Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to the third reading of Bill S-276, An Act respecting Ukrainian Heritage Month. I have the role of critic of this bill, but as a proud Canadian of 100% Ukrainian heritage, I am happy to give this initiative my full support.

All my ancestors were Ukrainian. Three of my grandparents arrived in Canada as part of the first wave of Ukrainian immigrants who came to settle in Western Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The fourth, my grandfather, was born in 1900, only about a year after his parents’ arrival in North America.

As I detailed at length in my second reading speech, I grew up immersed in Regina’s thriving Ukrainian-Canadian community. Ukrainian heritage and traditions were front and centre in our family home. We celebrated Ukrainian holidays, ate Ukrainian food, danced in Ukrainian troupes for many years, were and continue to be members of a Ukrainian Catholic church, attended Ukrainian school classes and even acquired some Ukrainian language skills.

The sponsor of this bill, Senator Kutcher, said in his third reading speech:

. . . it seems that Ukrainians in Canada are starting to stand up and say, “Here we are,” or as we say in Ukrainian, “My tut.” Come and learn about us. Come and celebrate with us. Come and stand together with us.

But objectively, and certainly in my experience, Ukrainian Canadians have already been doing that for many decades in Canada. Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world, boasting 1.4 million members. Ukrainian Canadians have formed a significant part of Canada’s social fabric for decades, and we have a rich heritage of cultural festivals, organizations and landmarks to prove it.

For example, many of you will know of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, or UCC, the umbrella organization consisting of local, provincial and national Ukrainian groups across Canada. In fact, earlier this month, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress celebrated its eighty-fourth anniversary at its national convention. The congress brings together and represents the interests of Ukrainian Canadians. It encourages leadership within the community and fosters many philanthropic initiatives. The UCC also provides funding and support for many Ukrainian-Canadian cultural and heritage events and festivals, of which Canada has many.

My home province of Saskatchewan, a hub of Ukrainian Canadian settlement in this country, is home to well-established annual Ukrainian cultural celebrations. My hometown of Regina hosts an annual multicultural festival known as Mosaic, and the Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion has been a key part of that festival’s history and success. The Mosaic festival will celebrate its fifty‑fifth birthday — like me — in June 2025. In 1977, this dynamic festival became a three-day celebration, much like the length of a traditional Ukrainian wedding celebration. I performed with my dance groups at the Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion at Mosaic from the time I was a small child and continued throughout my teenage years, and I attended Mosaic with my family and friends for as long as I can remember.

Saskatoon’s Folkfest celebrated its forty-fifth anniversary last summer with the theme of Decades of Dedication. The Ukrainian Karpaty Pavilion is the largest in the festival and has been a staple of Folkfest for years.

Saskatoon’s Ukrainian Day in the Park, Saskatchewan’s largest outdoor Ukrainian festival, began in 2001. An annual festival, the cultural event coincides with Ukrainian Independence Day in August.

Saskatoon is also home to the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, the first Ukrainian museum in North America. The museum was established in 1936 by the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada to promote Ukrainian arts and culture. The museum hosts one of the largest ethnic textile collections in North America. It also contains Ukrainian art, including a collection of paintings by renowned Ukrainian-Canadian Prairie artist William Kurelek.

Of course, Manitoba was another main settlement area for Ukrainians in Canada, and it also has a legacy of sizable Ukrainian cultural festivals. Take, for example, Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin, Manitoba. This massive festival will mark its sixtieth year of celebration next summer.

Another major festival, Winnipeg’s Folklorama began in 1970 and it has boasted a large Ukraine Kyiv Pavilion since that first year. It is sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Manitoba Provincial Council and promotes Ukrainian culture and education. The Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus — 160 voices strong and with 55 years of experience — performs often at the Ukraine Kyiv Pavilion. I’m sure many of you have also seen Hoosli sing both the Canadian and Ukrainian national anthems at Winnipeg Jets hockey games.

The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival is the largest Ukrainian street festival in North America. It started 30 years ago, in 1995, when Toronto and Kyiv became sister cities. Several other Ukrainian cultural festivals are held throughout Ontario, with celebrations in Oakville, Barrie, Sudbury and Kingston among them. Even Ottawa’s quite new festival, Capital Ukrainian Festival, will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2025.

