Letter to the Ukrainian
Canadian community in Edmonton
From: Lubomyr Prytulak
To:
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 5:44 PM
Subject: Fw: Letter to the Ukrainian Canadian community in Edmonton
What I see in the Letter to the Ukrainian Community below is that
Ukrainian academics can be depended upon to seek inoffensiveness at the
cost of intellectual integrity and at the cost of being irrelevant to
Ukrainian needs. Where were they during the decade or so that
the press was hammering home the image of a Ukrainian Ivan the Terrible
of Treblinka cutting off women's breasts, and so on--an image one might
imagine they had some obligation to debunk? How many of them
showed up to testify at the Deschenes Commission Hearings, or how many
of them have written books about these hearings? How many of
them have stepped forward to notice that while two more Ukrainian
octogenerians have been collared for prosecution, not a single Israeli
ever has? Has any Ukrainian academic followed up on the
introductory work I did with Shapoval's book on the
KGB-NKVD-GPU? In fact, Shapoval himself didn't do anything
with his data either, neither when he published the book, nor
afterward--he just presented it unanalyzed, raw, of negligible interest
to anybody--when in fact it can be the basis for surprising
conclusions, which I think an academic is not permitted to
draw. Or, why is it that I only discover an instance of an
arenda contract when I am practically 60 years old, and by reading the
work of a deceased Kyivan in a book that was given to me almost
accidentally, rather than my being shown an instance of an arenda
contract by a Canadian academic about 40 years ago?--A question of
great interest, as the arenda contract contains fascinating details
which define the nature of Ukrainian-Jewish relations in Ukraine at one
time, details such as that the arendar was empowered to extract profit
in every way imaginable, whether specified in the contract or invented
by himself afterward, and that he could inflict capital punishment, and
that his decisions and punishments were without appeal. Why
doesn't every Ukrainian child know this, and why wasn't I given a copy
of such an arenda contract when I was in Ridna Shkola in
Toronto? The book on Ukrainian sex slaves is written by a
journalist, not by an academic. The book on Gongadze was not,
I believe, written by anybody at a university--and yet that could might
be changing history, whereas the academics are doing what other than
picking up their pay checks. But isn't every single one of
the urgent topics (like those dealt with on ukar) a fit subject for
academic investigation?
I think that Ukrainian academics are likely to be for the Liberals
because the liberals fund multiculturalism, which means that the
government gets to hand out money to those whom the government decides
will represent the Ukrainian community, which means that I won't get a
cent, and the defenders of the persecuted won't get a cent, and the
journalists who are being beaten up and killed won't get anything,
whereas the academics and the pysanka-painters (whom I do not disparage
but only cite as representing all that is inoffensive in Ukrainian
culture) will get it all. I do not take the position that the
inoffensive are totally undeserving, but I only note that the emphasis
is wrong. The better part of the efforts of the academics
should go toward solving the urgent problems. When we don't
have equality before the law, when Ukrainian journalists are being
killed, then the highest order of priority should be to solving these
problems, and the mild topics of academic analysis should be laid aside
until we have divested ourselves of fear. Academic
investigation does not have to be esoteric, and it does not have to be
dull and irrelevant to pressing concerns.
Anyway, the academics are for feathering their own nests. The
government pays them to keep quite, and they keep quite, and they
invite Ukrainians to vote for that government so that all will remain
quite, and their pay checks won't be interrupted.
I would like to see all multicultural funding cut off. One
reason is that I expect that people other than Ukrainians get a
disproportionate amount of it, which thus leaves Ukrainians at a
disadvantage. Taxation should be reduced by the same amount
as is multicultural funding, which would leave Ukrainians with a few
more dollars in their pockets that they could donate to Ukrainian
causes of their choice. I envision, in other words, the same
level of spending on Ukrainian needs, but not channelled through the
hands of Ottawa bureaucrats who are not under Ukrainian control, but
who rather disburse the funds so as to exercise control.
Has anybody ever held the academics' feet to the fire for their
cowardice and their irresponsibility? I notice that
philosopher Michael Neumann of Trent University did a little analysis
of Globe and Mail bias in covering anti-Jewish vs anti-Arab
eruptions. But he's a philosopher, and his was just a casual,
one-shot effort, and could be done thoroughly and definitively by an
academic who is really expert in the area--and if it is ever done more
thoroughly with respect to media bias against Ukrainians, it will most
likely be done not by a Ukrainian but by a Jew, for the simple reason
that the Ukrainians are too afraid to do it, and the Jews aren't.
Anyway, I very much disapprove of the recommendation below, and think
that it constitutes a disservice to the Ukrainian community.
My comments above are quickly gathered for which reason they should not
be distributed.
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 2:22 PM
Subject: Letter to the Ukrainian Canadian community in Edmonton
A Letter to the Ukrainian Canadian community in Edmonton June 25, 2004
The Ukrainian Canadian community, just as all Canadians, will have to
make an important decision on June 28. We believe that asking Ukrainian
Canadians to vote for one party as opposed to another based on single
issues is to ask the Ukrainian Canadian to base fundamentally important
decisions on a narrow foundation only. We disagree strongly with this
approach to politics and urge the Ukrainian Canadian to look at the
overall picture. That is, which leaders, parties and candidates would
be the best to govern our country and represent our interests, for
Canada, Edmonton, and the Ukrainian Canadian community? We
think that Anne McLellan and others in Edmonton like David Kilgour,
Debby Carlson, John Bethel, Neil Mather, Bruce King, Maureen Towns, Moe
Saed, would make good choices. You have heard much in the last month
about the Liberal commitment to Health Care, a National Child Care
Program, Education, Seniors Care, Deficit Elimination, Debt Reduction,
Economic Growth, Jobs, among other issues. The people who have signed
this letter from the Ukrainian Canadian community in the greater
Edmonton area believe in working in a spirit of cooperation with
patience, perseverance, and firmness to help resolve complex and
difficult policy issues that face the Ukrainian Canadian community.
