UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CONGRESS HISTORY |
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The bloc settlements had allowed the Ukrainian pioneers to establish community organizations at the initial stage of their arrival. Basically, the organizations that appeared in Canada, the village church and the secularized community or reading hall (narodnyi dim and chytalnia-prosvita), reflected those of the Old Country. There was, however, one significant difference: the absence of a state-supported church. On the prairies, parishes were established and churches built before there was any meaningful involvement by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church whose role in Canada had been frustrated by the Vatican and French Canadian church politics. The Ukrainian struggle for independent statehood in Europe had a major impact on Ukrainians in Canada. It strengthened the sense of national consciousness and identity. Regional labels of Bukovynian, Galician and Ruthenian were rapidly replaced by Ukrainian. It's a curious fact, but the majority of Ukrainian immigrants actually became Ukrainianized in Canada. Since 1918, there had been sporadic but unsuccessful attempts at cooperation among the competing non-communist organizations. With the outbreak of war in 1939, there was a strong compulsion to present a united patriotic front to the Canadian government, since there were still many bitter memories of the experiences of the previous war. The federal government, for its part, was anxious to ensure a united Canadian war effort and moved to arbitrate differences within the community. It sponsored a meeting in Winnipeg, in November 1940, which led to the formation of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, known as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) since 1989. This national coordinating body, which spoke for all but the Communists, who rejected it and were rejected by it, has played an indispensable role in coordinating the encouragement, preservation, and development of Ukrainian ethno-cultural life in Canada, and thus promoting multiculturalism, since its creation. Recognition of and respect for the unique identity of all national cultural groups and their legitimate right to self-determination are two of its most basic underlying principles. |