As many of you will know, Alberta also holds significant Ukrainian celebrations, particularly in and around Edmonton. The large Ukrainian population in Edmonton is the reason why many of us affectionately refer to the city as “Edmonchuk.” Edmonton’s UFest, a free festival, showcases Ukrainian food, dance, arts, crafts, culture and music. This festival began in 2018, and a highlight of UFest is performances by incredible Ukrainian dance groups from Edmonton like Shumka and Cheremosh.

Folkloric dance is a treasured tradition in Ukrainian culture, and many Ukrainian-Canadian troupes have long histories in this country. Shumka, whom I just mentioned, is Canada’s only professional Ukrainian dance company and was established in 1959. Cheremosh has existed for 55 years. The Rusalka Ukrainian dance ensemble from Winnipeg also has a 55-year history. The Regina group I danced with, the Tavria Ukrainian Folk Dance Ensemble, is itself almost 50 years old. These beloved, vibrant dance troupes feature prominently in Ukrainian-Canadian festivals and celebrations. Many of them travel throughout Canada and worldwide to showcase their remarkable talents and the stunning manifestation of Ukrainian heritage.

A premiere feature of Ukrainian heritage in Canada is located in Alberta at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, a unique attraction that bills itself as “History Brought to Life,” and it really is. Established in 1974, this tourist site at Tofield near Edmonton recreates the everyday lives of Ukrainian settlers in Canada from 1892 to 1930. This attraction is a small village, incorporating more than 35 historic buildings and other structures in three thematic areas: a townsite, a rural community and several farmyards. Site staff dress in period costumes and re-enact the daily life of Ukrainian immigrants who lived on the farms and in the towns of rural Alberta in the early 20th century. The townsite includes a two-room school, three Eastern Byzantine rite churches, a blacksmith shop, a working grain elevator, stables and a sod house.

I have fond memories of visiting this site with my family as a teenager in the 1980s. I cherished the ability to experience what life for my grandparents may have been like in rural Saskatchewan in the early 1900s. It echoed the details of what my grandfather had so articulately written in his life story — a precious keepsake in our family.

Alberta is also the home of some famous giant Ukrainian roadside attractions. Many of you will know the giant pysanka — the Ukrainian Easter egg — at Vegreville. It was unveiled in 1973. Did you know there is also a giant perogy in Glendon, Alberta? Glendon has its claim to fame as the Perogy Capital of the World. In fact, you can find the World’s Largest Perogy — all 27 feet and 6,000 pounds of it — by following Perogy Drive to Perogy Park. We Ukrainians take perohe, varenyky — perogies — very seriously.

Of course, not to be outdone, the world’s largest Ukrainian sausage resides in Mundare, Alberta. The 42-foot giant garlic kubasa was crowned the world’s largest by Guinness World Records in 2001. And while it might be the world’s largest, I can’t vouch for whether it is the world’s tastiest. I know my vote for that prize belongs to the kubasa at the Ukrainian Co-op grocery store in Regina, an institution in Regina since 1937. Hands down, the smokehouse outside the Ukrainian Co-op produces the best-smelling, best-tasting sausage in the world. This establishment stands in an area of Regina where many Ukrainian immigrants came to live, including my baba.

All that to say, Ukrainian Canadians have promoted and celebrated their culture in Canada for a very long time. This is not a new-found pride of identity. But, to be sure, the naked aggression of the evil Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has focused many Ukrainian Canadians on strengthening their ties to Ukrainian culture, traditions and heritage. It has also galvanized support within the Ukrainian community and beyond for the freedom and independence of a Ukrainian homeland under siege.

A yearning for freedom has always stirred in the Ukrainian heart. It was this yearning for freedom that led many Ukrainian ancestors — mine among them — to bravely set forth and emigrate to lands unknown, including Canada. It was that desire for liberation from persecution and the desire to seek better opportunities for their children and grandchildren that spurred hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants to leave behind their homeland and, in many cases, their relatives to forge a brighter future in the New World. The freedom of religion offered in democracies like Canada was especially attractive to Ukrainians suffering under an autocratic government in Russia and, later, under the communist Soviet Union cracking down on the freedom to worship. In some cases, they punished and imprisoned Ukrainians who dared to practise their religion.

For this reason, I was surprised that Senator Kutcher did not mention the importance of freedom or religion in either his second reading speech or third reading speech in this chamber, nor in his address to the Social Affairs Committee during the study of this bill. In fact, the sponsor did not list “freedom” as a universal shared value in Bill S-276.

