Volodymyr Kish.
Canada celebrated its 150th anniversary as a nation this past weekend and there was certainly much to celebrate. In terms of justice, freedom, quality of life, social equity, economic wealth, natural resources, education, opportunity, or almost any other measure, Canada ranks amongst the top countries in the world in which to live.
For 126 of those 150 years, Ukrainians have been major contributors towards making Canada what it is. Those first immigrants in sheepskin coats came to this country looking for a better future than could be found in the then feudal societies of their homeland, where they often faced persecution just for trying to maintain their Ukrainian language and culture. To be sure, they faced no shortage of challenges after they arrived here, but as Canada grew and prospered, so did they. As Canada matured into the liberal, diverse and tolerant nation that it is today, Ukrainians found their place in Canadian society, and earned the respect and admiration of their fellow Canadians.
During those 126 years, Ukrainians showed a particular penchant and skill at organizing themselves for the purpose of preserving their language, culture, religion and political ideals. They built churches, organized Ukrainian language schools, Prosvita educational societies, scouting organizations, created a spectrum of political organizations from the communist labour temples to nationalist bodies such as the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) and the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC). Ukrainian choirs, dance groups and drama societies sprang up everywhere. Eventually, with strong prodding from the Canadian government, they even created an umbrella organization, the Ukrainian Canadian Committee or UCC (now the Ukrainian Canadian Congress) to co-ordinate the activities of the entire Ukrainian community, despite a historical tendency towards divisiveness based on religion, regional origins and political leanings.
Today, Ukrainians are still, in all likelihood, the best organized ethnic group in Canada. On key issues, such as support for Ukraine in a time of crisis and war, they can raise funds and muster political and community support on a scale that is truly impressive and admirable. The UCC and many of its constituent organizations can boast of a skilled, educated and highly capable cadre of leaders, most of them second and third generation of Canadian born Ukrainians. These in turn, can leverage the large number of Ukrainians that are prominent at all levels of government, academia, the professions and the world of business.
And yet, to those of our community who, like myself, have been part of Ukrainian organizational life for the past half century, there is cause for concern that things may not be quite as rosy as they seem. To be sure, the UCC is probably stronger, better led and better financed than it has ever been. Yet, many of the dozens of Ukrainian organizations that form its base, are facing an existential crisis.
he two largest Ukrainian political/cultural organizations in Canada, namely the UNF and LUC, are but mere shadows of what they used to be. From their peaks in the fifties and sixties when they could boast of branches in every major city and town in Canada, they are reduced to perhaps a dozen branches each in the largest urban centers. The number of Ukrainian churches has declined precipitously in the past few decades. Where once there were dozens of Ukrainian newspapers and periodicals being published in Canada, there are now but a mere handful.
Ukrainian organizations in Canada have been aware of the challenges of assimilation for a long time, yet few have been able to come up with a viable strategy for dealing with the issue. Regrettably, most organizations have not even tried, exhibiting a head in the sand attitude. Older generations of idealistic Ukrainians have mostly tried to coerce younger generations of born in Canada Ukrainians that it is their “patriotic” duty to do as they did, and are surprised and dismayed when such entreaties are spurned or ignored. With each succeeding generation, that cultural and generational gap grows wider.
One of the first priorities that any organization should have is preserving its own continuity and relevance. For the UCC, as well as organizations such as the UNF and LUC, their number one focus must be how to counter the serious erosion of the organizational base of the Ukrainian community and recreate a sense of purpose and relevance for them once again. They can no longer expect that Ukrainian Canadians will come to them. They must take the initiative, re-engineer themselves to be more relevant and attractive to young Ukrainian Canadians, and then aggressively market themselves to their target audience.
Canada has evolved significantly in the 126 years that Ukrainians have been in Canada. Ukrainian organizations in this country have not kept pace. They must start doing so if they want to be around for the next major milestone in this country’s existence.
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