On May 27, 2008 President Yushchenko stopped in Winnipeg

This was my second chance to see a Ukrainian President in Winnipeg. The first was President Kuchma. That was a special time for me since it was my first Ukrainian President that I ever saw.  What a feeling of elation. This same feeling probably resonated with many people in Winnipeg when Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko paraded the Legislative grounds on Tuesday May 27, 2008.  It was especially awesome because it was the “Orange Revolution” President that deposed the former President Kuchma just four years earlier in 2004.

An estimated 1000 member audience greeted him, 300 of them children who came from Manitoba’s English-Ukrainian bilingual education school program.  They welcomed the President with the Ukrainian national anthem and then with the Canadian” home and native land” in English, somewhere in the middle in French, and ending it in the Ukrainian language. Who would not be impressed? (see pic 1).  His Excellency Victor Yushchenko lay down a wreath at the Taras Shevchenko Monument that stands on the Legislative grounds of the Manitoba government. Premier Gary Doer paid tribute to Ukraine’s national poet Taras Shevchenko reminding the wide-eyed audience that “Shevchenko spent one year in jail for every poem he wrote.” (see pic 2) He also referred to Victor Yushchenko as an “international hero,” who survived the attempt on his life during the political crisis in Ukraine just a few years earlier and went on to become President of Ukraine (See picture 3). Last but not least, Premier Doer also remembered the victims of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide (1932-33) that has come to be known to Ukrainians all over the world as the “Holodomor.”  What a wonderful show of support that was from Gary.  But who am I to tell you. Why don’t you look at the video below and see for yourself. 

Later that afternoon, President Yushchenko received an honorary doctorate from University of Winnipeg President and Vice-chancellor Lloyd Axworthy, and visited the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide monument located in front of City Hall.  Yushchenko’s three-day state visit from May 26 to 28 included a stop to the nation’s capital (Ottawa), Winnipeg, and Toronto.

by Ihor Cap, Winnipeg, Canada

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