UCCLA Media Release (Ottawa - 7 January 2011) Commenting on yesterday's (6 January) media advisory from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, the chair of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Mr. Roman Zakaluzny, said: "We are not aware of any misconceptions about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. It is a publicly funded, national museum whose operating budget will be supported, in perpetuity, by all Canadian taxpayers. At present the Museum's plans call for 12 galleries, known as zones. Ten of these will apparently be thematic, but two are already fixed in terms of their focus - on Jewish suffering during the Second World War (the Shoah) and Canadian aboriginal issues. By being afforded permanent and prominent spaces in this museum the horrors endured by these groups are being elevated above those of all other peoples. "Furthermore, while the contents of most galleries may not yet be settled, the Museum's spokesperson, Ms. Angela Cassie, admits that privileged gallery spaces have been prearranged for two communities. We, and the Canadian public in general, oppose this preferential treatment. "The Ukrainian Canadian community has raised publicly its concerns with respect to the management, governance and proposed contents of this publicly funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Those legitimate concerns were not answered by the Museum's Jan. 6 communique. Until such a time as they are, we again call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. suspend any further financial support for this project 2. establish an independent group to review the proposed contents of this national museum 3. appoint new members to its board of directors who are more representative of Canadian society "Welcome as the prospect of a Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is, we cannot accept the public purse being used to fund partiality or prejudice."

For Immediate Release (Ottawa, 15 December 2010) Concerns over the proposed contents of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a taxpayer funded national museum set to open its doors in Winnipeg next year, are growing. Commenting, UCCLA's director of research, Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "A national museum dedicated to human rights and civil liberties should be equitable and inclusive in its treatment of the many episodes of genocide that have befouled human history, as well as focusing on Canadian stories, particularly those that are less well known. We were therefore surprised and deeply troubled when the final report of the museum's Content Advisory Committee made only one passing reference to Canada's first national internment operations and barely mentioned what was arguably the greatest genocide of 20th century European history, the Holodomor, the Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine. While we appreciate how difficult it is to tell every story in such a museum the clear partiality of its proposed contents are unacceptable. We are therefore joining the protest against that committee's recommendations by launching a national campaign with postcards addressed to the Honourable James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Clearly the Government of ! Canada now needs to intervene to ensure that a museum funded by all Canadians does not elevate the suffering of one community above all others."

UCCLA Media Release, For Immediate Release (Ottawa, 15 December 2010) Concerns over the proposed contents of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a taxpayer-funded national museum set to open its doors in Winnipeg next year, are growing. Commenting, UCCLA’s director of research, Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "A national museum dedicated to human rights and civil liberties should be equitable and inclusive in its treatment of the many episodes of genocide that have befouled human history, as well as focusing on Canadian stories, particularly those that are less well known. We were therefore surprised and deeply troubled when the final report of the museum’s Content Advisory Committee made only one passing reference to Canada’s first national internment operations and barely mentioned what was arguably the greatest genocide of 20th century European history, the Holodomor, the Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine. While we appreciate how difficult it is to tell every story in such a museum the clear partiality of its proposed contents are unacceptable. We are therefore joining the protest against that committee’s recommendations by launching a national campaign with postcards addressed to the Honourable James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Clearly the Government of Canada now needs to intervene to ensure that a museum funded by all Canadians does not elevate the suffering of one community above all others."

October 25, 2010 📷 The UCCLA kicked off its latest postcard campaign aimed at preventing Canada from becoming a safe haven for current or former KGB agents and other secret police agents following its annual meeting in Montreal in early October. Thousands of the above postcards were mailed to MPs, the RCMP, CSIS and others to remind them that KGB agents continue to reside illegally in Canada. Here is a roundup of some of the reaction: Mon. Oct. 11, Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Postcard+campaign+aims+deportation+agent+Burnaby/3655286/story.html Postcard campaign aims for deportation of ex-KGB agent in Burnaby Tues. Oct 12, CBC Radio 1 (Vancouver) – On the Coast: http://www.cbc.ca/onthecoast/ scroll down to Tues, Oct. 12, and click on the link (audio). Wed. Oct. 13, Global Chinese Multimedia: http://www.gcpnews.com/articles/2010-10-13/C1013_57804.html

UCCLA - Media Release, September 28, 2010 The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) today called upon the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take immediate steps to remove all veterans of the notorious Soviet secret police, the KGB, from Canada, initiating a national postcard campaign to get its message out. UCCLA’s chairman, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "No one who served in any capacity with the KGB is eligible to enter or to remain here. That’s Canadian law. Public confidence in the integrity and fairness of our system of immigration control is being undermined by the failure of this government to remove KGB men known to be in Canada. We expected the Conservatives, who claim anti-Communist credentials and a law & order agenda, to at least enforce existing immigration laws. But they haven’t. That’s scandalous. Canada does not need KGB men as citizens. All of them should be returned whence they came, immediately."

