UCC National President Orysia Sushko Speech on the Occasion of the Presentation of a Governor General’s Certificate of Commendation to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress

(August 31, 2005) Your Excellencies, Parliamentarians, Chief Justice, Mrs. Mayor, Friends All!

Your Excellency! It is with profound gratitude that I accept this Certificate of Commendation, which you have so kindly bestowed upon the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Announcement of this recognition has been most enthusiastically and humbly received by the Ukrainian Canadian community right across Canada. It was with great pride that I shared this information with representatives of Ukrainian communities from 12 countries at the “World Congress of Ukrainians” Board of Directors’ meeting in Ukraine just over a week ago.

This award reflects your tremendous compassion and understanding of what it means to celebrate one’s freedom from oppression and maintain the right to freely choose one’s government without force or control. This, you expressed so profoundly while representing the Canadian Government at President Yushchenko’s Inauguration in January of this year.

I, therefore, accept this certificate on behalf of the entire Ukrainian Canadian community, and especially the thousands of volunteers that participated in the Congress’s election observer program as observers, organizers, advisors, supporters and donors.

The Ukrainian Canadian community has demonstrated its determination but most of all its love of freedom, which we as Canadian citizens cherish and enjoy. We could not stand quietly by and watch this freedom being usurped from our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. We rallied together as never before.

We gave of our time, our expertise, our resources, both financial and human, we traveled, we assisted in Canada, we assisted in Ukraine -- we did whatever was necessary to have our voices heard and to assure that the right to choose -- the will of the people -- prevailed during these extraordinary presidential elections. We became infected with the “Spirit of Ukraine”, united by the unconquerable power of the people, by their need for freedom, democracy and human rights.

We applaud the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourble Paul Martin, and the Government of Canada, for providing 500 observers under the Canadem banner, in addition to the 500 observers which the Congress deployed. We applaud as well the efforts of MPs the Honourable Walt Lastewka and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

We fully understand that the path to total democratization in Ukraine has just begun and its realization will require a tremendous amount of effort on the part of the Ukrainian Canadian community coupled with the support of the Canadian Government.

All of the above would not have been possible without the diligence and dedication of our community leaders, our UCC provincial councils and local branches as well as our UCC member organizations. For this, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is most grateful, as, I can assure you from personal knowledge, are the citizens of Ukraine.

We acknowledge the superb leadership of James Temerty supported by 26 distinguished Canadian patrons, who spearheaded the “Democratic Freedom in Ukraine” Fundraising appeal, as well as the excellent cooperation provided by Prof. Ostap Haweleshka, Chair of the Canada Ukraine Foundation..

We are indebted to Irene Mycak, Chair of the Ukraine Election Committee, for all three election dates, to Paul Grod Ukrainian Canadian Congress Vice-president, who acted as Head of Mission for the pivotal December 26th 2004 election and our Executive Director Ostap Skrypnyk. Each of these individuals at some point oversaw the implementation of the observer project both here in Canada and in Ukraine.
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The efforts of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Toronto Branch under the capable leadership of Marc Shwec were phenomenal. The role and contribution of the Toronto community has been, and I am certain will continue to be paramount as we continue our efforts in respect to the development of other projects relative to Ukraine.

The efforts of the UCC Provincial Council in Alberta were magnificent. The amount of funds raised here along with matching funds from the Wild Rose Foundation were integral in ensuring that our project had the resources with which to do its work.

I would be remiss not to mention the Congress’s Vice-president Andrew Hladyshevsky, who along with UCC Alberta Provincial Council president Dave Broda, worked diligently to bring today’s event to fruition.

Your Excellency, this has been an incredible year for all of us, one which will be reminiscent of great emotion, immeasurable joy and total commitment, amidst which your award takes a prominent place.

Once again, thank you and please accept our sincere best wishes for the future as you conclude a most successful term as Governor General of Canada.