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CIUS Newsletter Spring 2005 Spring Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies 450 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E8 CIUS and the Orange Revolution: Informing the Public and Media on Events in Ukraine Fall 2004 was a period in which CIUS staff became increasingly fo- cused on the presidential elections in Ukraine. Th is involved, for the most part, informing colleagues, the me- dia, and the general public about the Ukrainian presidential elections and what has become known as the Orange Revolution. CIUS also managed the Ukraine Transparency and Election Monitoring Project (UTEMP) in this period. UTEMP was offi cially launched on 10 September 2004, when Toronto MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj presented CIUS with a $250,000 cheque on behalf of his family’s charitable foundation “Dopo- moha Ukraini—Aid to Ukraine.” James Jacuta headed the project for CIUS, while the NGO Community Energy Foundation was CIUS’s partner in Voting on 26 December in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. Photo by Ruby Swanson, Department of Ukraine. Physics, University of Alberta. Ms. Swanson was an observer at the 26 Dec 2004 vote. UTEMP sent 26 Canadians to Ukraine under the auspices of the monton–Mill Woods–Beaumont), Judy Mr. Jacuta, and UTEMP observers. project. Some were involved in design- Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North), MPs Borys Wrzesnewskyj and Peter ing and delivering seminars on election Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Goldring were featured several times laws, policies, and procedures for local Centre), and Senator David Smith. Th e in national TV broadcasts by both the election offi cials and scrutineers. Oth- Canadian government’s decision not to CBC and CTV networks from Kyiv. ers participated as election monitors. recognize the offi cial results of the 21 Maclean’s magazine published an inter- Th eir observations were noteworthy, November vote was due in part to the view with James Jacuta in its 6 Decem- especially during on the second round reports of the parliamentarians, some ber issue. of voting on 21 November, as they were of whom witnessed serious electoral CIUS staff in Edmonton and To- oft en witnesses to irregularities and infractions. ronto were oft en called upon by local even fraud. UTEMP observers also informed and national media to comment on Of particular importance were the the Canadian media about the presi- the elections and their aft ermath. In UTEMP-sponsored observer missions dential election and wrote articles for Edmonton, Drs. Zenon Kohut, Ser- of Canadian parliamentarians, which the National Post andand Globe and Mail. hii Plokhii, Bohdan Klid and David included MPs Bernard Bigras (Rose- Local newspapers across Canada also Marples gave interviews that were mont–La Petite-Patrie), Peter Goldring carried stories on the election featuring broadcast on CBC TV and Radio and (Edmonton East), David Kilgour (Ed- or mentioning the UTEMP director, continued on page 3 CIUS Newsletter Spring 2005 1 From the Director Education Centre has completed and and is preparing an illustrated From the published student activity books for biography of the pioneer of Ukrainian Nova 4, 5, and 6 for the Ukrainian dance in Canada,Vasile Avramenko. Director bilingual program. It also published Th e Kowalsky Program will continue Dear Readers, Persha zirka: Zbirnyk vinshuvan’ (First(First its long-term commitment to fund the Since my last message to you in Star: A Collection of Greetings), just Baturyn archeological project, headed the Fall 2004 Newsletter, much ac- in time for the Christmas season. by Dr. Voldomyr Mezentsev of Toronto. tivity, a good deal of which had not Work on the Internet Encyclopedia of I am pleased to inform you that the been planned, has taken place. Th is Ukraine continues, and there are now University of Alberta has designated unplanned activity, as you may have over 1,550 entries posted on its Web the CIUS Partnership with Ukraine guessed, had to do with the presiden- site <www.encyclopediaofukraine. project as an area of priority within tial elections and subsequent events in com>. Th e Reverend Dr. Yuriy Mytsyk, the university’s fundraising Campaign Ukraine, which have become known as 2008. Th e goals of the project, in the Orange Revolution. Our scholars, part, are to co-ordinate current CIUS researchers, and observers with the projects and establish new partnerships Ukraine Transparency and Election in Ukraine, to develop proposals for Monitoring Project (UTEMP) were of- U of A joint projects with faculty or ten called upon to provide information unit counterparts in Ukraine, and to and analyses related to the presidential recruit outstanding undergraduate and elections to the local, national, and graduate students for the U of A. More international media, as well as to our details can be found at <www.uofaweb. university colleagues. ualberta.ca/campaign/prioritiesbypro- Members of our staff in Edmonton ject.cfm>. and Toronto gave interviews, wrote ar- Early this