September 15, 2010 The following open letter was addressed to the State Security Service on Sept. 15. On 9 September 2010 SBU agents detained the historian Ruslan Zabilyi and confiscated his research material. Now the SBU is seeking to launch a criminal case against him. Whether we share Ruslan Zabilyi’s views or not, we consider it absolutely impermissible for a security service to harass researchers and obstruct intellectual activities. Many of us are signing this petition in spite of the fact that we seriously disagree with Ruslan Zabily’s politics and his views of Ukrainian history. Even while we abhor the politicization of history that has become so evident in the recent years of Orange versus anti-Orange debates, we believe that the resolution of scholarly disputes depends upon the free flow of ideas, and free access to historical sources no matter how controversial they may be. We believe that a truly democratic and independent Ukraine needs and facilitates full and free inquiry into its history. Such an enquiry can only take place with the broadest access to Ukrainian archives. Given the record of denial of access to archives and libraries, suppression of dissenting views, denial of academic freedom, and isolation of Ukrainefrom the international scholarly community in the past, any Ukrainian government must be especially vigiliant not to revive such practices. Against this background, the treatment of Ruslan Zabilyi points to a reversion to regrettable and dangerous practices of the totalitarian past. We find this incident extremely worrying, especially in view of earlier illegitimate uses made of the SBU in the realm of academia and civil society under the new Ukrainian government. Even strong disagreements about Ukraine’s past and its politics of memory and history cannot be solved by methods that amount to harassment and intimidation. Ukraine’s reputation is also bound to suffer very severely from such methods. We call on the SBU and the Ukrainian government to show responsibility. We call on Ukraine’s public and its scholarly community not to tolerate the intrusion of blatant police methods where research, scholarly dispute, and public debate should be the means of resolving – or living with – differences. We urge the Ukrainian public and the Ukrainian and international scholarly community to join us in supporting Ruslan Zabilyi and in censuring the use of police methods to try to quash scholarly discussion. Signed by: Felix Ackermann, European University Viadrina Geschichtswerkstatt Europa Tarik Cyril Amar, Assistant Professor, Columbia University Melanie Arndt, Dr., Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam Jars Balan, Kule Ukrainian Canadian Studies Centre, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta Omer Bartov John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History, Brandeis University Jan Behrends, Research Fellow, Social Science Research Center Berlin Karel Berkhoff, Associate Professor, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, Professor Emeritus, Manhattanville College and Johns Hopkins University Tim Buchen, Center for the Research on Antisemitism, Technische Universität Berlin Jeffrey Burds, Associate Professor of Russian & Soviet History, Northeastern University Tetyana Bureychak, Associate Professor, Department of History and Theory of Sociology, I. Franko National University, Lviv Marco Carynnyk, Writer, Toronto Istvan Déak, Seth Low Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Roman Dubasevych, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald Oles Fedoruk, Research Fellow, Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Rory Finnin, Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge Michael S. Flier, Director,Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University Elena Gapova,Associate Professor, Western Michigan University/European Humanities University Alexandr Gogun, PhD student, Humboldt University, Berlin Semion Goldin, The Chais Center for Jewish Studies in Russian, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel George G. Grabowicz, Professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University Sofia Grachova, PhD Candidate in History, Harvard University Andrea Graziosi, Professor, University of Naples Borys Gudziak, Rector, Ukrainian Catholic University Mark von Hagen, Professor, Director, SHPRS, Arizona State University, President of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Lubomyr Hajda, Associate Director, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Elizabeth V. Haigh,.Professor Emeritus, Saint Mary’s University Halifax, Canada Karl Hall, Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Central European University, Budapest Patricia Herlihy, Professor Emerita, Brown University; Louise Wyant Professor Emerita, Emmanuel College, Boston; Adjunct Professor, Watson Institute for International Studies,Associate, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute John-Paul Himka, Professor, University of Alberta Alexandra Hrycak, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology Reed College, Portland, Oregon Halyna Hryn, Editor, Harvard Ukrainian Studies Dr Liudmyla Hrynevych, Institute of History,National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Dr Vladyslav Hrynevych, Professor, Senior Researcher, Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yaroslav Hrytsak, Professor, Ukrainian Catholic University, Director, Institute for Historical Research, Lviv University Maciej Janowski, Professor, Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw/Central European University, Budapest Oksana Kis, Historian, Senior Reserach Fellow, Institute of Ethnology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Bohdan Klid, Assistant Director, Canadian institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta Zenon E. Kohut, Professor, Department of History and Classics, Director, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Boris Kolonitskii, Professor, European University, St. Peterburg; Institute of History, St. Peterburg Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences Ihor Kosyk, PhD student, Vienna University Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies Program, Harvard University Alexander Kratochvil, PhD, Exzellenzcluster "Kulturelle Grundlagen von Integration", Universität Konstanz, Konstanz Kravchenko, Volodymyr, Professor, President of the International Association for the Humanities Sergei Kravtsov, Senior Researcher, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Serhiy Kudelia, Assistant Professor, National Univeristy "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" Serhij Kvit, Rector, National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” Maria Lewicka, Professor, University of Warsaw André Liebich, Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva Torsten Lorenz, Institute of History, Humboldt University, Berlin Paul Robert Magocsi, Professor, University of Toronto Еmil Majuk, Stowarzyszenie “Panorama Kultur”, Poland Liudmyla Males, Associate Professor, Sciology, Taras Shevchenko University, Kyiv Ihor Markov, Political Scientist, Director of the Department for Ethno-National Studies, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine David R. Marples, Distinguished University Professor, Department of History & Classics, University of Alberta Terry Martin, George F. Baker III Professor of Russian Studies, Department of History, Harvard University Igor Martynyuk, Ph.D. Ab Imperio Quarterly Jarred McBride, PhD Candidate (UCLA) Askold Melnyczuk, Associate Professor,University of Massachusetts, Boston Oleksandr Melnyk, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto Joanna B. Michlic, Ph.D.,Director Project on Families, Children and the Holocaust, Brandeis University Marina Mogilner, PhD, Editor for Russian and NIS, Ab Imperio, Kazan Alexander Motyl, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, Deputy Director of the Center for Global Change and Governance Co-Director of the Central and East European Studies Program Iryna Musiienko, Associate Professor, National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute" Krzysztof Michalski, Professor, Director of the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna Eleonora Narvselius, Centre for European Studies, Lund University Larissa Onyshkevych, Ph.D.,Princeton Research Forum Vitalii Perkun, Research Fellow, Insitute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern,Associate Professor, Director, the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies,Northwestern University Dieter Pohl , Professor, Institut für Geschichte, University of Klagenfurt, Austria Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Andriy Portnov, Ukraina Moderna Journal, Kyiv Anna Procyk, Professor, City University of New York Roman Procyk, Ukrainian Studies Fund, New York Wojciech Przybylski, Res Publica Nowa, Chief Editor Robert Pyrah, CEELBAS Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London Vasyl Rasevych, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Ukrainian Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Shimon Redlich, Prof. Emeritus of History, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva Inna Reut, PhD student, Graduate School for Social Research, Warsaw Bohdan Rubchak, Professor Emeritus, Unversity of Illinois at Chicago William Risch, Associate Professor, Georgia College and State University Malte Rolf, Osteuropäische Zeitgeschichte, Leibniz Universität Hanover Per Anders Rudling, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald Natalka Rymska, Essayist, Translator, Lviv Roman Senkus, Director, CIUS Publications Program,Toronto Office, University of Toronto Ostap Sereda, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Lviv, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Viktoria Sereda, Assistant Professor, Ivan Franko University Oxana Shevel Assistant Professor Tufts University, Department of Political Science Christopher Stroop, Ph.D. Candidate,Stanford University Andrzej Szeptycki, Dr., University of Warsaw Volodymyr Sklokin, kandydat istorychnykh nauk, International Solomon University, Kharkiv Iryna Sklokina, Ph.D. student, V.N.Karazyn Kharkiv National University Ihor Skochylias, Dean, Ukrainian Catholic University Regina Smyth, Associate Professor of Political Science, Indiana University Timothy Snyder, Professor, Department of History, Yale University Mykola Soroka, PhD, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta Myron Stachiw, Historian, Director, Fulbright Program in Ukraine Lidia Stefanowska, Assistant Professor, Warsaw University Jan Surman, MMag., PhD Student, Institute of History, University of Vienna Frank Sysyn, Director, Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Research, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta Roman Szporluk, Professor emeritus, Harvard University and University of Michigan Philipp Ther, Professor, European University Institute, Florence Iryna Vushko PhD, Yale University Anna Wylega, PhD student, Graduate School for Social Research, Warsaw Theodore Weeks, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Amir Weiner, Associate Professor of Soviet History, Stanford University Andrew Wilson, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London/European Council for Foreign Relations Dr. Sergei Zhuk, Associate Professor, Ball State University, Muncie Arsen Zinchenko, Insitute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

