UCCLA, For Immediate Release (Toronto/ 23 March 2006) On Tuesday, 2 May 2006, a historical plaque honouring the Welsh journalist, Gareth R V Jones, will be unveiled at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Jones was one of the first Western journalists to travel to, and report truthfully on, the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor. For that he was denounced by the Soviet authorities and by their sympathizers in the West, including the notorious New York Times correspondent, Walter Duranty, who would go on to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his supposedly objective reporting on events in the Soviet Union. Jones was later murdered by Chinese bandits in Manchukuo, in August 1935. For more on Jones go to http://colley.co.uk/garethjones Following a Memorial Service in the University Chapel, with remarks by Lord Elystan Morgan, president of the University, the trilingual (Welsh, English, Ukrainian) plaque will be unveiled in The Quadrangle of the Old College by Dr Margaret Colley and Nigel Linsan Colley, relatives of the late Gareth Jones. Organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, with the support of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches of Great Britain and Canada, the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, the Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association, and other donors, the bronze plaque is adorned with a bas relief of Gareth Jones, prepared by Toronto sculptor, Oleh Lesiuk. This is the first-ever historical marker including not only the English and Welsh languages but Ukrainian as well.

UCCLA, For Immediate Release (Toronto - 28 February 2006) Thousands of Canadians of many different ethnic, religious and racial origins have begun sending postcards to the Canadian Prime Minister, the Rt Honourable Stephen Harper, asking him to reconsider providing federal funds for the development of a "Canadian Museum of Human Rights," as proposed by the Asper Foundation of Winnipeg. Organized by Canadians for a Genocide Museum, this campaign calls upon the Prime Minister to review whether the Asper museum would be "inclusive and equitable" in its treatment of  "all episodes of genocide that have befouled human history, before, during and after the Second World War, and not only in Europe but in Asia, Africa and elsewhere." Critics of the proposed museum, which has received tentative pledges of federal, provincial and municipal funding, believe that its central focus will be an emphasis on the horrors that befell European Jews during the war, suggesting that this community's suffering was somehow more important than that of others. Commenting on the protest, John Gregorovich, president of Canadians for a Genocide Museum said: "We endorse the concept of an inclusive Canadian museum that hallows the memory of all victims of genocide, regardless of whether they fell victim in Europe, Asia, Africa or elsewhere, before or after the 20th century. In a multicultural society like the one we have today in Canada we do not believe that federal, provincial or even municipal funds should be given to a project that diminishes the tragedies that many peoples experienced before some were fortunate enough to find asylum and an opportunity for rebuilding their lives here. We all share a desire to build Canada together. That won't be easy if taxpayers' dollars are allocated to a private project that claims one or two communities are more deserving of historical memory than others. We are therefore asking Canada's Prime Minister to review this project and ensure that all of the stakeholder communities are engaged in that consultative process. Without such transparency, accountability and inclusiveness we can not support federal funding for this museum."

