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"
Government-funded centres of Canadas Bandera cult and its Bandera youth" from

Defunding the
Myths and Cults of
Cold War Canada:
Ongoing state support
for East European
migr groups with
deep fascist roots

(Collaborators, Crusades and Coverups
in an era of truth and reconciliation)

Please sign our PETITION to
Stop Canadian government
funding of groups that
glorify Nazi collaborators

On Feb.27, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland proudly tweeted this image of her holding a fascist red-and-black banner at a rally against Russia's invasion to deNazify/demilitarize Ukraine. This Blood and Soil banner, at a protest of the gov't-created, proNATO Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) in Toronto, was the official battle flag of Stepan Bandera's Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Under this banner, and the "Slava Ukraini" slogan, Bandera's army aided the Holocaust with political- and ethnic-cleansing programs that killed countless Jews, Poles, Russians and Ukrainian communists. Bandera's Russophobic, antisemitic, white-power army assisted Nazi Germany for much of WWII. They even kept waging their terrorist campaigns against the Soviets until the early 1960s.

The Canadian government has funded and otherwise supported Banderite cult groups in this country since giving safe haven to many thousands of Nazi collaborators after WWII. Canada's Banderites are primarily represented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC), the Ukrainian Youth Assoc. and the UCC. The UCC, whose leadership has been dominated by LUC Banderites for decades, has groomed Freeland since at least 1990 when she was lionized by Ukrainian nationalists, the Canadian government, and corporate mass media after being identified as a "banderite enemy of the Soviet people" by the USSR government because she interfered in Soviet Ukraine's elections.

LUC, the UCC and other Canadian government-funded ethnonationalist Ukrainian emigre groups still glorify Bandera and revere the veterans of his UPA, as well as the Nazi armed and led Waffen SS Galicia, as if they were "freedom fighters." Canadian government finances the right-wing Ukrainian diaspora's cultural centres, programs, parades and monuments which still shamelessly celebrate their fascist founders, leaders and war heroes.

Read more below: "Government-funded centres of Canadas Bandera cult and its Bandera youth." 
For more background, read about the Antibolshevic Bloc of Nations and Bandera's deputy leader, Yaroslav Stetsko.
 

Press for Conversion!
Issue #70 (Spring 2021)

Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
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See articles on the state funding of fascist-linked groups

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Defunding Cold War Canada

Table of Contents

Canadas anti-Red, Cold War propaganda in context
L.B.Pearson: Godfather of Cdas Cold War on the new "Red" enemy
Pearson College and NATOs United World Colleges
The CBCs Voice of Canada --  Weapon of Cold War propaganda
Voice of America & the CIAs Radio Free Europe & Radio Liberty
L.B.Pearson: Groomed by King, St. Laurent & the Big antiRed Machine'
Mackenzie King gave shocking praise for Hitler until the eve of war in 1939
Liberal immigration: "None is too many" and Too many is not enough
Why did King have such adoring admiration for Nazi Germany's dictator?
King loved Hitlers hate speech against Jewish international Bolshevism

Captive Nations and their "Black-Ribbon-Day" crusade
The ignored historical context of Black Ribbon Day (Aug. 23, 1939)
Captive Nations: Nazi trope to CIA meme to Cold-War trump card
The Captive Nations conceit in Nazi propaganda
John Diefenbaker: Strong voice at the UN for Captive Nations bloc
The BRD campaign: Canadas top Cold War propaganda export
The late Cold War context of the BRD crusade
Ongoing propaganda of the former "Captive Nations":
    (1) Canadas anti-communism monument and (2) the Magnitsky laws

Far-right roots:
East European migr groups in Canada & abroad

Estonian Central Council in Canada
   Estonia glorifies Nazi veterans as freedom fighters
Estonian World Council
Lithuanian Canadian Community and the Lithuanian World Community
   Lithuanian nationalists now have 'freedom' to glorify Nazi heritage
Latvian National Federation in Canada
World Federation of Free Latvians
Slovak World Congress and the Canadian Slovak League
Council of Free Czechoslovakia & Czechoslovak Nat'l Assoc. of Cda.

Ukrainian linchpin of Cdas postwar, far-right diaspora
Krakow and Ottawa, 1940: "A Tale of Two Cities," and two UCCs:
(1) Germanys Ukrainian Central Cttee. and (2) Canada's Ukrainian Canadian Cttee.

The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations & World AntiCommunist League
Yaroslav Stetsko: Leader of proNazi Ukraine, 1941

State-funded centres of Canadas Bandera cult and its Bandera youth
Roman Shukhevych: Assassin, terrorist, war criminal and cult hero

Getting them young: Instilling Ukrainian patriotism in children and youth
Plast recruited for Nazis Waffen SS Galicia; now recruits for Ukraine
From Chomiak to Freeland: keep that flame alive
Chrystia Freeland: Accidental journalist or groomed for the job?
Myron Kuropas: Downplaying Holocaust; Exaggerating Holodomor
Turning from same page: Freeland wrote for pro-fascist publications
Yuri Shymko: From Bandera youth leader, MPP & MP, to elder statesman
Lisa Shymko: In the footsteps of family, community & far-right, war heroes
Rubbing political shoulders with the ABN in Toronto

The struggle continues...                                            Abridged Index

Government-funded centres
of Canadas Bandera cult
and its Bandera youth


By Richard
Sanders

(Click here for a PDF to see this article as it appears in print)

The global cult of Stepan Bandera is represented in Canada by the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC). It was formed in 1949 by activists loyal to his faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B). LUC joined the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) in 1959 and has dominated its leadership for decades. LUC affiliates include the Ukrainian Youth Association (UYA) and the Society of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Veterans. By 1990, LUC had 57 local chapters (with 38 in Ontario), and 15 cultural centres.1 These centres, often funded by government, besides having great practical value, are also powerful unifying symbols of this communitys far-right politics.

