CUPP in Third Decade CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 2016 – Issue 1 CUPP NEWSLETTER Over 25 Years CUPP Speakers, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ambassadors to Canada & Ukraine .................. 3 CUPP Alumni Serving in Ukraine'e Government, NGOs ...................................... 5 Ukraine's Students on Parliament Hill...................... 10 CUPP 2016 Interns ............... 12 Photo from Ukrainian Offce of the President. L to R: Myroshnychenko (CUPP 2001) – Head of Professional Government Initiative of Ukraine, Yuri Kushnir Bilingualism, Language (CUPP 1998) – Head of CUPP Alumni Association, Andriy Pyvovarsky (CUPP Issue in Canada and 1999) – Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Volodymyr Omelyan (CUPP 1999) Ukraine: Why is French – Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. not Russian .......................... 35 History of CUPP which gives Ukrainian students an op- portunity to work and study in the Ca- Self-Respect, Speaking On July 16, 1990, the Ukrainian Par- nadian Parliament, and gain experi- Ukrainian and Creating liament adopted the Declaration of ence from which generations of Canadian, American and West Euro- a Better Future........................ 44 Sovereignty, which declared that Par- liament recognized the need to build pean students have benefted. On the the Ukrainian state based on the Rule basis of academic excellence, know- Farewell Dinner 2012 of Law. ledge of the English or French and Ukrainian languages, and an interest Speech .................................. 48 On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Declaration of in the Westminster Parliament model Independence, which the citizens of of government, university students In Poltava During the War Ukraine endorsed in the referendum from Ukrainian and foreign universi- ties, can apply for a CUPP internship of 2014/2015 ......................... 49 of December 1, 1991. Also in 1991, Canadians celebrated the Centennial program. It is hoped that CUPP will of Ukrainian group immigration to Ca- contribute to the education of future CUPP 2010 Walking Tour nada. To mark the Centennial, organi- leaders of Ukraine. In this, its 25th year of operation, the of Parliament Hill ................. 50 zations planned programs and proj- ects to celebrate this milestone in CUPP program welcomes thirty-three Canada's history. university students who attend univer- The Chair of Ukrainian Studies Foun- sities in Bratislava, Dnipropetrovs'k, dation of Toronto commemorated the Edinburgh, Krakow, Kyiv, Lviv, Munich, Centennial, by establishing the Cana- Mykolaiv, Lutsk, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, da-Ukraine Parliamentary Program and Zaporizhia. The next traditional Contact Us (CUPP) for university students. CUPP CUPP program will take place in the Autumn of 2017. Chair of Ukrainian is a parliamentary internship program, Studies Foundation 620 Spadina Avenue People who worked on this issue of the Newsletter: Olya Spytsia, Toronto, Ontario, Oleh Shemetov, Lucy Hicks, Iryna Grechko, Ihor Bardyn. Canada M5S 2H4 Tel.: (416) 234-9111 Cover Design: by Andrei Bezruchonak, CUPP 2012 Alumnus, and Lecturer Fax: (416) 234-9114 at Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus. www.KATEDRA.org Layout: Basilian Press. Printed: Bassilian Press, Toronto. 2 CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 CUPP in Third Decade Over 25 Years CUPP Interns Have Met Canadian and Ukrainian Government Offcials: Speakers of the House of Commons, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ambassadors CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM 3 CUPP in Third Decade CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 4 CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 CUPP in Third Decade CUPP Alumni Serving in Ukraine's Government, NGO's CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM 5 CUPP in Third Decade CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 6 CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 CUPP in Third Decade CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM 7 CUPP in Third Decade CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 8 CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 CUPP in Third Decade CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM 9 CUPP in Third Decade CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 Ukraine's Students on Parliament Hill By Ihor BARDYN Founder and Director of Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program in the House of Commons came fused my entry to Lukianivska pris- about during my visit to Kyiv in on, stating that Amnesty had no 1990. On November 17, 1990, legal standing in Ukraine. In the Stepan Khmara, a member of the course of my investigation and Ukrainian Parliament was arrested Khmara’s subsequent trial, I be- Ukraine was well represented on and charged with “exceeding of came painfully aware of the cor- Parliament Hill, for 25 years. For a authority or offcial powers” after rupt and dysfunctional judicial sys- quarter century, some of Ukraine’s an incident involving a KGB