MUNO Revival

By Taras Babyuk

The Ukrainian National Youth Federation of Canada was one of the affiliated organizations that participated in the 35^th National Convention of the UNF and AO, which took place Friday November 16^th to Sunday November 18^th at the UNF Toronto Community Centre. This conference marked the second major aggregation of UNYF youth delegates from cities across Canada, the first being during the UNYF Youth Leadership Conference of November 24-26^th, 2006 at the Kempenfelt Conference Centre in Barrie, Ont. Many of the topics discussed at the Kempenfelt Conference re-emerged at this Convention, most prominent among them being an emphasis on maintaining active communication between UNYF members and a stronger push in the effort of reviving UNYF Branches in cities across Canada.

The highlight of the Convention for UNYF occurred in the afternoon of Saturday, November 17^th, when the members and delegates convened for a discussion session. Facilitated by Ted Marunchak (UNYF National President 1968-1970), who was also the facilitator at the Kempenfelt Conference, the purpose of this discussion was to review the progress of the organization since its last meeting and to outline a feasible plan for its future activity. A common disappointment voiced here was the failure to achieve many of the goals set out at Kempenfelt – particularly the revival of UNYF Branches in cities outside of Toronto. Lack of communication and initiative was cited as the main reason for this outcome, so the first topic of discussion was to come up with a more effective way of staying connected. Some of the suggested solutions were to hold regular conference calls among branches, utilize the instant messaging system and other Internet-based means of communication more effectively, and organize regular meetings among members. Next, the discussion turned to the types of activities and services the UNYF could potentially provide to the Ukrainian-Canadian community. A common goal would give the organization a sense of unity and cooperation, and the members decided that creating a program to assist new Ukrainian immigrants in their integration into Canadian society may be instrumental in achieving this purpose. Aware that bodies designed to provide this service are already in existence, members agreed to engage in a research endeavour where they would find out about what organizations in their community work with new immigrants and how the services that they provide can be improved or expanded upon. Through these means, UNYF hopes to create its own niche that would enable it to provide quality service to the new immigrants and to the Ukrainian Community as a whole. The session ended with a creation of a new UNYF National Committee, which includes one representative from each city that was represented by a delegate. The Committee includes Sage Kuderewko (Regina, SK), Andrew Popiel (Winnipeg, MB), Marharyta Andrushkevych (Montreal, QC), and Oleksandr Mykhayletskyy (Toronto, ON), who is also the current UNYF Toronto President.

With all the new ideas and enthusiasm generated at this Conference, the Year 2008 promises to be quite an eventful one for the Ukrainian National Youth Federation. Newly-elected UNF National President Taras Pidzamecky has promised to make working with the UNYF one of his priorities, and has suggested that seven new UNYF Branches would be revived by the organization’s 75^th Anniversary, which is to take place in 2009. With a newly-established National Committee and strong support from the Ukrainian National Federation, UNYF appears on its way to grow and prosper.