Walter Kish, Oshawa
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Ontario Provincial Council) held its Annual Meeting on Saturday May 2 at the UNF Hall in Hamilton, Ontario. Present were representatives from the Windsor, London, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto, Oshawa and Ottawa UCC branches. Also attending were special guests Yvan Baker – MPP and former UCC-OPC President, Bohdan Onyshchuk from the Canada Ukraine Foundation, and Renata Roman, Vice President of UCC National.
The meeting elected Taras Bahriy (Toronto) as Chair and Nikolai Bilaniuk (Ottawa) as Secretary for the proceedings. After presentation of reports by the President, Treasurer and Secretary, a wide ranging discussion took place on the future viability of the UCC-OPC. Although all agreed that there was a need for such a structure to develop the UCC presence within the Ukrainian community in the province, and to act as intermediary with the provincial authorities, there are significant challenges to fulfilling those functions. The primary issue is that the UCC-OPC does not have a stable funding base. In contrast to provincial councils out west who obtain significant funding from their provincial governments, the Ontario council does not have access to similar funding here. Further, it has few options in terms of fund-raising that would not put it in conflict with individual city branches. As a result, with no full time staff resources, or permanent office, and relying totally on volunteer effort, it is constrained in what it is able to do.
Bohdan Onyschuk noted that though most governments will not provide funding for ongoing operational expenses to an organization such as UCC-OPC, there are lots of grants and funding available for specific projects. What UCC-OPC should do is develop concrete projects and initiatives eligible for such funding and leverage that to fund organizational activities and expenses. It was agreed that the UCC-OPC executive under the new President to be elected at the AGM, should undertake as its first task, to hold a strategy planning session on how to best resolve this issue.
After a short lunch break, Bohdan Onyschuk presented an over view of the Holodomor Bus project being run by the Canada Ukraine Foundation through a large grant from the federal government. The project is proceeding well and the cross Canada tour is set to begin later this year. He urged all UCC branches in Ontario to become involved in the tour.
Each branch proceeded to present a report on their activities over the past year. It was clear that though the provincial council has had issues constraining its activities, the branches have been very active, particularly in the areas of Euromaidan support and demonstrations, as well as fundraising to help the Ukrainian forces as well as victims of the conflict.
Although the term of the current executive does not expire until next year, the AGM was tasked with picking a new President for the UCC-OPC following upon the resignation of Steve Andrusiak from that position. The nominating Committee headed by Olya Sheweli reported that after an extensive search and many discussions, they found a highly qualified candidate in the person of Lidia Narozniak, an Assistant Crown Attorney from Hamilton, who has also been very active in the SUM organization over the years. With no other contending candidates, Lidia Narozniak was acclaimed as the new President of the UCC-OPC. The remainder of the executive remaining in place are Walter Kish (Oshawa) as Vice-President, Nikolai Bilaniuk (Ottawa) as Secretary, Daria Hryckiw (London) as Treasurer, and Olya Sheweli (Hamilton) as Past President.
Share on Social Media
