New President and Executive Team Elected at the UNF Ottawa-Gatineau AGM

Inna Ilienko for UNF O-G.

Ukrainian National Federation Ottawa-Gatineau (UNF O-G) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on January 31, 2018, and elected Anatoliy Shatkovskyy, along with a new slate of officers to lead the organization in 2018.

Anatoliy Shatkovskyy, first joined the UNF O-G team in 2016, after arriving from Ukraine, where he advised top government officials and managed development projects. Prior to that, Shatkovskyy was living in the United States where he received his higher education and began his project work on developing Ukrainian communities.

The UNF members at the AGM, which was chaired by Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, approved the election of new officers. A snow storm did not prevent several distinguished guests from attending the evening event. Among them were: Lieutenant General Paul Wynnyk, Commander of the Canadian Army, Сolonel Viktor Siromakha, Defence, Naval, and Air Attaché, who represented the Embassy of Ukraine to Canada, Andris Kesteris, President of Latvian National Federation, Baltic Federation and the Central and Eastern European Council in Canada, Borys Gengalo, President of UCC-Ottawa and Michael MacKay, President of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Association.

The co-presidents of the outgoing executive team, Melania Buba and Katie Wyslocky, welcomed all UNF members and guests and informed about the past year’s initiatives implemented by them together with their outgoing executive team. Among the 13 events and activities highlighted in the speech of the co-presidents, were: the screenings of the films “Women of Maidan” and “Recovery Room”, a book launch event for the books “Here & There” by Walter Kish and “The Linnet” by Chris McNaught, and awareness evening/ fundraiser on the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Ukrainian military “I’ve Returned”, with a special guest, Denis Polischuk, from the Maple Hope Foundation. The reports by outgoing UNF O-G treasurer, auditor and membership coordinator, presented in turn by Olga Sadanenko, Stephan Korbutiak and Sonia Simchison (on behalf of Larysa Rozumna) followed the presentation of the co-presidents and drew a summary of 2017.

The highlight of the AGM was the keynote presentation by Lieutenant General Paul Wynnyk, Commander of the Canadian Army on his Ukrainian roots, family history and what it was like to grow up as a Ukrainian Canadian. Lieutenant General Paul Wynnyk made an exciting speech tracing the history of his family back to the time his great-grandfather immigrated to Canada, after leaving Western Ukraine in 1903, and traveling through Hamburg, and landing in Halifax in 1905, which subsequently led to him settling in Alberta, where he started his family. Following the end of the speech of Lieutenant General Wynnyk, Anatoliy Shatkovskyy thanked him and presented a certificate of appreciation on behalf of UNF Canada, on the occasion of the 125th Anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, in recognition of becoming the Commander of the Canadian Army and for unwavering support for Ukraine through operation UNIFIER.

After the keynote address the election results were announced with the following UNF O-G officers for 2018: Anatoliy Shatkovskyy – President, Melania Buba – Past President, Katie Wyslocky – Vice-president and UCC Representative, Inna Ilienko – Secretary, Oleksandr Girsa – Treasurer, Vicki Karpiak – Membership, Thomas Grasza – UCC Alternate Representative, Mariia Nevoit – Student Liaison and Galyna Paliychuk, Sonia Simchison and Olya Moscicky – as Members-at-large.

After the closing remarks from Ihor Michalchyshyn, conversations continued on many topics between many members and guests who stayed to congratulate the new executive team and engaged in conversation with Lieutenant General Wynnyk. UNF Ottawa-Gatineau continues to develop with many new professionals joining the branch.

Share on Social Media