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When Ukraine Became Free: Ukrainian Independence through the Perspective of Ukrainian Canadian Lobbying Associations Hayley Caldwell, University of Winnipeg Introduction During the Cold War, in its dealings with the Soviet Union, Canada had to be especially cautious. In one sense, this was of course because of the nation’s increasing complex economic relationship with the United States in the post- World War II period; from another, this was due to the fact that a large number of its citizens had their geo-ethnic origins within the boundaries of the Eastern Bloc.1 Of all the Canadians from this region, however, the Ukrainians were the most representative.2 Therefore, when Germany reunified and it was suspected that the Soviet Union was to disintegrate, Canada had a continual obligation to be mindful of this population living within its borders. The year 1991 was a tremendously joyous time for the majority of Ukrainian-Canadians. Hundreds of conferences were held by various lobbying group in honour of the centennial of the arrival of their ancestors to the country – a wave of immigration that began, at least in an official sense, in 1891. There was, however, another occasion that year that demanded perhaps even greater celebration. On December 3rd, 1991, Canada became the second nation in the world to acknowledge a liberated Kiev.3 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was the first leader of a Western G7 nation to recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine.4 This was a very significant diplomatic maneuver, displaying Canada’s deep connection to this part of the world. The question that directs this research is: What role did Ukrainian Canadian lobbying groups have in influencing Canada’s domestic and foreign policies at the end of the Cold War? There is clear evidence to indicate that 1 Jaroslav Petryshyn, “‘The Ethnic Question’ Personified: Ukrainian Canadians and Canadian- Soviet Relations, 1917-1991,” in Reimagining Ukrainian Canadians, ed. Rhonda Hinter and Jim Mochoruk (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), 223. 2 In 1981 there were 529 615 individuals of Ukrainian origin in Canada. Numerically this constituted a group larger than the combined total of all other Canadian ethnic groups whose original homelands were within the U.S.S.R. Figures cited from Statistics Canada: 1981 Census of Canada. 3 Jim Sheppard and Natalie Fedaschuak, “Dire Warnings Follow Ukraine’s Vote to Quit the Union,” Winnipeg Free Press (3 December 1991): A4. 4 Extracts from Brian Mulroney’s speech in “When Ukraine Became Free,” National Post (26 April 2007). Hayley Caldwell, “When Ukraine Became Free: Ukrainian Independence through the 1 Perspective of Ukrainian Canadian Lobbying Associations.” Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 35 (2015), Special Issue on Canada’s Role in Global Politics, 1989-1990 ISSN 1923-0567 Canada’s involvement in constructing the post-Soviet world was incredibly important to the majority of Ukrainian Canadians and they were concerned not only for their own social standing within Canadian society, but with the welfare of fellow Ukrainians all over the world. The government, however, was not always interested in listening to all them equally as the Ukrainian community in Canada was engaged in a Cold War of its own. More nationalist right wing groups vehemently opposed their more left wing, and at times Communist, counterparts. This inability of the community to represent itself on a united front, due to internal and external difficulties, posed many challenges for Ukrainian-Canadian lobbying associations and I think overall weakened their efforts. I conclude that the most effective route Ukrainian-Canadians had of rallying sympathy was through their pure numbers and voting power. Therefore right wing groups, who typically supported Canadian Prime Minster Brain Mulroney’s conservative government, were favoured by the government and hailed as the only Ukrainians who had long been advocating for the country’s independence and although more left-wing Ukrainian Canadians had a longer history in this country, they were alienated from the processes. I will argue throughout this paper, moreover, that both left and right wing lobbying groups had far more that united them than divided them and that the right wing or nationalist groups were not the only force in Canada advocating for independence in Ukraine. This study takes its perspective from the prairies, where the largest concentrations of Ukrainian-Canadians are located and where I myself also reside, through the eyes of two local chapters of Ukrainian organizations: the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC) and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). An oral history interview with lifelong AUUC member Myron Shutulsky and transcripts from a conference from 1998 held at the Ukrainian Labour Temple in Winnipeg entitled “Changing Perspectives: Relationship Between Progressive Ukrainian- Canadian Organizations and the Soviet Ukraine, 1950-1990” will be used to show the perspective of the AUUC. What is possibly reflective of the diminished role of Ukrainian lobbying groups in Canadian society