Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Encyclopedia
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) is an independent, non-partisan
educational
and research
organization. Established in 1986 after the Civil Liberties Commission (affiliated with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress) was disbanded, its members – all of whom are volunteers – have been particularly active in championing the cause of recognition, restitution and reconciliation with respect to Canada's first national internment operations
, helping secure a redress settlement in 2008 (InternmentCanada.ca). They have also challenged allegations about "Nazi war criminals" hiding in Canada, have exposed the presence in Canada of veterans of the NKVD
/SMERSH
/KGB
, have helped raise public awareness about Soviet and Communist war crimes and crimes against humanity
(in particular about the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor
), and have made numerous public representations, articulating the interests of Canada's Ukrainian community
. The first chairman of the CLC/UCCLA was John B. Gregorovich, a lawyer. The current chairman is Roman Zakaluzny; the immediate past president was Professor Lubomyr Luciuk.
UCCLA's members meet annually during conclaves held in different cities across the country, often co-ordinating their meeting dates with the unveiling of trilingual historical markers commemorating the internment operations at different camp locations or otherwise recalling important individuals or events in Ukrainian
and Ukrainian Canadian history. The Association and its supporters have also placed several trilingual markers across Canada
, in Ukraine
and in France
honouring the Ukrainian Canadian Victoria Cross
recipient, Cpl Filip Konowal
; recalling the contributions of Ukrainian Canadian servicemen and women during the Second World War
(London, England); and honouring the Welsh
journalist, Gareth Jones
, who exposed the truth about the Holodomor. UCCLA has also commissioned a number of articles and books that have been distributed internationally dealing with the Holodomor, Anglo-American perspectives
on the question of Ukraine's independence, the Ukrainian nationalist movement before, during and after the Second World War, and Soviet crimes against humanity and war crimes. One of the most successful of UCCLA's campaigns was initiated in 2003/2004 when an effort was made to have the Pulitzer Prize
of Walter Duranty
, the New York Times correspondent who lied about the Great Famine, revoked – an effort that resulted in considerable international press coverage.
Its most recent campaign (which began in the late winter of 2010) has been about ensuring that all 12 galleries in the publicly-funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights
are thematic
, comparative
and equitable
– rather than elevating the suffering of any one or two groups over all others. To that end the Association has distributed thousands of protest postcards nationally and published a notice raising their concerns in The Hill Times (31 January 2011). Some of UCCLA's critics have tried to censure or even call for the silencing of its voice in the public debate over the proposed contents and governance of the tax payer funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights. To see UCCLA's reply to the 'open letter' of a number of non-Canadians and a few Canadian writers go to the Media Releases section of www.uccla.ca (19 April 2011).
UCCLA continues to be a volunteer organization supported by the donations and efforts of thousands of Canadians of Ukrainian heritage
.
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
educational
Educational organization
Educational organization has multiple meanings according to the field and setting in which it is being applied.In educational psychology, educational organization is organization within the scope of education...
and research
Research institute
A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...
organization. Established in 1986 after the Civil Liberties Commission (affiliated with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress) was disbanded, its members – all of whom are volunteers – have been particularly active in championing the cause of recognition, restitution and reconciliation with respect to Canada's first national internment operations
Ukrainian Canadian internment
The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War, lasting from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act that would be used again, in the Second World War, against Japanese Canadians;...
, helping secure a redress settlement in 2008 (InternmentCanada.ca). They have also challenged allegations about "Nazi war criminals" hiding in Canada, have exposed the presence in Canada of veterans of the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
/SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
/KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, have helped raise public awareness about Soviet and Communist war crimes and crimes against humanity
Mass killings under Communist regimes
Mass killings occurred under some Communist regimes during the twentieth century with an estimated death toll numbering between 85 and 100 million. Scholarship focuses on the causes of mass killings in single societies, though some claims of common causes for mass killings have been made...
(in particular about the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor
Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
), and have made numerous public representations, articulating the interests of Canada's Ukrainian community
Ukrainian Canadian
A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
. The first chairman of the CLC/UCCLA was John B. Gregorovich, a lawyer. The current chairman is Roman Zakaluzny; the immediate past president was Professor Lubomyr Luciuk.
UCCLA's members meet annually during conclaves held in different cities across the country, often co-ordinating their meeting dates with the unveiling of trilingual historical markers commemorating the internment operations at different camp locations or otherwise recalling important individuals or events in Ukrainian
History of Ukraine
The territory of Ukraine was a key center of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site...
and Ukrainian Canadian history. The Association and its supporters have also placed several trilingual markers across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in Ukraine
Kutkivtsi
Kutkivtsi is a village in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Chemerovetsky Raion at around .Kutkivtsi is the birthplace of Ukrainian-Canadian war hero Filip Konowal.-External links:...
and in France
Lens, Pas-de-Calais
Lens is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai.-Metropolitan area:...
honouring the Ukrainian Canadian Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
recipient, Cpl Filip Konowal
Filip Konowal
Filip Konowal VC was a highly decorated Ukrainian Canadian soldier. He is the only Ukrainian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces...