September 9, 2010 | Reuters Ukraine’s state security service on Thursday opened a criminal probe against a museum director on suspicion of preparing to divulge secrets in what appeared to be a toughening of policy on declassifying historical documents. Under former President Viktor Yushchenko, old KGB archives in the ex-Soviet republic were opened up in 2009 and thousands of documents spanning the Soviet period were declassified. But a new state security (SBU) chief, appointed when President Viktor Yanukovich came to power in February, has come out against free public access to KGB-era files and said the job of Ukraine’s SBU service is to guard secrets, not leak them. On Thursday, the SBU said it had opened an investigation against Ruslan Zabily, director of a museum in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, for preparing to divulge state secrets. Zabily — whose museum is dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in western Ukraine under Soviet and Nazi rule — had illegally gathered material containing state secrets, and intended to pass this on to other people, an SBU statement said. He denied any state secrets were being compromised and said the historical documents on his laptop, which was seized by SBU agents on Wednesday, were publicly available. Zabily, speaking at a Kiev news conference on Thursday, said the move was part of a drive by the Yanukovich leadership to play down the role of the Ukrainian nationalist movement in the nation’s history and cover up Soviet-era abuses. "I demand my computer back quickly. There were only copies on it of historical documents, my own research and personal information," he said in a statement. DARK STALIN YEARS Public access to KGB-era files was relaxed under Yushchenko, allowing many Ukrainians to find out what had happened to relatives who disappeared during the dark years under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Yanukovich’s power base is in the Russian-speaking east where many Ukrainians view history through a Soviet prism and share Russia’s unease at overt criticism of the Soviet past. Critics say restricting access to old KGB files reflects the strong pro-Moscow slant in Yanukovich’s policies. "Playing games with the memory of whole generations is fairly dangerous," Zabily later told Reuters. "Politicians should not get involved in these questions. That is the prerogative of historians." New SBU chief Valery Khoroshkovsky reversed Yushchenko’s policy on the KGB archives after taking over earlier this year and said: "The job of the secret service is primarily to guard its secrets, guard the laws that created these secrets." Volodymyr Vyatrovych, a former SBU archives chief who played an energetic role in opening up historical files until he was sacked when Yanukovich took over, said the action against Zabily seemed like a "witchhunt against historians". "SBU agents not only are trying to cover up the crimes of the Stalin regime, but use his methods today as if it is not 2010 but 1937," Vyatrovych said in a statement. The SBU said compromising material had been found on Zabily when he arrived in Kiev from Lviv on Wednesday. Its statement said action was under way "to identify the circle of people to whom the secret information had been intended." Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/81748/#ixzz0z9KwKIMB

