out of work.  The Canadian economy was sinking fast, dropping 42% between 1929 and 1933. Ukrainian Canadians, who were just stepping onto the first rung of Canada’s economic ladder, were knocked to the bottom.  The future looked bleak.

Seventy-five years ago, Soviet Ukraine was destitute. The Soviets were Russifying the nation and draining its wealth.  Ukrainians were being starved to death in a Moscow-orchestrated genocide famine that eventually killed some 10 million innocent men, women and children. Few people outside of Ukraine were aware of this ghastly crime. Walter Duranty, the infamous Moscow correspondent for The New York Times, denied its existence. Politicians, clergymen, well-known authors, university professors, and other useful idiots from the West were travelling to Moscow, shaking hands with Joseph Stalin, and announcing to the World that they had been to the future and that it works.  Stalin was creating a new democracy, they told us.  Capitalism is dead.  The USSR was a model to be emulated.

Seventy-five years ago, Ukrainian Communists in Canada were flourishing, thanks in large measure to Soviet financial assistance. Membership in the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temples, a  Communist-sponsored organization, was growing.  Ukrainian Communists claimed that Ukraine was an independent and sovereign nation and that all talk of a famine was a hoax.  Many Ukrainian Canadians believed these lies.

Swimming against the prevailing tide was a group of patriotic Ukrainians Canadians, led by Alexander Gregorovich, a school teacher. They came together on a Sunday afternoon at the Hrushevsky Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, and founded the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) or UNO.

The date was July 17, 1932. That too was seventy-five years ago.

Who were these intrepid UNO pioneers? Were they foolish dreamers?  Were they out of touch with reality?  Or were they visionaries who believed they could make a difference in the lives of their fellow Ukrainian Canadians?

Most of the UNO founding generation were members the two Ukrainian Immigrant waves (some 200,000 strong) that arrived in Canada between 1897 and 1931.  Most were farmers. Others were tradesmen.  Some were educated.   Some were Ukrainian army veterans who had fought for Ukrainian independence following World War I.  Their story is a Canadian saga.

What did UNO’s founding generation hope to accomplish? What was their dream, their focus?  They said they wanted to unite all Ukrainians into one, strong anti-Communist organization.  A tall order.

In 1932, Canada had many Ukrainian organizations: church organizations, Prosvita reading rooms, and community centres.  Their orientation was essentially local.  There was little communication among them.

The odds were against establishing an organization like UNO.  Just think of the obstacles - the Great Depression, limited funds, Soviet-supported opposition groups and romanticized perceptions of Soviet life by the Western elite.  And of course, Ukrainian individualism, the “everyone a hetman” approach to community endeavours.  The road ahead was not going to be easy.

But then again being Ukrainian in Canada has never been easy.  During the First World War, for example, some 5,000 Ukrainians were interned in 24 Canadian concentration camps as enemy aliens from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Their property was confiscated.  Some lost everything.  Canada never compensated them for this great travesty of justice.

UNO’s founders didn’t worry about the odds.   Their goals resonated among Ukrainian Canadians and under the leadership of Alexander Gregorovich, the first UNO President, some 50 UNO Branches were established between 1932 and 1936. Twelve more Branches were created in 1936 and 1937 under the leadership of UNO President Michael Pohorecky, The third UNO President, Volodymyr Kossar, added 20 more Branches.

In 1934, the Ukrainian Women’s Organization (UWO) or OUK (est. 1930) entered the federation and UNO members helped establish the Ukrainian National Youth Federation (UNYF) or MUNO. The venerable Paul Yuzyk (who later served in the Canadian Senate) was the first President of MUNO.  Before long, UNO began to publish The New Pathway, a newspaper for its members.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian war veterans were organizing in Europe. They established the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).  Later, they decided to extend their structure among Ukrainians in North and South America.  Responding to OUN leader Col. Evhen Konovalets’ invitation, UNO members agreed to become an OUN affiliate.  Like OUN, UNO members were committed to a truly independent and sovereign Ukrainian State. 

OUN, however, was a threat to the Soviets.  A Soviet agent assassinated Colonel Konovalets in 1938. His successor, Andrij Melnyk, was elected at an OUN conclave in Rome, Italy, in 1939.  Delegates from UNO were present, as were delegates from the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODVU), an OUN affiliate in the United States. Later, when Stephen Bandera established another OUN in Europe, UNO and ODVU members came to be associated with the so-called “Melnykivtsi”.

During the war years, Canadian Communists and the Canadian Jewish Congress initiated a defamation campaign against UNO.  A 1943 publication titled This Is Our Land, by Raymond Arthur Davies, claimed that UNO “has revealed itself openly in Canada as a group opposed to the allies and favouring Germany…” UNO was anti-Semitic, wrote Mr. Davies, and “the program of the Ukrainian National Federation, as illustrated by The New Pathway, is typically Nazi in character.” Even worse accusations were made against ODVU in a book titled Sabotage! The Secret War Against America by Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn.   ODVU members were organizing train wrecks in the United States, wrote the authors, and Evhen Konovalets “had earned himself considerable notoriety in (the) Ukraine as a rapist and killer.”  Recent unimpeachable documents released in the United States make it crystal clear that Mr. Kahn was a Soviet agent.  Surprise, surprise!

And who was Raymond A. Davies, author of This Is Our Land? According to Canadian Jewish Congress archives found on the Internet, he was “a journalist, an author, and a public speaker.  As a freelance journalist, he covered the Spanish Civil War and as a Moscow correspondent he covered World War II”.  Another Internet source tells us that he authored Odyssey Through Hell, a book in which he praised Soviet treatment of Jews, and condemned Zionism.  Was Raymond A. Davies a Soviet agent?  What do you think? 

