Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) is an independent, non-partisan educational and research organization. Established in 1986 after the Civil Liberties Commission (affiliated with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress) was disbanded,[1] its members – all of whom are volunteers – have been particularly active in championing the cause of recognition, restitution and reconciliation with respect to Canada's first national internment operations,[1][2][3][4] helping secure a redress settlement in 2008 with the Government of Canada along with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Taras Shevchenko Foundation[2][5] (see InternmentCanada.ca). They have also challenged allegations about "Nazi war criminals" hiding in Canada,[1][6][7] have exposed the presence in Canada of veterans of the NKVD/SMERSH/KGB, have helped raise public awareness about Soviet and Communist war crimes and crimes against humanity[8] (in particular about the genocidal Great Famine of 1932–1933 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor),[7] and have made numerous public representations, articulating the interests of Canada's Ukrainian community.[2][7] The first chairman of the CLC/UCCLA was John B. Gregorovich, a lawyer.[9] The current chairman is Roman Zakaluzny; the immediate past president was Professor Lubomyr Luciuk.[3]

UCCLA's members meet annually during conclaves held in different cities across the country, often co-ordinating their meeting dates with the unveiling of trilingual historical markers commemorating the internment operations at different camp locations[3] or otherwise recalling important individuals or events in Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian history. The Association and its supporters have also placed two dozen trilingual markers and four statues across Canada,[9][10] in Ukraine[7][11] and in France[12] honouring the Ukrainian Canadian Victoria Cross recipient, Cpl Filip Konowal;[13] recalling the contributions of Ukrainian Canadian servicemen and women during the Second World War (London, England);[14][15] and honouring the Welsh journalist, Gareth Jones, who exposed the truth about the Holodomor. UCCLA has also commissioned a number of articles and books that have been distributed internationally dealing with the Holodomor, Anglo-American perspectives on the question of Ukraine's independence, the Ukrainian nationalist movement before, during and after the Second World War,[16] and Soviet crimes against humanity and war crimes.[8] In 2003–2004, UCCLA campaigned to have the 1932 Pulitzer Prize of Walter Duranty, the New York Times correspondent in Moscow from 1922 to 1934, revoked. Duranty wrote in 1933, during the Great Famine, that "there was no famine" and criticized articles by other Western journalists as "failed predictions of doom for the Soviets".[17]

Its most recent campaign (which began in the late winter of 2010) has been about ensuring that all 12 galleries in the publicly funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights are thematic, comparative and inclusive – rather than elevating the suffering of any one or two communities above all others. To that end the Association has distributed thousands of protest postcards nationally and published a notice raising their concerns in The Hill Times (31 January 2011). Some of UCCLA's critics have tried to censure or even call for the silencing of its voice in the public debate over the proposed contents and governance of the tax payer funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights. One of UCCLA's most recent campaigns (February 2016) involves an appeal to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, requesting her intervention to help save and re-consecrate the internment camp cemetery at Spirit Lake (La Ferme), Quebec.

UCCLA continues to be a volunteer organization supported by the donations and efforts of thousands of Canadians of Ukrainian heritage.

UCCLA-supported publications

Some of the books and pamphlets published with the support of the UCCLA include:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Guly, The Ukrainian Weekly, Jan. 24, 1993, p. 4 & 17.
  2. 1 2 3 The Ukrainian Weekly, Sept. 4, 2005, p. 1 & 4.
  3. 1 2 3 The Ukrainian Weekly, Nov. 8, 2009, p. 1 & 18.
  4. ↑ Luciuk et. al, Roll Call.
  5. ↑ Luciuk and Martin, The Ukrainian Weekly, Sept. 11, 2005, p. 6, 14 & 18.
  6. ↑ Guly, The Ukrainian Weekly, Feb. 18, 1996, p. 4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 The Ukrainian Weekly, Jan. 7, 2001, p. 24-25.
  8. 1 2 The Ukrainian Weekly, Feb. 18, 1996, p. 4 & 15.
  9. 1 2 Lemieszewski, The Ukrainian Weekly, June 29, 1997, p. 8 & 18.
  10. ↑ Guly, The Ukrainian Weekly, July 28, 1996, p. 8 & 18.
  11. ↑ The Ukrainian Weekly, Sept. 10, 2000, p. 4.
  12. ↑ The Ukrainian Weekly, Aug. 28, 2005, p. 1 & 20.
  13. ↑ Luciuk and Sorobey, Konowal.
  14. ↑ The Ukrainian Weekly, Dec. 31, 1995, p. 19.
  15. ↑ The Ukrainian Weekly, Aug. 27, 1995, p. 7.
  16. ↑ The Ukrainian Weekly, Jan. 7, 2001, p. 25.
  17. ↑ Columbia Journalism Review, p. 43(6); New York Times, p. A-24.

Sources

External links

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