; recalling the contributions of Ukrainian Canadian servicemen and women during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(London, England); and honouring the Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
journalist, Gareth Jones
Gareth Jones (journalist)
Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones was a Welsh journalist who first publicised the existence of the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33, the Holodomor, in the Western world.-Life and career:...
, who exposed the truth about the Holodomor. UCCLA has also commissioned a number of articles and books that have been distributed internationally dealing with the Holodomor, Anglo-American perspectives
Special relationship
The Special Relationship is a phrase used to describe the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, following its use in a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill...
on the question of Ukraine's independence, the Ukrainian nationalist movement before, during and after the Second World War, and Soviet crimes against humanity and war crimes. One of the most successful of UCCLA's campaigns was initiated in 2003/2004 when an effort was made to have the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
of Walter Duranty
Walter Duranty
Walter Duranty was a Liverpool-born British journalist who served as the Moscow bureau chief of the New York Times from 1922 through 1936. Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for a set of stories written in 1931 on the Soviet Union...
, the New York Times correspondent who lied about the Great Famine, revoked – an effort that resulted in considerable international press coverage.
Its most recent campaign (which began in the late winter of 2010) has been about ensuring that all 12 galleries in the publicly-funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is a national museum currently under construction in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the historic Forks where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet...
are thematic
Theme (arts)
In the visual arts, a theme is a broad idea or a message conveyed by a work, such as a performance, a painting, or a motion picture. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a work. Themes are usually implied...
, comparative
Comparative politics
Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify...
and equitable
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
– rather than elevating the suffering of any one or two groups over all others. To that end the Association has distributed thousands of protest postcards nationally and published a notice raising their concerns in The Hill Times (31 January 2011). Some of UCCLA's critics have tried to censure or even call for the silencing of its voice in the public debate over the proposed contents and governance of the tax payer funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights. To see UCCLA's reply to the 'open letter' of a number of non-Canadians and a few Canadian writers go to the Media Releases section of www.uccla.ca (19 April 2011).
UCCLA continues to be a volunteer organization supported by the donations and efforts of thousands of Canadians of Ukrainian heritage
Ukrainian Canadian
A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
.
UCCLA-supported publications
Some of the books and pamphlets published with the support of the UCCLA include:- Lubomyr Luciuk and Ron Sorobey, Konowal: A Canadian Hero (Kingston, Ont.: Kashtan Press, 2000)
See also
- Ukrainian CanadianUkrainian CanadianA Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
– Politics and History sections - Ukrainian Canadian internmentUkrainian Canadian internmentThe Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War, lasting from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act that would be used again, in the Second World War, against Japanese Canadians;...
- Filip KonowalFilip KonowalFilip Konowal VC was a highly decorated Ukrainian Canadian soldier. He is the only Ukrainian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces...
- Political repression in the Soviet Union
- Reversal of Ukrainization policies in Soviet UkraineReversal of Ukrainization policies in Soviet UkraineThe Holodomor followed the assault on Ukrainian national culture that started in 1928. The events of 1932-1933 in Ukraine were seen by the Soviet Communist leaders as an instrument against Ukrainian self-determination...
- GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
- NKVDNKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
- Holocaust in UkraineHolocaust in UkraineThe Holocaust in Ukraine refers to the Nazi crimes during the Occupation of Ukraine by Nazi Germany. Between 1941 and 1945 the Holocaust in Ukraine killed approximately 3,000,000 Ukrainian victims as part of Nazi extermination policies, along with between 850,000 - 900,000 Jews who lived in the...
- German war crimes against Soviet civiliansGerman war crimes against Soviet civiliansOn 23 September 1942 the Germans shot in Ukrainian village Kortelisy and 20 other villages 2.875 people .In the second half of March 1943 after the Third Battle of Kharkov the Germans arrested and shot 2.500 Soviet civilians from Kharkov....
- Forced labour under German rule during World War II
- Mass graves in the Soviet UnionMass graves in the Soviet UnionThis page discusses mass graves in the Soviet Union.-Soviet repression and terror:The government of the USSR under Stalin murdered many of its own citizens and foreigners. These mass killings were carried out by the security organisations, such as the NKVD, and reached their peak in the Great Purge...
- Soviet war crimes
- Population transfer in the Soviet UnionPopulation transfer in the Soviet UnionPopulation transfer in the Soviet Union may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, often classified as "enemies of workers," deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite...
- Mass killings under Communist regimesMass killings under Communist regimesMass killings occurred under some Communist regimes during the twentieth century with an estimated death toll numbering between 85 and 100 million. Scholarship focuses on the causes of mass killings in single societies, though some claims of common causes for mass killings have been made...
Sources
(Internment booklet)- Lubomyr Luciuk and Ron Sorobey, Konowal: A Canadian Hero (Kingston, Ont.: Kashtan Press, 2000)
- Redressing history's horrors.(Enemy aliens, Prisoners of War and In Fear of the Barbed Wire Fence; bibliography). The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History 83.2 (April–May 2003): p54(2). (1112 words)