Canadians For A Genocide Museum Media Release For Immediate Release (Toronto/14 January 2006) Canadians are being asked to contact Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean asking her to withdraw her patronage of the "Canadian Museum of Human Rights," as proposed by the board of directors of Winnipeg's Asper Foundation. Supported in large measure by taxpayer's funds, provided by the municipal (City of Winnipeg), provincial (Manitoba) and federal Canadian governments, this museum, according to reports, will not be inclusive and equitable in its treatment of the many episodes of genocide that occurred before, during and after the Second World War, not only in Europe but elsewhere in the world, including Asia and Africa. Instead, the museum, is intended to focus attention on the horrors that befell European Jews. Commenting on the Asper Foundation's proposal, Mr James Kafieh, of Canadians For A Genocide Museum, a coalition of dozens of Canadian ethnic, religious, and racial minorities who have come together to question the lack of inclusiveness and transparency in this project, said: "We are calling upon Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, to withdraw her support of this initiative because we are not convinced that the Asper museum will be inclusive or equitable in its treatment of the many episodes of genocide and crimes against humanity that befouled not only 20th century Europe but other regions as well. Of course, we have no objection to an exhibit on the holocaust, which took millions of Jewish and non-Jewish lives, but that crime is well known and already extensively treated in museums around the world. We believe a Canadian institution funded largely by the taxpayers should not suggest that any atrocity is more deserving of attention than others, or that the suffering that befell one community should be made to appear as being more worthy of memory than those endured by others. We want a museum that is not partial or prejudiced and that is developed and managed openly instead of behind closed doors. The Asper Foundation's proposal does not meet these criteria. Their spokespersons are not being candid in responding to our legitimate concerns. Accordingly, we are asking our friends and supporters to contact the Governor General and petition her to withdraw her support, at least until there are public assurances that our frankly-stated concerns have been addressed. Her Majesty's representative in Canada should not be engaged in partisanship nor in endorsing a project that is so very controversial." Her Excellency may be contacted by mail at the address below (no postage necessary within Canada) or email at info@gg.ca Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean Governor General of Canada Rideau Hall 1 Sussex Drive Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A1

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: Program Manager (Term Appointment) The National Redress Council has been established by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko. The Council is seeking an individual to assist in the establishment of a Canadian Ukrainian Redress Program and Fund that will support commemorative, research and educational initiatives recalling Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920. Reporting to the Council, the Program Manager will help oversee the planning and completion of its projects. The successful candidate will possess superior project management, communication, financial fundraising and marketing skills, have a graduate degree and no less than 6 years of government or related experience.  A working knowledge of French and Ukrainian would be an asset, as well as a familiarity with the Ukrainian Canadian community and Canadian NGO’s active in fields such as justice, human rights and civil liberties, multiculturalism, or history. Must be prepared to work some evenings and weekends and to travel within Canada as required. Please send your resume and covering letter in confidence to National Redress Council 202-952 Main Street Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R2W 3P4 or e-mail to lesia@shevchenkofoundation.ca Deadline for submissions is  9 January 2006 Salary commensurate with experience/Location of  position  negotiable We thank all applicants for their interest. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted by 16 January 2006, with a hiring decision expected by February 2006

UCCLA, Media Release (27 November 2005) - Toronto After prolonged speculation about whether and where he would run, Michael Ignatieff appears to have found himself a safe haven in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. The Executive of the Etobicoke-Lakeshore Federal Liberal Riding Association learned late on Friday, November 25, 2006 that their Member of Parliament, Jean Augustine, has resigned her seat and that Ignatieff is to be parachuted in as the sole, uncontested candidate in a surprise nomination meeting scheduled for 30 November 2005 The speed with which the nomination meeting was called and the abridgement of all timelines suggests that the Liberal Party is discouraging all other contenders. Despite the abridgement of time, and the difficult nomination filing requirements, two candidates were in fact able to prepare and submit the required forms, including police and credit checks, as well as the required 30 signatures in support of their nominations. The two candidates delivered their nomination documents to Liberal Party headquarters in Toronto, only to find that the office was locked before the 5:00 p.m. filing deadline. Liberal party staffers could be seen through the second storey windows but they refused to answer repeated knocking on the doors and phone calls to the office. The two potential candidates are more than qualified to seek the nomination. Marc Shwec, a bilingual (English/French) engineer and MBA, has been active in community and volunteer work. Ron Chyczij, also an MBA, is the president of the Etobicoke-Lakeshore Riding Association and is active in many community and volunteer projects. Mr. Ignatieff, who had ample notice of Ms. Augustine’s resignation likely faced no obstacles in filing his nomination papers. The intended coronation of Mr. Ignatieff, a virulent Ukrainophobe, is offensive to the numerous Ukrainian Canadian residents of the riding, many of whom have been members of the riding association for many years and form more than one half of the membership of the riding association. To Mr. Ignatieff, Ukrainians conjour up images of “embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phoney Cossacks in cloaks and boots.” These views are unacceptable to all right-minded Canadians. A protest by members of the Etobicoke Lakeshore Riding Association along with other Ukrainian Canadian community members will be held in front of the Liberal Party headquarters at 4 St. Mary’s Street tomorrow – SUNDAY Nov. 27, 2005 from 2-3 pm. (2 blocks south of Bloor, at the corner of Yonge St.) For further information contact: Myroslava Oleksiuk, Membership Secretary Etobicoke Lakeshore Federal Liberal Riding Association (416) 259-3202

