Over the past fifty years or so, the primary focus of Ukrainian Canadian organizations such as the UNF has been a political one, concentrating on the cause of Ukraine’s independence and the fight against Communist domination of the home country. To be sure they have always supported cultural endeavours to a greater or lesser extent, but by and large, this work was done mostly by dedicated and talented individuals who were driven more by strong personal and artistic motivations than organizational imperatives. Names such as Koshets, Klymkiw, Marunchak, Samets, Kuc, Pavlychenko, Dzugan and Rohatyn come readily to mind, though there are many more. In many cases, dance groups or choirs that had their genesis within the organizations, eventually broke away becoming independent, self-reliant entities as a result of either policy differences or lack of sufficient support from their parent bodies.

In any type of organization, when it comes time to allocate financial and other resources to multiple priorities, there are bound to be differences of opinion. In my own time, as National President of the UNYF, I was constantly fighting a losing battle with the parent UNF organization over the fact that they were investing too little of their time, effort, financial and other resources towards the development of educational, cultural, artistic and youth programs. Political priorities were always paramount. We are now seeing the long term results of those unbalanced priorities, namely the virtual disappearance of the organization’s youth wing and virtually all the choirs and dance groups that were once so numerous within the UNF.

This is not intended to be a polemic against politics and politicians. They are a necessary element of any successful society or organizational structure. But Culture (with a capital C) is far more important in the long run. What makes us Ukrainian is not our politics, but the vast legacy of traditions, art, literature, ideas, music, dance, philosophy and values. That is what gives us our identity and our purpose. Politics simply exists to preserve and further develop that Culture. When a political structure becomes an end in itself and dissociated from its essential purpose of being guardian and promoter of a Culture, then it loses its justification for existence and inevitably dies.

The UNF, like many older established Ukrainian organizations in Canada, is facing the crucial challenge of prolonging its further existence. This challenge will only be successfully realized if it dedicates itself to the only role that is truly meaningful in the long term, namely that of champion of all those things that constitute the Ukrainian culture and identity. Politics, both within the context of Canada and Ukraine, must inevitably be a part of it, but not the dominant factor and "raison d’etre" that it has been in the past. The UNF will once again be successful when it becomes a genuine and forceful promoter of Ukrainian education, arts, drama, song, music, literature, journalism, history, sports, and youth development. It is these things that we will pass on to posterity and future generations of Ukrainians. It is these things that have long-term value and staying power, and not political doctrines or fringe ideologies that are swept away by history’s ever turbulent river of change.