The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called upon the government of Canada to use the free trade negotiations with Ukraine as a lever for human rights – as the European Union has done. More recently the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences (UVAN) in Canada has called upon the Canadian Government to “condemn in the strongest words possible the Ukrainian authorities for their relentless politically motivated persecution and abuse of human rights.”
But as we urge our government representatives to take a strong stand on Ukraine, should we not reconsider our own contacts with official Ukraine and with Ukraine’s business leaders?
Recently Ukraine’s minister of culture visited Canada and met with both the community and our community representatives. True, this was part of the official program of the Canadian Parliament’s first Ukrainian Day on the Hill and Ukrainian culture is something we all support.
But he is still a member of the Yanukovych regime. So do we continue maintaining relations as before? That is not something we can answer right now, but it is an item that should come up for some serious discussion within our community.
Similarly, both the UCC and the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce participated in one of the events in the United States which was part of the “Road Show” organized by the which was part the Head of State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine Vladyslav Kaskiv, and designed to promote investment in Ukraine. Should the UCC want to promote investment, or even appear to promote investment in Ukraine when it is asking the Government of Canada to use the free trade negotiations as a lever for human rights?
Investment in Ukraine is a tricky question. Since financial investment benefits mostly the rich oligarchs who prop up the Yanukovych regime, promoting such ventures is of dubious value. On the other hand, there may be some strategic cases where exceptions may apply.
Take, for example former Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach’s participation in the Jan. 18-19 oil and gas conference in Kyiv to explain Alberta’s shale gas extraction technology which can be used to help make Ukraine self-sufficient in energy. While any kind of cooperation in that field requires working with some very unsavoury characters in Ukraine’s energy industry, including Energy Minister Yuri Boyko himself (see: https://archive.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/120861/), this has to be balanced with the strategic need to eliminate the stranglehold Moscow has over Ukraine with its heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas.
As for those projects that encourage the growth of Ukraine’s civil society, provide humanitarian aid and support education, we must certainly continue to concentrate our resources there. Projects that come to mind include those providing assistance to orphans, those aimed at fighting human trafficking and those supporting educational institutions that promote democracy and provide moral guidance such as the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
There are many complex issues involved with our community’s relations with Ukraine. Some, such as support for humanitarian projects are clear-cut. Others such as relations with official Ukraine, investment and dealing with Ukrainian businesses are much more problematic. There are no easy answers. But there is a need for a broad and open discussion on this issue within our own community.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, an independent bi-weekly newspaper based in Edmonton and distributed across Canada.