UCCLA, For Immediate Release (25 November 2005) - Calgary/Toronto A private member's initiative, Bill C-331 - The Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act, tabled by Inky Mark, MP (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) was passed yesterday by the House of Commons and today by The Senate of Canada, with unanimous consent. Following Royal Assent by The Governor General of Canada the bill will become law. Commenting on this remarkable and historic achievement the chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Mr John Gregorovich, said: "For many years Inky Mark has demonstrated his commitment to righting an historic wrong, the needless imprisonment of thousands of innocent Ukrainians and other Europeans during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920. While many refused to accept what happened, or tried to ignore or dismiss its importance in Canadian history, Mr Mark steadfastly insisted upon seeing justice done and today that goal has been achieved. We are all very grateful to him for his perseverance, for his commitment to human rights and civil liberties and to those in all of the parties represented in the House of Commons and Senate of Canada who supported his efforts over the past few years, and during the last few days in particular. Now that Bill C 331 has been passed we hope the Government of Canada will honour its pledge to recognize officially what happened to Ukrainian Canadians during this particularly unhappy episode in our country's past and to complete the negotiations on redress. Thankfully this Bill was passed while the last known survivor of the internment operations, Mary Manko, is still alive and able to witness to this critical step forward toward closure and reconciliation."

UCCLA, For immediate Release (Calgary - 21 November 2005) To mark Ukraine's annual day of remembrance for the many millions of victims of the genocidal Great Famine in Soviet Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, which this year falls on 26 November, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has published The famine-genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Kashtan Press, 2005, 336 pp,  ISBN# 1-896354-38-6, $35) prepared by a Kyiv historian, Professor Yuri Shapoval. Consisting of 81 Soviet-era documents, in Russian and Ukrainian, dealing with the causes and consequences of this famine, the book also contains English-language annotations of each document, a list of acronyms, and an introduction in English and Ukrainian by Dr Shapoval. Funding for this project was made available by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association in Calgary, with the assistance of UCCLA, the Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association, the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations, and the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. Commenting on the release of this collection, UCCLA's director of special projects, Borys Sydoruk, said: "One of the most important mandates of UCCLA is to ensure that educational materials about issues in Ukrainian history are readily available to scholars, the media, and students. With this publication we are providing primary source material about the Holodomor to a very large audience by distributing complementary copies to university and public libraries across Canada and worldwide. Anyone interested in knowing more about this Soviet crime against humanity can already find the book in repositories from Washington to Jerusalem to London to Moscow. We are grateful to those of our partner organizations in the Diaspora who saw the need for this book which will further focus attention on what was arguably the greatest episode of mass murder in 20th century European history." While most copies of the book are being distributed to libraries and research institutes, a limited number are available for sale to the general public

