Can Ukrainian Canadians see FAR?
PART 1
By
Wolodymyr Derzko
The
Ukrainian Canadian Community is at an Important Crossroad
The Ukrainian Canadian
Diaspora has done a credible job of managing its history and the present by
setting up numerous institutions: churches, schools, museums, cultural,
educational and social centres, Ukrainian media outlets (radio, TV, newspapers,
magazines, InfoUkes website and e-POSHTA
email on the internet) and other cultural “mega projects” over the past 30
years. However, it has all but ignored its long term future. At best, we
work and think about one to three years ahead. At today’s pace of change,
that’s inadequate.
I’m amazed every
time I hear university professors
apologizing that they will not venture to predict or forecast the future. No
wonder they feel uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty-- they were never
taught how to embrace it. With that mindset, capability and familiarity is not
passed on their students, our future leaders. That’s ironic because we will be
living the rest of our lives in the future and not the past.
There are 30 years of
academic and commercially developed methods and tools in foresight research and
methodology, strategic thinking and planning, managing weak signals of change,
issues management, scenario planning, and environmental (sometimes called
Horizon) scanning -- all tools that the community can use to anticipate
emerging issues and not get blindsided as
it did with the Demjaniuk, and Odynsky affairs and the larger more important
issue, the perception by some Canadians that
alleged former Nazi’s are living among us in Canada (a community threat
that was not managed well) or even the “Orange Revolution” (a community opportunity
situation that, in my opinion, was not leveraged enough).
Individual issue
champions in the Ukrainian Canadian Congress who recognize the need to apply
some thinking to the future, have tried to set up foresight efforts but all
were stalled by: 1) turf wars; 2) a lack of direction-who has the mandate for
this? 3) a lack of volunteer man-power; 4) the “Catch 22” of the “sense and do
dilemma” – if we identify an emerging issue that needs to be addressed then, we
have to commit resources that we do not have, so let’s just ignore it for
now and; 5) a general lack of interest and apathy about planning for the
future by UCC member organizations. There
is always a more urgent “community fire”
that needs to be put out now, pushing
aside the important, long term issues that
never get any thinking attention, until it hits us seemingly out of the blue.
To circumvent this dilemma,
the Ukrainian Canadian community needs to urgently initiate a new
community mega project on the scope and size that we saw in the 1970’s and
1980’s -- an
independent foresight and strategy resource office, created for
the benefit of the entire Ukrainian Canadian community that
would be charged with managing the future. Imagine an
arm’s length think tank for the community -- The
Ukrainian Canadian Foresight and Research office or UCFar (pronounced “U See
Far” or Ukrainians See Far). Its mandate would be directed by a community-wide
board of directors and advisors from its stakeholder organizations.
It can be modeled after
other successful foresight and issues management projects such as the ones at
the Red Cross, The United Way, B’nai Brith
or other NGO’s in
Some startup capital is
required, followed by an aggressive fundraising effort to create
an endowment of over one million dollars that would cover the annual operating
costs of paying a full time, professional executive
director in charge of community development and foresight, office expenses and
some project-related costs. Federal and provincial government funding should be
available for this community development project.
Activist
Myroslava Oleksiuk, who for many of these
reasons, seven years ago founded the internet newspaper e-POSHTA, echoes
her support: ….”Of course, some money is required. Those in our community, who
have money to spare, do not seem to find it a priority or to understand that
the core of our success is the establishment of a professional organization
where the right people are paid to meet goals. They in turn would
motivate and be supported by a volunteer base.”
There are no lack of
current and emerging issues for this new body to
explore, both threats and opportunities that our community will be forced to
address, sooner or later (continued in PART 2)
Wolodymyr Derzko is an
Associate of CERES,