As we discuss the need to recognize, affirm and celebrate Ukrainian heritage in Canada through this bill, it is important that we not lose sight of the crucial role that the Church plays in maintaining the preservation of Ukrainian heritage. Religion plays an integral role in Ukrainian culture and traditions. Many Ukrainian cultural traditions stem from religious observances. As I outlined in my second reading speech on Bill S-276, Ukrainian culture is rich with religious references, even down to the symbolism of the colours used to decorate Ukrainian Easter eggs or the role of certain foods in celebrations.

Added to that, for new Ukrainian immigrants arriving to Canada, the church served as the heart of their community — a place of gathering, celebration and support. In fact, churches were usually the first major infrastructure markers of Ukrainian heritage in Canada. Many of the churches built by Ukrainian settlers decades ago still stand today.

For example, St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church was erected in 1898 in Manitoba. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church was built in 1903 near Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church was established in Edna-Star, Alberta, in 1913.

Especially in the early days, these churches were built with the often scarce resources of Ukrainian families in Canada. My family’s home church, a Ukrainian Catholic church in Regina, was first established in 1925 and was supported by fundraising over decades. Our new church was built on that site 60 years ago. My family worked actively toward supporting this church, just like multitudes of other Ukrainian immigrants did, in looking to establish a foothold for their communities in the New World.

I raise the central role of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic churches in celebrating Ukrainian heritage month because I find that aspect has been largely overlooked during the debate on Bill S-276. I suppose that’s not surprising, given the speed with which this bill has recently moved. In fact, Bill S-276 passed so quickly at the Social Affairs Committee that I — the bill’s very friendly critic — was not even informed that it was up for discussion at committee until it had already been passed there. I found out about it only through a tweet by Senator Kutcher, which stated that it had passed committee. In fact, until that morning, Bill S-276 was not even on the Notice of Meeting to be dealt with by the committee, nor was Senator Kutcher, the sponsor, in attendance to answer questions about it. The entire discussion and clause-by-clause consideration on the bill were dispensed within 40 minutes.

Within that time, there was scant mention about any actual aspect of Ukrainian heritage. Given that a primary and stated objective of the bill is to promote and raise awareness of the Ukrainian community and its heritage in Canada, wouldn’t it have been better to engage more debate and have significant witnesses testify at committee to draw attention to this?

If, in this setting, Parliament does not highlight and study Ukrainian culture and heritage in Canada over the past 100 years, we diminish the significant contributions Ukrainian Canadians have made here. Unfortunately, I think this was a missed opportunity for this bill.

It is vital for us to honour Ukrainian heritage in Canada and show support for Ukraine, especially at this time when Ukraine is under such an existential threat. Tragically, today marks the one thousandth day since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched on February 24, 2022. I think about how when this invasion started, all experts were saying that Ukraine would be completely taken over within three days. But look at the incredible resilience of the Ukrainian people. We must continue to stand with Ukraine. And those of us with Ukrainian ancestry need to take every opportunity to highlight the legacy of the generations who came before us and who helped build Canada into the free, strong, diverse country it has become.

We will mark the solemn anniversary of the Holodomor next week. That was the devastating event when famine, imposed by the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, killed millions of Ukrainians. As we commemorate that tragic anniversary, honourable senators, I ask you to think about what the Ukrainian people have overcome for centuries — and what they continue to face today — in their fight for freedom, self-determination and independence.

We should celebrate the extraordinary grit and resilience of the Ukrainian people — that very same raw determination that spurred ancestors like mine to leave their homes for an unknown future in Canada. Look what they have built over the past 130 years in this country: a network of strong families and communities, an abundant legacy of faith and culture, and a tapestry of traditions and art and music and dance and food — oh, the food. Ukrainian heritage month would give us an annual opportunity to honour the contributions of Ukrainian Canadians to Canada and to celebrate a rich culture that continues to thrive against the odds. For this reason, I encourage you to support the passage of Bill S-276.

Thank you. Dyakuyu. Slava Ukraini.

I did not know that, but that is a wonderful addition. Actually, in my teenage years when I was an organist, I used to play a version of The Nutcracker Suite, and it always jarred me that I had to play a part called “the Russian dance,” but that makes it much better. Thank you.