So what was UNO’s true role during World War II?  UNO’s loyalty to Canada always remained firm and steadfast.  UNO members were among the 40,000 Canadians who served in the military during the Second World War.  The booklet Seven Presidents in Uniform features MUNO presidents who volunteered for the (Canadian) armed services during the War.  Some 4,000 Ukrainian Canadians were killed serving their country.

When the War ended, thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in Western Europe.  They were Displaced Persons, refugees from the USSR. Moscow claimed that they had fled Soviet domination because they were Nazi collaborators, war criminals who feared Soviet justice.  The Allies initially believed these lies and established “Operation Keelhaul”, a campaign which forcibly repatriated thousands of Ukrainians to the USSR.  Placed in box cars in Germany and Austria, they were driven through Ukraine, directly to Siberia where most perished.  The Allies eventually realized their horrible mistake and agreed to resettle some of the remaining DP’s in the West.  Choosing to believe Soviet disinformation, certain Jewish Canadian leaders protested resettling Ukrainian refugees in Canada.  UNO members and other Ukrainians went to Ottawa and were able to convince the Canadian government that Ukrainian DP’s were seeking freedom from tyranny.

Still another problem emerged in 1950 when veterans of the German military division “Galicia”, formed in 1943 and 1944 to fight the Soviets, wished to immigrate to Canada.   Certain Jewish-Canadian leaders protested.  Thanks to UNO and other Ukrainian organizations, however, Canada opened its doors to these patriotic Ukrainians as well.  B’nai B’rith leaders were not satisfied, however, and the defamation campaign continued.  Responding to pressure, the Government of Canada eventually established the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals with the Honourable Jules Deschenes as Commissioner.  UNO member John Gregorovich was one of the leading lights against attempts to demonize the entire Ukrainian Canadian community for its support of the veterans of “Divisia”. Vociferously denying accusations that the Ukrainian Canadian community was harboring war criminals, Mr. Gregorovich engaged John Sopinka to address the Commission.   The Honourable John Sopinka was brilliant, and on December 30, 1986, the Deschenes Commission, ignoring intense Jewish pressure, ruled that “Charges of war crimes against members of the Galicia Division have never been substantiated, neither in 1950…nor in 1984 when they were renewed, nor  before this Commission”. Despite this unequivocal decision, certain elements of Canada’s larger community continue to defame Ukrainian Canadians.  

By the 1950’s, UNO was experiencing unparalleled growth.  UNO community centres stretched from Edmonton to Montreal.  The Winnipeg UNO established the now famed Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre – Oseredok - in Winnipeg where for many years summer courses in the Ukrainian language, culture, history, and geography were taught to teenagers.

One of the greatest contributions of UNO to the preservation of Ukrainian culture and youth interest in things Ukrainian was the creation of outstanding MUNO dance groups such as Chaika in Hamilton, Cheremosh in Edmonton, Rusalka in Winnipeg, and Kalyna in Toronto.   Many years ago, I had the privilege of attending a MUNO dance competition at a MUNO Convention in Winnipeg.  I’ll never forget the intense competition and the professional-like quality of the performances.

UNO also established summer youth camps Rusalka in Sandy Hook, Manitoba, and Sokil in Hawkestone, Ontario, where UNO member Professor Bohdan Bociurkiw, an expert on Ukrainian Church History, once taught.

No review of UNO accomplishments would be complete without mentioning such UNO luminaries as Paul Yuzyk, historian, author, professor at the University of Manitoba,  and, most important of all, an honourable member of the Canadian Senate.  It was Senator Yuzyk who first spoke of the “third force” in Canada, those Canadian ethnics who were neither French nor Anglo.  In his 1964 Maiden Speech to Parliament, Senator Yuzyk introduced the concept of "multiculturalism", an ideal that has served Canada well.  On October 8, 1971, Multiculturalism became the official policy of the Canadian government.  Thanks to Senator Yuzyk, all Canadian ethnic groups were finally recognized.

Another individual worthy of mention is Anthony Hlynka, an UNO member who also served in Parliament, representing Vegreville, Alberta, from 1940 to 1949.  Mr. Hlynka was a strong champion of Ukrainian Displaced Persons as well as the members of the Galicia Division.

UNO members also served in the national assembly and executive of the Ukrainian National Association.  Walter Hirniak and Leonid Fil were UNA advisors. Volodymyr Kossar and Stefania Zorych were auditors.  Bohdan Zorych, the venerable Senator Yuzyk, and Ivan Hewryk served as vice-presidents.

Most of the UNO pioneers are no longer with us, but today, UNO is making a dramatic comeback under younger leadership committed to continuing and building on the traditions of the past.

So what’s the secret?  Why is it that UNO and its affiliates have survived while many other Ukrainian Canadian organizations have withered and died?  Is it love of Ukraine or love of parents?  Is it love of Ukrainian culture or respect for the heroic sacrifices so many UNO members made to keep the UNO boat afloat?  Is it the sense of camaraderie that being an UNO member brings, or is it that so many UNO and MUNO members just love to party?

I believe it’s all of the above.  But most of all, I believe it boils down to two words: vision and perseverance.  UNO’s founders were loyal Canadians who saw no conflict between their love of Canada and their love of Ukraine.  They were a special breed, members of the greatest generation, one that survived both the Depression and the Second World War.  And they were willing to do everything in their power, fight every adversary, overcome every obstacle, to bring their vision to fruition.  And they succeeded.  They triumphed!

And it is this triumph that we celebrate here tonight.  Mnohaya Lita to a magnificent dream come true!