year, Professor Viktor ticles, and spoke on events in Ukraine. Krevs of Lviv National University and Th ey also attended community fund- Barry Tonge of University of Alberta raising events in support of sending International draft ed an exchange election observers to Ukraine and at- agreement that will allow students tended rallies and other special events. from each institution to study at the Two of our staff members, Bohdan other and obtain academic credit. Klid and Jars Balan, went to Ukraine as Professor Krevs also met with many election observers during the Christ- unit and department heads and staff in mas holiday season. James Jacuta did Zenon Kohut order to facilitate ties between our two an excellent job of managing UTEMP, institutions. which succeeded in raising the aware- John Kolasky memorial fellow in To all of you who contributed ness of Canadians about the presi- 2004, conducted research in Ottawa, so generously during the Christmas dential elections in Ukraine. Funding Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. campaign, please accept our heartfelt for this project was provided by the He also spoke on the genocidal thanks for your support. Without it Wrzesnewskyj family foundation “Aid famine of 1932–33 at Edmonton our scholars, researchers, and other co- to Ukraine—Dopomoha Ukraini” and City Hall during the annual famine workers would not have been able to was presented to CIUS by MP Borys commemoration sponsored by the continue our activities at an optimum Wrzesnewskyj. Th e Stasiuk Program, Ukrainian Canadian Congress. A pace to produce high-quality scholar- under the direction of Dr. David report on Reverend Mytsyk’s research ship and educational materials, nor Marples, was also heavily focused on and publishing activities appears in could we have cultivated Ukrainian the Ukrainian elections. You can read this Newsletter. Th e English-language scholarship in Canada, Ukraine and more on the activities of the Stasiuk volume nine, book one, of Mykhailo other parts of the world. We continue Program in this Newsletter. Hrushevsky’s History of Ukraine-Rus’ to depend on your generosity in the Turning to our regular activities, I will be published by CIUS press later future. note that two issues of the Journal of this year. Th e Ukrainian Canadian Ukrainian Studies have appeared, one Program continues to work on its Zenon E. Kohut, Director of which features Ukrainian-Canadian major project, the second volume of topics. Th e Ukrainian Language the History of Ukrainians in Canada, 2 Spring 2005 CIUS Newsletter Orange Revolution the Toronto Star. Drs. Klid and Marples Continued from page 1 gave public lectures on the events in Ukraine. On 23 November Dr. Kohut spoke at a rally on the grounds of the Alberta Provincial Legislature, which was organized by University of Al- berta students to call attention to the infractions of electoral law and fraud committed during the second round of elections. In Toronto, Frank Sysyn, Marko Stech, and Roman Senkus of the CIUS Toronto offi ce gave numerous inter- A makeshift shrine to murdered journalist views on CBC TV, CBC Radio and Heorhii Gongadze at the tent city on Khreshchatyk Blvd. in Kyiv the Voice of America. Dr. Sysyn also participated in a forum on the Orange used by print journalists for articles Revolution at the St. Vladimir Institute that appeared in the Edmonton Journal in Toronto. Roman Senkus’s e-mail list and other newspapers. Dr. Marples became a major source and informa- James D. Jacuta, director of the Ukraine wrote several commentaries that were tion network on the Orange Revolu- Transparency and Election Monitoring Project (UTEMP) published in the Edmonton Journal andand tion. Th rough the Stasiuk Program for organize the repeat vote, members of the Study of Contemporary Ukraine, the electoral district and territorial Canadian Institute of CIUS was also involved in a joint commissions acted in a professional Ukrainian Studies venture with the Chair of Ukrainian manner to ensure that the vote was 450 Athabasca Hall University of Alberta Studies at the University of Ottawa and conducted fairly. International ob- Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E8 the Kennan Institute in Washington, servers concurred that the repeat vote D.C., to produce a regular bulletin on that brought Viktor Yushchenko to Telephone: (780) 492–2972 FAX: (780) 492–4967 events in Ukraine related to the elec- power met international standards. E-mail: [email protected] tions. Funding was provided, in part, CIUS also lent support to student CIUS Web site: www.cius.ca through the CIUS Kowalsky Program initiatives at the University of Alberta CIUS Newsletter to prepare English translations of bul- related to the Ukrainian elections. Ro- Reprints permitted with letins and articles from Ukraine. On man Shiyan, a research assistant in the acknowledgement 30 November the Stasiuk Program CIUS Kowalsky Program for the Study ISSN 1485–7979 also sponsored a seminar on events in of Eastern Ukraine, together with fel- Publication Mail Agreement No.

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