In this issue: Introduction | Youth Councils | Constitution | Call to Convention
Introduction: Welcome to the first issue of the Pre-Convention Discussion Bulletin (PCDB) for the 49th AUUC National Convention. The PCDB is a unique opportunity for all AUUC members to engage in a process of discussion and consultation leading up to Convention about issues our members think important. As such it may stimulate the submission of resolutions, amendments to the AUUC Constitution and generally prepare delegates and members for the Convention. Convention sets the goals and orientation of the AUUC for the next three years so it is an important time in the life of the AUUC.
There is no set timetable for the production of the PCDB, it will be published when sufficient contributions are available. The PCDB is produced in the National Office. Contributions are sent to mail@auuckobzar.net as a word document or other standard format. In the subject line of the email put: Pre-Convention Discussion Bulletin. The Office cannot accept handwritten or fax submissions.
The PCDB will be sent to all AUUC members (i) by email to those who have an email registered with the National Office; (ii) members who do not have email will receive the PCDB by regular mail. Sending by email will save the National AUUC postage costs of approximately $600 per issue of PCDB, and it will provide you immediate receipt of the PCDB when issued. If you do not want to receive by email and prefer only mailed copy you must contact Olena at the National Office either by email or telephone to arrange this.
Youth Councils: The 49th Convention will again have youth observers. In order to stimulate discussion in preparation for the Convention we are reprinting the report given by Jeremy Abbott to the National Committee meeting in September 2023. The Edmonton Council has functioned in this period and we encourage them to contribute to PCDB on their experience. Since the 48th Convention the National AUUC has set up the Myron Shatulsky Scholarship to assist AUUC youth.
There are fewer and fewer organizations that exist eager to take on the challenges that confront a new generation of young people that interact with developing the whole person; heart, body, mind, and spirit. Alienation, apathy, consumerism, and ideological drift are some of the cultural issues that youth experience today, with new developments of global and local economic, ecological, and social problems that youth endure. These issues impact our local branches within the AUUC, and youth who connect with them find themselves part of a progressive Ukrainian community struggling to build on a legacy that has survived the past century, but existing nonetheless in working class communities across the country. Despite how culture and broader society changes and adapts, youth require the same needs as they always have; the need to belong, to understand the world around them, and to create and participate in being valued and recognized in a community that cares about their future and current aspirations. These are the needs that the AUUC needs to bring our attention towards in order to reach the young people of today.
The AUUC needs to find ways to engage and activate youth to build into the community of the AUUC through both local and national organization and ways to expand to other young people who live in the communities that surround our Ukrainian centers. The proposal of the youth council involves forming both local and national bodies that responds to the issues youth entering the AUUC have while also activating other commissions in the organization to train and develop leaders in the organization who can make the AUUC a space for this and future generations. I am proposing a seven-point program to address the need of bringing youth into the organization, developing AUUC programs to keep youth in, fostering cultural and ideological unity in the work ahead of us.
The areas of work that I would like the national committee to consider in implementing are as follows:
1. Setting up a youth commission of young people under 35 in the organization to participate in a national capacity to meet on a monthly or quarterly basis (depending on capacity of members). Planning of national youth events and seminars (with special speakers or discussions across Canada on important social and cultural issues) should be discussed here while coordinating larger projects such as creating promotional materials, leadership training workshops, developing and sharing ideas on curriculum and onboarding planning when connecting with new youth attendees/applicants to the AUUC.
2. Wherever possible start up youth councils where branches exist with youth under 35 to participate in planning local events and programs, teaching and developing curriculum, developing leadership skills relevant to the local branch.
3. Reactivating the AUUC newspaper (Ukrainian Canadian Herald) with a youth section, setting up an editorial board with youth representation to re-activate.
4. Coordination with the CSULR on getting materials that could be used in creating a curriculum for youth in the organization.
5. Planning recreational activities within the branches that connect youth to cultural and leisure activities (organizing sports days/field trips to local heritage sites). Involving the Ukrainian center spaces is an important part of this work, making sure there are rec activities youth can do while at any one of our branches.
6. Youth involvement in developing cultural programs within local branches, representation on national boards such as the National Performing Arts Committee or collaboration with archival work.
7. Partnerships with university and high school campuses: Keeping outreach focused on where the largest concentration of youth congregates. This will keep the organization in touch with core youth issues, and likewise bridge cultural and social ideas from the present day and past together. Considerations should be made where capacity exists to start up campus clubs. Curriculum, cultural programs, and rec activities will be essential to already be well developed to make transitions of work at community centers and campuses work smoothly.
Constitution: Convention can consider changes to the Constitution and one thing we should think about is if the Preamble needs to be updated to better reflect the AUUC in this period of its history and development; and broader developments in Canadian society such as reconciliation with First Nations. Also, it does not take into account the influx of new immigrants from Ukraine due to the war.
Overall, the Preamble is a very good statement so the suggestion is not a total rewrite, which would take considerable discussion and time, but through additions and some changes to the existing text which would improve it.
Below is the Preamble as it currently reads:
‘The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians is a progressive organization with strong and durable roots in the people and history of Canada. The Association and its community, from the turn of the century, constitute the progressive wing of the Ukrainian ethnic group in the population. They are the offspring and heir to those beginnings that grew out of the early formative years of community development and the struggle to survive.
What began as an organization and community of immigrant labour, typical of its time, is an Association today with a broad popular base and contemporary democratic goals in a changing social culture and lifestyle. The Association and its predecessors have always been committed to change and progress in the interests of the people. This commitment remains as a trust and a duty.
The Association embodied the dream that brought countless thousands to this country with the future in their eyes. They came here as builders, to the frontiers of nation building and they helped to transform this land and their own lives in the process. The Association has a vested interest in peace on that road to the future.
Generations of those born to the pioneers and their children found "a home away from home" in the network of halls across the land. These were places to grow, learn and to acquire and enjoy the precious heritage of their birth right. The new generations deserve no less.
The Association and its predecessors always sought to establish and maintain creative contacts and living ties with the ancestral homeland and the mother root of Ukrainian culture. The Association has always promoted tourism and cultural exchange as a means of strengthening ties and building bridges of friendship and peace between peoples of one historic family. The future of a new and expanding culture depends upon continued nourishment from the mother root.
The Association has evolved through a number of organizational stages due to conditions and climate of the time. It came on the scene as the Ukrainian Labour Temple Association (1918-1924); followed by the Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association (1925-1946); the Ukrainian Association to Aid the Fatherland (1941-1942); the Association of Ukrainian Canadians (1942-1946); and finally, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (1946).
The name of the organization shall be "Association of United Ukrainian Canadians", hereinafter referred to as the "Association".’
Read or download pdf: Pre-Convention Discussion Bulletin Number 1.
