McGill Ukrainian Week a Success

MONTREAL–The Ukrainian Students’ Association at McGill University in Montreal organized a very successful McGill Ukrainian Week, which took place from January 20 to January 26.

The highlight of the week was the exhibit entitled Not To Be Forgotten held at the McGill Redpath-McLennan Library passageway. The exhibit, produced by the All-Ukrainian Memorial Society in Kyiv, features panels chronicling over seven decades of repressions and russification in Soviet Ukraine.

Due to the high level of interest in the exhibit, the chief curator of McGill Redpath-McLennan Library’s special collections, David McKnight, requested that the exhibit be prolonged until January 30 to give the public a rare opportunity to learn about the Soviet atrocities committed in the 20th century in Ukraine. The exhibit was then incorporated into McGill University’s annual open house, which sees thousands of students and university staff and members of the public walk through the central area of the library.

Among the comments written in the exhibit’s guestbook were the following: “…important that those events be remembered and recognized;” “…thank you for bringing to light a genocide that has not made an impression in the public consciousness;” “it is amazing to see the abuses of the Ukrainian people and learn what my great grandparents escaped from;” “I learnt more about Ukraine in 40 minutes than I ever learned in class;” and “…this is excellent work. I’m Polish, and I’m glad somebody did this exhibit.” The book of comments will be mailed to the Memorial Society in Kyiv.

Other successful events were two lectures: “The cultural context of Ukrainian architecture,”,delivered by internationally recognized architect and McGill professor Radoslav Zuk, and “Was the Ukrainian Famine of l932-33 A Genocide?” delivered by historian and professor Roman Serbyn.

The wine and cheese reception on campus, attended by students and Ukrainian Professional and Business Association of Montreal (UCPBA) and community members, was opened by UCPBA president, Professor Yarema Kelebay and Professor Roman Serbyn. They thanked the students for their work in making McGill Ukrainian week a reality and officially presented them with archival McGill Ukrainian Week program booklets dating back to November 1953, brought to the evening by McGill music professor Luba Zuk and former 1960 McGill Ukrainian student club president and now Montreal lawyer Roman Karpishka.

The students were amazed to learn about the impressive history of the McGill Ukrainian Students' Association, and this served to reinforce the need for maintaining continuity and knowledge about one’s history. Among supporters of former McGill Ukrainian Weeks were The Honourable Michael Starr, Senator Wall, His Worship Mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau, Senator Paul Yuzyk, Senator John Hnatyshyn, Member of Parliament J. Decore and other dignitaries.

On January 26, members of the students’ club were invited by Professor Kelebay, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Montreal Branch, to participate in a meeting at the McGill Faculty Club with 23 members of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce visiting Montreal from Kyiv. The students had a rare chance to ask questions about trade and commerce in Ukraine during the private lunch honouring the delegation. This meeting was in keeping with Professor Kelebay’s effort to promote the participation of youth in such activities. The Ukrainian Students' Association was presented with a book on Ukraine by the ICC Ukraine delegation as a memento.

Helping to cover some of the costs of the McGill Ukrainian Week events was the main sponsor Caisse populaire ukrainienne desjardins de montreal as well as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the UCPBA of Montreal. At the suggestion of former McGill graduate Dr. Taras Konanec, the McGill students printed a 2006 Ukrainian Week program booklet.

The newly revived students' club hopes to get their own room on campus to serve as a central access point for its more than 80 university student members. The McGill Ukrainian Week organizing committee members were Johanna Paquin, Artem Luhovy, Roxanne Zalucky as well as Yarko Holowka, Alexandra Bukojemska, Katherine Didus, Christina Szuper, Adriana Luhova and Trevor Lewis. The McGill Ukrainian Students’ Association may be contacted at mcgill_ukes@hotmail.com