For Immediate Release (21 December 2009) - Ottawa Canada's Ukrainian community is calling on federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, and the Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, to reject calls for "a Christmas miracle" that would allow a self-confessed veteran of the KGB, Mikhail Lennikov, to stay in Canada. UCCLA was responding to Vancouver New Democrat MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who at a Monday news conference suggested Christmas is a time for “giving and forgiveness, the season of generosity.” Responding, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association's Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk said: "Why ignore Mr. Lennikov’s admitted membership in one of the most notorious secret police forces the world has ever known? What mercy were the KGB's victims ever shown? It's remarkable how ignorant some NDP-ers are of history." Both the Immigration and Refugee Board as well as a judge of the Federal Court of Canada confirmed that it is against the law for former members of the KGB to immigrate to Canada and then ordered Mr. Lennikov's removal. He has since defied those decisions, claiming a (non-existent) "right of sanctuary". Mr. Lennikov even told a reporter from The Vancouver Sun that he will spend Christmas enjoying a yuletide dinner with family and friends in the Lutheran Church where he now sits, evading Canadian authorities. “Did Gulag prisoners have it that good?” wondered Dr. Luciuk. “Mr. Lennikov was ordered deported by a federal court judge and yet, inexplicably, he remains here. Why isn't the Canada Border Services Agency doing its job? They have a judge's order and they know where he is. While we agree that Canada should give haven to real refugees we certainly shouldn't to those who, indirectly or directly, were responsible for the enslavement and mass murder of millions of innocents between 1917-1991. What Canada's Ukrainians and many others want for Christmas, frankly, is a Canada free of the KBG."