following independence is that no one from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who was involved in leadership during the ’85 to ‘95 period, was able to be reached to speak about their memories from the time. This project was an incredibly difficult task to take on, as even in 1995, the median age of the leadership of the nationalist lobbying groups was 68 years of age.5 Today many are no longer living, and of those who are still alive, many who were active could not be located or were not interested in speaking about their experiences. To analyze the UCC’s impressions of the time, chapters from the 5 Anrji Kudala Wynnyckyim, “Prognosis for the future,” in Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Ukrainian Community in Canada (Winnipeg: The Ukrainian Council of Arts and Science, 2004), 88. Hayley Caldwell, “When Ukraine Became Free: Ukrainian Independence through the 2 Perspective of Ukrainian Canadian Lobbying Associations.” Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 35 (2015), Special Issue on Canada’s Role in Global Politics, 1989-1990 ISSN 1923-0567 book “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” reflecting a conference by the same name held in Winnipeg in 2004, will be reviewed. The minutes of the Sixteenth Congress of Ukrainian Canadians from 1989 and the Seventeenth Congress of Ukrainian Canadians from 1992 will be my other sources. The History of Ukrainians in Canada The history of the Ukrainian community in Canada began quite early in the nation’s post- Confederation period. Following the signing of treaties in the West with First Nations in the 1870s, Ottawa was free to populate this region formerly owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Due to both push and pull factors in 1891, Ukrainians began to leave their hereditary homes and seek opportunities in the new world. The official record shows that Ukrainian settlement in Canada began that year, and initiated a massive wave of immigration that continued until the First World War. Between 1891 and 1914 approximately 170 000 Ukrainians arrived, first by boat and then by train, to places quite unfamiliar to them.6 An ethnic consciousness emerged quite early within this important population on the Canadian prairies. It was expressed both individually and through community organizations on the right and left of the political spectrum.7 Along with the churches, Ukrainian-lobbying organizations became a hotbed of political and cultural expression. These groups were influenced by the social, political, cultural, and economic realities of both Ukraine and Canada. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, nationalist sentiments were heightened and Ukrainian Canadians rallied to leverage Canada’s foreign policy towards the new communist state. This initiated a domestic Cold War, with a variety of opinions and perspectives divided along ideological and political lines. Canadian officials who were aware of this nationalism were wary for a number of reasons and attempted, according to Jaroslav Petrysyn to, “mute or manipulate the demands and pressures being brought to bear from a host of Ukrainian-Canadian interest groups.”8 At the conclusion of the First World War, various nationalist movements emerged throughout eastern and central Europe – Ukrainians were no exception. They were especially hopeful in 1918 as their people resided primarily along the dividing line of two former giants: the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia. People of Ukrainian heritage in Britain, Canada, and the United States, rallied their governments to support the concept of independence.9 As early as 6 Roman Petryshyn, “Introduction” in Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Ukrainian Community in Canada (Winnipeg: The Ukrainian Council of Arts and Science, 2004), 17. 7 J . Petryshyn, 223. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid., 226. Hayley Caldwell, “When Ukraine Became Free: Ukrainian Independence through the 3 Perspective of Ukrainian Canadian Lobbying Associations.” Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 35 (2015), Special Issue on Canada’s Role in Global Politics, 1989-1990 ISSN 1923-0567 October 1918, East Edmonton MP H.A Mackie wrote to Prime Minister Robert Borden advocating that he support the creation of a sovereign Ukraine. To the dismay of Ukrainian all around the world, however, the results in Paris did not turn out in their favour, and their dreams would be put off for decades to come.10 Between 1920 and 1929 a second wave of immigration from Ukraine to Canada occurred, and about 68 000 arrived.11 The declaration of the Second World War twenty years later changed the realities of Ukrainian Canadians for a variety of reasons. The first was that as a result of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, many Ukrainian Canadians were interned in Canada in quasi-internment camps and labeled as enemies of the state. These policies were atrocious and are one of the largest violations of human rights enacted on behalf of the Canadian state throughout the history of the country. The Canadian government furthermore criminalized Ukrainian labour and farmer associations during this period of Soviet-Nazi friendship.