Government Relations Committee Report; Wed., April 03, 2002

(1) Meeting with Eugene Czolij, President of UCC-National, on Sunday, March 17, 2002, 12:00-14:00 hrs at UCC-APC office.

With respect to the denaturalization and deportation (d&d) issue, Mr. Czolij asked that we delay our invitation for a meeting with Immigration Minister Coderre until after UCC-National has had an opportunity to meet with him on the issue. Hopefully, this will occur in May or June 2002. It was not clear if we should still send congratulations and concerns to Mssrs. Cauchon and Coderre before that date.

Earlier, Paul Grod, chair of Justice Committee of UCC-National, had indicated he had no objection contacting Mssrs. Cauchon and Coderre, provided we refer to the position maintained by UCC-National.

(2) Meeting with Andrew Telegdi, Liberal MP for Kitchener-Waterloo, on Friday, March 22, 2002, 14:30 hrs at UCC-APC office. Present were Marco Levytsky, Eugene Harasymiw, Will Zuzak, Ludmila Sereditch, Mr. Uzwyshyn, Georg and Ollie Schulz, Gerry and Liane Ives.

Mr. Telegdi has been very vocal in support of his constituent Helmut Oberlander and against the d&d policy of the Liberal government. Earlier that day, he had met with the Muslim and Sikh communities on the issue. In the fall of 2001, he was instrumental in having the federal Liberal Party in British Columbia adopt a resolution, which, in effect, condemns the d&d policy and which shall be debated at the Liberal National Convention in the fall of 2002.

Mr. Telegdi wanted us to encourage Ukrainians to join the Liberal Party and become delegates to the Convention, so as to be able to support this BC resolution.

The UCC-APC Government Relations Committee supports this initiative. We feel that it is important for Ukrainians to get involved with all political parties, take on organizational positions therein and become part of the decision-making process in Canada.

(3) March 26, 2002, letter to Jean Chretien, Prime Minister, and Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, urging “the Government of Canada to use its diplomatic influence to ensure that the citizens of Ukraine be allowed to vote in a free and democratic manner.”

This initiative was spearheaded by Marco Levytsky in response to an appeal from Yulia Tymoshenko to the world community in this regard. Mr. Levytsky discussed the issue with Rick Mantey of UCC-National and it was decided to issue a broad statement of support rather than refer to the specific case of Ms. Tymoshenko.

Respectfully submitted
Will Zuzak; 2002-04-03
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