colo- tem and the inept soviet parlia- best and brightest university stu- nel Igor Grygoriev. mentary system. dents have come to the House of On November 28, Khmara ap- I submitted several reports to Am- Commons to complete internships pealed to Amnesty International in nesty from Kyiv, and Khmara was from three to twelve months, in the London UK, to come to his de- adopted Amnesty’s “Prisoner of offces of Members of Parliament fense. Ukraine had not ratifed the Conscience”, for a second time. In (MPs). First Optional Protocol to the Inter- 1991, at Amnesty’s request, I re- At the opening of the Spring or Fall national Covenant on Civil and Po- turned to Kyiv for Khmara’s trial. sessions, MPs return to Parliament litical Rights, and therefore Khma- This provided me with the opportu- Hill to debate, pass laws and de- ra could not lodge his complaint to nity to observe the operation of a cide how taxes are spent, to help the United Nations. soviet trial. run Canada. Khmara was Amnesty’s “Prisoner Background The Ukrainian students, after they of Conscience” during the Brezh- The Soviet Union was in the dying receive their parliamentary passes nev era while he served in penal days of its existence. On July 19, and offcially become interns to camps 35 and 36, near Perm, in 1990 the Ukrainian Parliament Parliament, follow the MPs to learn the Ural Mountains from 1980 to adopted the “Declaration of Sover- about the Canadian system of gov- 1987. In 1980 he was imprisoned eignty”, in which they declared that ernment. By working in the heart by the Soviet regime for his out- Parliament recognized the need to of Canada’s government, the in- spoken criticism of the corruption build the Ukrainian state based on terns acquire an interest in public and abuse committed by the Com- the Rule of Law. Copious copies of service and inadvertently become munist Party of the Soviet Union. this Declaration were printed and lobbyists for their homeland. They In 1990 he turned to Amnesty once distributed. I received several cop- carry out this last mentioned task again. In 1990 Khmara was arrest- ies, autographed by members of through their daily exchanges with ed for his outspoken criticism of parliament. The parliamentarians the MPs and their staffs, by shar- the Communist system and his de- eagerly presented these declara- ing information about life back mand of independence for tions to foreigners, no doubt, see- home, and by sharing their pride Ukraine. ing this an achievement. And mini- and aspirations for their homeland. Amnesty’s London Headquarters mally it was. They seemed to Through these exchanges Ukraine asked me to travel to Kyiv and in- understand that the soviet system and its people become more famil- vestigate the charges against of government was a sham and iar to Canada’s parliamentarians. Khmara and submit a report. I was in need of a complete over- For MPs CUPP has become a travelled to Kyiv, with the assist- haul. The idea for the internship learning resource. For the interns, ance of Canadian Friends of Rukh began to take shape. CUPP provides practical experi- and interviewed the offcials in the Khmara was released from Prison ence of how Canadians govern Offce of the Prosecutor General, on Easter weekend of 1991 but themselves. members of parliament, Khmara’s was re-arrested on July 18. I ar- Idea for Canada-Ukraine lawyers, government offcials and rived in Kyiv that day with my son, Parliamentary Program Khmara with the use of a record- to be met at the airport by Khma- The idea for an internship program ing machine, as the authorities re- ra’s daughter and lawyers, who in- 10 CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM CUPP 2016 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 CUPP in Third Decade formed me of the brutal circum- power for a short while. In Kyiv, the and the idea of bringing this age stances of Khmara’s, re-arrest that Ukrainian Parliament adopted the group to Parliament Hill, to ob- same day, at the Hotel Ukraina. Declaration of Independence and serve the operation of Canadian My hotel reservation was in this the people approved it by the ref- Parliament, warts and all, was con- very same hotel. We were told to erendum of December 1, 1991. frmed. seek another hotel, because the The events in Kyiv called for a win- Back home Canada observed & Hotel Ukraina needed to be dow of opportunity be opened to celebrated the centennial of group cleansed of the bloodshed in the the citizens of Ukraine, who were settlement of Canada. As Vice- hallways. The circumstances of interested on observing a parlia- President of the Ukrainian Canadi- Khmara’s re-arrest were brutal and ment at work, a government ac- an Congress – Centennial Com- criminal. Innocent people who countable to its citizens and the mission established by Prime were guarding Khmara were beat- normal operation of a society. But Minister Brian Mulroney, I pro- en and maimed, with no possibility a window of opportunity for posed the internship program as a of defending themselves from the whom? centennial project and Canada’s Special Forces sent to the hotel. The elites and leaders while well gift to Ukraine.