http://www.uccla.ca/mission_statement.htm
Mission Statement The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA)
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) is a non-partisan, voluntary and non-profit research and educational organization committed to the articulation and promotion of the Ukrainian Canadian community’s interests and to the defence of the civil liberties and human rights of Ukrainians in Canada and elsewhere.
UCCLA’s roots trace back to 1984, when the Civil Liberties Commission (CLC) was constituted to deal with unfounded allegations about “Nazi war criminals” in Canada. During the course of the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, headed by the late Mr Justice Jules Deschenes, our efforts persuaded the Government of Canada to accept the principle that “all war criminals found in Canada, regardless of their ethnic, religious or racial origin, political beliefs, or the period or place in which crimes against humanity or war crimes are alleged to have been committed, should be brought to justice in Canada under Canadian criminal law.” We continue to defend that position.
Mandated by the Ukrainian Canadian community to negotiate a timely and honourable Ukrainian Canadian Redress Settlement Agreement for the unjust internment of Ukrainian Canadians as “enemy aliens,” during Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920, UCCLA has installed dozens of historical markers and several statues across Canada and continues to play a central role in negotiations between the Government and our community, aimed at securing recognition, restitution and reconciliation. We have been instrumental in increasing awareness of these internment operations and their crippling legacy for the Ukrainian Canadian community, as well as in promoting legislative initiatives, like Bill C 331 – The Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act,
UCCLA has also honoured the Ukrainian Canadian First World War soldier, Filip Konowal, a recipient of the Victoria Cross, and those Ukrainian Canadian veterans of the Second World War who were instrumental in organizing the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen’s Association and the Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau, which together helped save thousands of Ukrainian political refugees and Displaced Persons. Plaques and statues have been placed to commemorate these individuals and organizations in England, France and Ukraine.
Members of the Association continue to express the Ukrainian Canadian community’s views on issues such as “affirmative action,” the future of multiculturalism, and media treatment of Ukrainian issues. UCCLA has also organized major international campaigns aimed at exposing the duplicity of the Pulitzer Prize winner, Walter Duranty, who covered up news of the genocidal Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1932-1933 in Soviet UKraine, as well as calling upon the Government of Ukraine to establish an official Commission of Inquiry into Soviet War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. We are also working to ensure that the proposed Canadian Museum of Human Rights is inclusive and fair in its treatment of all episodes of genocide that have befouled human history, before, during and after the 21st century, and not only in Europe but in Asia, Africa and elsewhere.
UCCLA continues to work to ensure that Ukrainian Canadians and Ukraine are represented in a fair and objective manner by media and in the public domain. We welcome your support to help us further our objectives.
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