Here are some issues of importance to the Ukrainian Canadian community,
and our understanding of them, that we would like you to consider:
Support for the enhancement of Canadian multicultural communities.
Canadians today reflect a vast diversity of cultural heritages and
racial groups and our diverse multicultural population is one of the
distinctive features of Canadian society. As a country whose origins
are deeply rooted in the diversity of its people, Canada is benefiting
from the various linguistic, ethnic, cultural, religious and racial
communities that form its population. The varied make-up of
Canada’s people provides this country with a powerful set of social and
economic resources. We are concerned that some other parties have in
the past said that they would remove support for multiculturalism from
government policy. We do not know what the policy of the new
Conservative Party would be. We do know that earlier the Reform Party
would have done away with the policy of multiculturalism. Alberta
Premier Don Getty publicly stated with the support of his then minister
Doug Main that they intended to do away with multicultural legislation
in Alberta. At that time community leaders of all political stripes,
like Peter Savaryn and Gene Zwozdesky, fought this. People like Doug
Main continue to play a significant role on the campaign team of
Stephen Harper today. Do we want to risk anything that might return us
to past problems that existed prior to the adoption of the
multiculturalism policy, which Ukrainian Canadian community leaders
like Dr. Manoly Lupul and the late Laurence Decore spearheaded? Do we
not need continuing support and enhancement of cultural groups, dance
groups, choirs, heritage language education schools, museums and
archives, radio and television programs on an equitable basis with all
others in legislation and government policy? All of these are important
if the Ukrainian Canadian community is to survive and prosper in the
future.
Support for strengthening immigration policy. It is important that
immigrants be permitted to participate in all aspects of Canadian
society, and Liberals believe the Government of Canada should play a
supportive role to this end. As such Liberals would invest: $40 million
for foreign credential recognition; $15 million for enhanced language
training for skilled workers, which builds upon $5 million allocated in
the previous year; $5 million in Budget 2004 for non-regulated sector
councils; $3 million over 3 years for upgrading foreign trained medical
graduates; $1 million on licensing medical graduates. Immigration from
Ukraine has been increasing and many of these families are benefiting
from these and other government support programs that more quickly
allow full participation in Canadian society.
Canadian citizenship. Canadian citizens by birth are not subject to
revocation of citizenship action. Citizenship and Immigration Canada
has legislation in place to initiate revocation proceedings if it is
believed that Canadians have obtained citizenship by false
representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material
circumstances. This has been a contentious issue for the Ukrainian
Canadian community. However, as a result of the decision of the Federal
Court of Appeal within the last month in the Oberlander case we believe
that the issue of revocation of citizenship related to alleged World
War Two activities is well on its way to being behind us and that the
decisions of the higher courts will be respected, just as they have
been respected on other Charter of Rights issues.
Redress to the Ukrainian Canadian community for the
internment operations 1914-1920. Liberals support a policy which is
consistent with aspects of Bill C-331 that call for acknowledgement and
commemoration of the historical experience of Ukrainian Canadian
communities. Commemoration may include support for museums and memorial
plaques and other initiatives available through existing government
programs and institutions. The Government has maintained dialogue with
communities requesting restitution for incidents in our nation’s past.
On the issue of redress, we believe that it is only a matter of time
before the concerns of the Ukrainian Canadian community are satisfied.
Patient work with whatever party is in power will be required to reach
a just settlement. Over the past few years, we have seen growing
support among MPs of all parties throughout Canada. These views have
been evolving as a result of the patient efforts of many people who are
achieving success by pointing out that our cause is fundamentally just.
Outbursts of negativity and finger pointing have not been helpful in
resolving these questions.
Support for strengthening Canada’s relationship and assistance to
Ukraine in furthering democratic and economic reforms. Canada and
Ukraine enjoy close relations, based on a historic foundation of over
one hundred years of Ukrainian migration to Canada. The Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) has a large technical
cooperation program in Ukraine. We are of the opinion that this program
will be done away with or suffer substantial cuts if there is a change
in government. This would not serve Canadian interests and would impact
negatively on Ukraine’s evolution toward democratic governance and
market reforms. Canada also supports Ukraine’s integration into
Euro-Atlantic structures, such as through the NATO-Ukraine Distinctive
Partnership, which provides language and peacekeeper training for
Ukrainian military personnel and support for NATO-Ukraine civil
emergency planning. The portfolio of CIDA projects consists of 35
projects in 10 sectors. From 1991-2002, Canada provided $235 million in
country-to-country assistance. Of this, $151 million was in the form of
technical cooperation, $14 million in humanitarian assistance, and $70
million in commercial credits. Canada has also committed $33.7 million
in multilateral assistance and $19.2 million in regional initiatives
that includes its programs in Ukraine. Drawing on the lessons learned
from almost ten years of programming, “A Path to Reform: Ukraine
Programming Framework 2002-2006” focuses on governance, including
governance structures, institutional capacity building, strengthening
civil society and was developed with input from and consultation with
the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
Based on these beliefs, and on the view that in today’s Canada and in
this election, the Liberal Party under the leadership of Paul Martin is
the best choice for all Canadians, including Ukrainian Canadians, we
urge you to vote for the Liberal candidates mentioned. We believe they
will represent Edmonton’s interests best, including those of the
Ukrainian Canadian community in Edmonton.
Signed by: Jim Jacuta, Bohdan Klid, Halyna Klid, Rudy Pisesky, Sharon
Pisesky, Halia Radiuk, Bill Shostak, Nick Seredych, and Paul Yewchuk.