Harper’s statements on the Holodomor were also very well received by the Ukrainian Canadians, even if Ukrainian officials themselves did not appreciate them. He called Holodomor as a planned crime against Ukrainian people by Stalin’s regime at the press-conference in Kyiv. While speaking to the audience at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv he was more direct and called Holodomor as an act of genocide.
Harper’s visit was well prepared. His visit to the Ukrainian Catholic University and the National Museum-Memorial to Victims of Occupational Regimes Prison in Lviv was extraordinary and clearly signified support for two bastions of academic freedom authorities have targeted. The same goes for his meeting with opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
The professionalism of the Canadian delegation stood in marked contrast to the stumbling of their Ukrainian counterparts, who proved to all present that the Ukrainian Canadian community’s assessment of Ukraine’s current Government as Ukrainophobic, pro-Russian, maintaining the old-fashioned communist style of management are entirely accurate.
What stood out particularly was Harper’s meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola (or should we just call him Nikolai) Azarov. Harper took the time to repeat the same message in both French and English in deference to Canada’s two official languages. Azarov, on the other hand, totally ignored Ukraine’s one official language, enshrined as such in the constitution of the country, and spoke entirely in Russian.
This was a gross insult to the people of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Canadians who attended the meeting. Needless to say, they were shocked.
Can one imagine a prime minister of France addressing a foreign delegation in English? A German chancellor speaking Spanish? So how come the prime minister of Ukraine does not feel warranted to speak the official language of the country of 46 million he is supposed to govern, but chooses instead to speak the language of Ukraine’s historic and despotic oppressors?
Bearing in mind that, in previous conferences and interviews with Ukrainian media, Azarov has stumbled along with his fractured Ukrainian, this particular disregard for Ukraine’s constitution, at an international meeting to boot, is a deliberate, disrespectful and disgraceful act which demeans Ukraine, her citizens and the Canadian delegation.
Neither Ukraineian Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Gryschenko nor Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Ihor Ostash gave any indication that they disapproved of Azarov’s disgraceful behavior. The fact that Azarov’s use of Russian was embarrassing to the Ukrainian side was evidenced by the fact that Ukrainian News was approached by a young staff member of the Cabinet of Ministers, who asked us not to report the fact that Azarov chaired the meeting in Russian. This is typical of the neo-Soviet mentality of the new regime. When the Prime Minister publicly embarrasses his country, don’t correct him – shut the media up instead.
Well sorry, that’s not the way we do things here in Canada. If you don’t want negative publicity – then clean up your own act. The first thing to do is advise Azarov to respect Ukraine’s laws, her citizens and her Canadian friends.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, an independent bi-weekly newspaper based in Edmonton and distributed across Canada. Serhiy Kostyuk is president and chief executive officer at Ukrainian Canadian Institute for Research and Consulting Inc.