For Immediate Release (Toronto, 22 August 2005) Today, in Lens, France, Filip Konowal, the only Ukrainian Canadian ever to have been presented with the highest military medal awarded by the British Empire, the Victoria Cross, was remembered near the battlefield where his valour in August 1917 earned him that distinction. Today, in Lens, France, Filip Konowal, the only Ukrainian Canadian ever to have been presented with the highest military medal awarded by the British Empire, the Victoria Cross, was remembered near the battlefield where his valour in August 1917 earned him that distinction Organized by Toronto's Branch #360 of The Royal Canadian Legion, in collaboration with the City of Lens, the Royal Westminster Regiment Association and the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a trilingual bronze plaque was unveiled today in the presence of a large audience, including dignitaries representing the governments of Ukraine, France, Great Britain and Canada. Speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, UCCLA's director of research, said: "Konowal's valour has now been marked, not only with plaques across Canada and in his home village of Kutkivchi, Ukraine, but here, near Hill 70, where he demonstrated his willingness to fight for the freedom of the country where Liberty, Fraternity and Equality were proclaimed as the ideals for which all good men and women must struggle. On behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, and our supporters here in France, Canada, Ukraine and Great Britain, we thank everyone who helped make today's act of recognition possible. By doing so we hallow not only Filip Konowal's memory but also the thousands of other Canadian soldiers who came here more than 90 years ago, many of whom now rest in French soil, having paid the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War For Civilization."

UCCLA Media Release For Immediate Release (Calgary/Toronto) - 3 November 2004 The 7th annual conclave of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) was held in Niagara Falls, 28-31 October 2004 with delegates from across Canada and guests representing the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, as well as a delegation from the newly established Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association (UACLA). Together they deliberated various project proposals for the coming year, all intended to further a more pro-active stand in advancing the Ukrainian Diaspora's interests. Among the critical new and approved initiatives is one aimed at identifying Soviet war criminals and bringing them to justice and an intensified campaign intended to get all of the parties in the House of Commons to vote favourably in support of Bill C 331 - The Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act, due to be debated in Parliament in the near future. The conclave also made modest donations in support of a new play on the internment operations, Our Home and Native Land, by Dan Ebbs, a ballad by Donna Creighton on the same theme, and committed itself to another internment plaque to mark the site of the Fernie camp in British Columbia. Special briefings on the trafficking of Ukrainian women, on the activities of Canadians for a Genocide Museum, and on UCC proposals for future collaboration with UCCLA were also heard. Inky Mark, MP (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) via teleconference participated in a discussion about ways and means for advancing the redress issue. Given the minority status of the current Liberal government of Canada, and the pre-election pledges of all three of the opposition parties in the House (who together control a majority of seats) it is expected that Bill C 331 will be passed, thus bringing this matter to a close, 85 years after the end of the internment operations. Chaired by John B Gregorovich, this conclave was attended by an even greater number of delegates than last year and a larger than ever youth delegation. Commenting, Mr Gregorovich said: " UCCLA continues to represent a pro-active force within the Ukrainian Canadian community and it is evident that that is what our people want. The conclave was not only well attended but the average age of our members decreased, exactly the opposite of what is happening with the organizations of yesteryear. We are continuing to successfully engage the support of thousands of Ukrainian Canadians from coast to coast because we are project-driven, evolve new ideas and projects, and put the community's interests forward in the public domain, month after month. This year we were particularly pleased to be able to witness the unveiling of another internment plaque, at the Niagara Falls Armoury, a facility used as a detention camp for Ukrainians and other Europeans throughout the First World War. That both the Mayor of Niagara Falls, His Worship R. T. Salci, and the Honourable Walter Lastewka, MP, were able to bear witness to the installation and consecration of this memorial by our clergy was particularly welcome, especially Mr Lastewka's remarks, in which he committed to ensuring that our redress claims are finally heard by the Liberal government. As well, this meeting witnessed the birth of a partner organization, the Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association (UACLA). That young American Ukrainians are joining us to create a comparable body in the USA is very welcome, for it will help ensure that, over time, our presence and influence throughout North America increase. We are already planning several joint initiatives with UACLA, and hope, next year, to have similar bodies established in Australia and Great Britain, perhaps even in Ukraine." UCCLA's next conclave will be held in the fall of 2005 in Fernie, British Columbia, where an internment camp was in operation from June 1915 to October 1918.