UCCLA Media Release For Immediate Release Ottawa, 16 July 2009 Speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, its chairman, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, expressed indignation at the recent vandalism of commemorative markers at the Babyn Yar memorial, in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. A cross and memorial plaque commemorating the Ukrainian nationalists murdered by the Nazis during their brutal occupation were pushed over and smashed. Those responsible have not yet been identified or arrested. Commenting, Dr. Luciuk said: "It is not well understood that Ukraine lost more of its population than any other nation in Nazi-occupied Europe. Millions of Ukrainians were murdered or enslaved by the Nazis, even as a heroic resistance movement struggled against both the regimes of Hitler and Stalin. That vandals would desecrate a modest memorial to the memory of Ukrainian nationalists slaughtered at Babyn Yar is outrageous. We most certainly hope the authorities in Kyiv will make every effort to bring those responsible to justice."

UCCLA Media Release, For Immediate Release (4 June 2009) – Ottawa Canada’s Ukrainian community is calling upon the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Honourable Jason Kenney, and the Minster of Public Safety, the Honourable Peter Van Loan, to ensure that a veteran of the notorious Soviet secret police, the KGB, is removed from the country immediately. "Canadians are united in not wanting to make this country a haven for individuals who served in the secret police forces of undemocratic regimes like the Soviet Union. The KGB enslaved, tortured and murdered millions of innocent people. Any individual who was an officer of the KGB was either directly or indirectly involved in such crimes against humanity. A person who claims to be a refugee but is not found to be one by a competent member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, and whose appeal of that tribunal’s ruling is subsequently heard and rejected by a Federal Court judge, must leave our country. No KGB man should have been allowed into Canada in the first place. That this Communist secret policeman now wants sanctuary in a Vancouver church basement would be hilarious if it were not in such clear defiance of our legal system. Anyone abetting this man’s illegitimate behaviour should be prosecuted and he should be seized by the appropriate authorities and removed from Canada. No KGB in Canada, with no excuses and no exceptions."

Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association media release: For immediate release (Ottawa: 28 February 2009) Commenting on the forthcoming expulsion of a former captain of the Soviet secret police, the chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "Canada should never have become a haven for veterans of the Soviet secret police, including the NKVD, SMERSH and KGB. All those who belonged to any of these organizations, which are collectively responsible for the enslavement, torture, and murder of millions of innocent men, women and children, were supposed to have been automatically excluded from entering our country. "Therefore anyone found here who was a member of any Soviet secret police force, as well as those who enabled Communist war crimes and crimes against humanity before, during or after the Second World War, should be expelled, without exception, regardless of their ethnic, racial or religious heritage or ideological convictions. "We applaud the Government of Canada for liberating our country of those who willingly served the Soviet empire."

UCCLA - For Immediate Release (Ottawa: 28 February 2009) Commenting on the forthcoming expulsion of a former captain of the Soviet secret police the chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "Canada should never have become a haven for veterans of the Soviet secret police, including the NKVD, SMERSH and KGB. All those who belonged to any of these organizations, which are collectively responsible for the enslavement, torture, and murder of millions of innocent men, women and children, were supposed to have been automatically excluded from entering our country. Therefore anyone found here who was a member of any Soviet secret police force, as well as those who enabled Communist war crimes and crimes against humanity before, during or after the Second World War, should be expelled, without exception, regardless of their ethnic, racial or religious heritage or ideological convictions. We applaud the Government of Canada for liberating our country of those who willingly served the Soviet empire."