THE 28TH CONVENTION OF THE LEAGUE OF UKRAINIAN CANADIANS AND THE 22ND CONVENTION OF THE LEAGUE OF UKRAINIAN CANADIAN WOMEN.
Myroslava Lemko
On February 21-23, 2020 the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) and the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women (LUCW) hosted a Triennial National Convention at the Old Mill Toronto Ukrainian Cultural Center. The delegates from across Canada (Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, St. Catharines, Ottawa, Etobicoke, Hamilton, Toronto) discussed the work the impact of the LUC and LUCW funds such as "Friends of Ukraine Defense Forces", "Guardian Angels" and "Hero's Companion".
Over the past six years, LUC and LUCW have continued to support Ukrainian soldiers, their families, orphans and internally displaced persons. "Friends of Ukrainian Defense Forces" Fund raised over $ 2,500,000 CAD in order to provide humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine. Orest Steciw, Roman Medyk, Bohdan Cherniawsky, Ihor Kozak and other leading members of LUC have repeatedly visited the front line. They met with Ukrainian soldiers and discussed their needs and humanitarian assistance.
The LUCW reported on the "Guardian Angels" Fund which supported a much needed the medical mission to Lutsk, as well as the physical rehabilitation program at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). Moreover, the LUCW family rehabilitation project conducted a two-week camp in Lviv for soldiers and their wives suffering from with PTSD.
Psychological rehabilitation of warriors, veterans, political prisoners in Russian prisons, widows and displaced children continued within the framework of "Heros Companion". In 2019, with the assistance of specially trained therapy dogs, this project made over 250 visits to hospitals, rehabilitation centres, schools and train stations which now have special resting zones for the military. “Hero’s Companion” helps an average of 100 individuals per month in need of canistherapy.
There were also several short documentaries screened at the convention: "Mission East" on Donbas, "Shores of Freedom" directed by Adriana Lugova, on Ukrainian DPs who immigrated through Pier-21, and "Capitulation Resistance Movement" about events in Ukraine.
In addition to the reports and film screenings, the delegates discussed a plan moving forward and consolidated a number of resolutions.
Roman Medyk was re-elected as the LUC President, while Halyna Vynnyk was as the President of LUCW.
RESOLUTIONS
1. WHEREAS, the war in Ukraine is continuing,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to influence the government and citizens of Canada to demand that the Government of Ukraine maintain the clear and unambiguous position that no election can be held on the Russian-occupied territories of the Donbas and the Crimea, until such time as:
- all Russian troops, mercenaries, collaborators, and officials of the occupying regime, as well as lethal weapons, are removed from Ukrainian territory;
- full control over the Ukrainian side of the Ukrainian-Russian border is restored to Ukraine;
- the displaced residents of the Donbas can return peacefully to their homes;
- law and order are restored by the appropriate Ukrainian state institutions.
2. WHEREAS, the war in Ukraine is continuing,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to continue rendering assistance to Ukrainian fighters on the front line, veterans, the wounded, and the families of those who have been killed in this war.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to demand that the governments of the orld continue international sanctions against Russia and strengthen them until such time as Russia frees the sovereign Ukrainian territory of the Crimea and the occupied parts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, and provides full compensation.
3. WHEREAS, many creators, leaders, and fighters of the liberation struggles have been members of Plast,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to develop cooperation with Plast.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to strengthen our cooperation with the Ukrainian Youth Association, which is an integral part of the International Council in Support of Ukraine.
4. WHEREAS, there is an offensive against the Ukrainian language and history in Ukraine,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to develop communication and links with organizations and leading figures in Ukraine, who are fighting for the spread of the Ukrainian language and the study of Ukrainian history.
5. WHEREAS, the war is continuing in Ukraine and the direction of the current government of Ukraine is undefined,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to continue their close cooperation with such civic and political organizations as Free People [Vilni Liudy], the Resistance Movement against Capitulation [Rukh Oporu Kapituliatsii], Youth Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists [Molodizhnyi Natsionalistychnyi Kongres], and the Ukrainian Strategic Initiative [Ukrainska Stratehichna Initsiatyva], and to take an active part in counteracting the sources of Russian influence and information war.
6. WHEREAS, the hybrid war against the Ukrainian people is continuing,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to strengthen links with the Canadian media and Canadian politicians in the struggle for dignity, as well as for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to mobilize and coordinate all intellectual, technical, and financial means and all media with a statist orientation for the creation of a single, modern, hi-tech, and productive information agency—a media consortium that will become a tool in the struggle against the offensive by Muscow’s imperialism and the information war.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to make significant efforts in the fight against cyber attacks and the undesirable consequences of mass media manipulation, so as to eradicate the means of propaganda from the Canadian media space.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to create a group of experts who would develop a plan for the fight against enemy provocations in Canada, which are aimed against Ukrainian nationalist organizations, individuals, and formations.
7. WHEREAS, the Russian Federation and its representatives are constantly demonstrating unjustified disregard for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, basic human rights, and basic freedoms,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to continue exposing gross violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity by the Russian Federation, as well as of the basic freedoms and human rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the occupied territories of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. Actively advocate for Canada to take the lead in ensuring that the international community responds appropriately, including economic, technical, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and the strengthening of sanctions against the Russian Federation, for the safeguarding of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the release of all Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to support the Ukrainian strategic course toward Euro-Atlantic integration and membership in NATO.
8. WHEREAS, the Crimean Tatar people are being persecuted in occupied Crimea,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to mark the Day of Resistance to the Russian occupation of Crimea every year on 26 February.
9. WHEREAS, the communist totalitarian regime is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, and the popularization and glorification of Soviet symbols, such as the hammer-and-sickle and the red star, as well as the propagation of the odious ideology and regime, and over 1.3 million Canadians have roots in Ukraine, which suffered at the hands of the Soviet government from 1917 to 1991,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to continue to oppose the use of Soviet symbols and the propagation of the communist ideology in Canada.
10. WHEREAS, LUC and LUCW consistently advocate for the cooperation of the broader Ukrainian Canadian community,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to demand and support the efforts of Ukrainian organizations and the Ukrainian Canadian community to resist the attack on Canadian values and institutions, as well as on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
11. WHEREAS, the Government of Canada provides strong support to Ukraine, particularly through the training of the Armed Forces and the police, and LUC and LUCW express gratitude to the Government of Canada for the assistance rendered,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to encourage the Government of Canada to further develop existing programs along the lines of Operation UNIFIER and to introduce new initiatives, such as putting an end to human trafficking in all its forms, as well as anti-corruption programs that promote the rule of law.
12. WHEREAS, the LUC’s and LUCW’s humanitarian activities in the contemporary realities of Ukraine are on a large scale,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to create a permanent inter-organizational committee (Standing Committee) of the International Council in Support of Ukraine for the purpose of a timely exchange of information, joint identification of priorities, and coordination of projects, as well as the coordination of humanitarian activities with structures of like-minded people and partners in the broader Ukrainian diasporic community, and particularly in Ukraine.
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to discuss these questions of humanitarian activities and urgently organize a working meeting with our partners in the U.S. Council in Support of Ukraine.
13. TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION the importance of the activities, advanced age, and drop in the membership of veterans’ organizations in Ukraine,
WE CALL UPON LUC and LUCW to offer moral and financial support to veterans’ organizations in Ukraine: The Brotherhood of Veterans of the 1st Galician Division and the All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of the OUN and UPA.