Canadas Bandera youth

LUC centres often focus on aiding the Bandera youth movement. Structured along military lines, the UYA scouting movement2 was begun in the 1920s by fascist Ukrainians fighting an "armed struggle against the forces of Bolshevism."3 In 2016, a UYA event at Montreals Ukrainian Youth Centre praised former UCC presidents Paul Grod (2007-18) and Eugene Czolij (1998-2004) as "lifelong members and products of growing up within the ranks of UYA."4 Both have led the World Ukrainian Congress (WUC),5 a Toronto-based global network of Banderite front groups. Formerly called the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, it worked closely with the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN). LUC "prides itself on being one of the principle founding members" of WUC and gave it "three consecutive secretaries-general."6



Calgary's UYA Centre has photos of Bandera and Konovalets

On July 20, 2015, the Canadian government's Western Economic Diversification Canada gave $70,000 to "Revitalize the Ukrainian Youth Centre in Calgary".7

Photographs of the UYAs national leadership conference held at this Calgary centre show that it has portraits of OUN(B) fascist military leaders Stepan Bandera and Yevhen Konovalets.

Konovalets was an OUN leader (1929-38) who commanded its military organization in the 1930s. Having met Hitler in 1933, he pushed for Nazi policies in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian cultural centres in Toronto

Ukrainian Cultural Centre in downtown Toronto housed offices of the UYA and Homin Ukrainy (Ukrainian Echo), LUCs government-funded paper launched by OUN(B) activists in 1948.8 From 1960 until its 2015 sale, it hosted many LUC meetings, banquets and artistic events.

Neighbouring Etobicoke also boasts a Ukrainian centre. In 2012, it hosted a national UYA event honouring the birth of Yaroslav Stetsko, a leader of the OUN(B), the ABN and the World AntiCommunist League. Uniformed youth marched with Stetskos portrait and the battle flag of Banderas fascist army.9

For the UYAs 65th anniversary in 2013, then-UCC President Paul Grod posed with youth activists from across Canada. (See photograph below.) Other photos from this event show that the Etobicoke centre also gives pride of place to portraits of Stetsko and Yevhen Konovalets.10


The photograph below, also from the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Etobicoke, shows a national 2017 meeting of the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) and LUC Women. Just to the left of centre, in the front row of the photo below is president of LUC Women, Lisa Shymko. Also in the front row, but just right of centre, wearing a red tie, is Orest Steciw (see p.61) who was the longtime chairman of Antibolshevik Bloc of Nations in Canada. (Click here, or on the photo below, to see its source. Read a translation of this source here.)

The ABN frequently glorified its Nazi-collaborating leaders, such as General Roman Shukhevych.

Source:
 ABN Correspondence, Sept./Oct. 1972.

Shukhevych Ukrainian
Youth Centre Complex, Edmonton

Canadas largest Ukrainian centre, the Roman Shukhevych Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton, is named after another nationalist war hero. Shukhevych, a Ukrainian war criminal, fought communists before, during and after WWII. The 27,000-sq.ft centre named for him includes classrooms, a library, gym, pool and a huge meeting hall with portraits of Bandera, Shukhevych and other revered "heroes."

The complex was built in 1973 for the equivalent of $4.7 million today, with 10% of this from Albertas government. Funding also came from the Government of Canada, LUC, its women and youth affiliates, the local Nazi Waffen-SS Galicia veterans group and Ukrainian Catholic churches.11 (According to the Public Accounts of Canada, the Shukhevych Centre received $279,000 for renovations in 2015.)

The centres grand opening event in 1973 "combined militaristic, religious, folkloristic and vlkisch elements" and was blessed by Edmontons Ukrainian Catholic Bishop. Politicians from the mayor and MLAs to Albertas Conservative premier, Peter Lougheed, all gave glowing speeches. There were also Ukrainian nationalist hymns, poems by uniformed children and patriotic youth singing soldiers songs. Describing the scene, an Edmonton-based Ukrainian Catholic paper, Ukrainian News, said that the Shukhevych Youth Centre would

"raise and harden a new generation of fighters for the liberation of Ukraine, ready to unite its strength with the forces of the warriors for the captive Ukraine. [It invokes] the name and the activities of General Chuprynka [Shukhevychs nom de guerre], St[epan] Bandera and other outstanding Ukrainian activists and path breakers...."12


Ukrainian war veterans and youth laying a wreath at the monument to Shukhevych outside Edmonton's Ukrainian Youth Complex. From Bairak, Ukrainska Striletska Hromada v Edmontoni 195, cited by Per A. Rudling, "Multiculturalism, Memory and Ritualization: Ukrainian Nationalist Monuments in Edmonton, Alberta," p.744.

In 1981-82, this Ukrainian-language Catholic paper was edited by Michael Chomiak, grandfather of Canadas deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland. Prior to his being its editor he had written articles for the paper. As a youth, Freeland also worked for this same publication. (See also.)

Outside Edmontons centre is a "larger-than-life bronze bust of a uniformed Shukhevych," where, said historian Per Anders Rudling, "believers ... perform their nationalist rituals."13 These commemorative rites celebrating Shukhevychs place in the pantheon of Bandera cult idols have involved uniformed veterans of fascist armies and Ukrainian youth.

Global Bandera youth movement

The Banderite Ukrainian Youth Association (UYA) has branches in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ukraine, the UK and US. In 2009, its World Executive Committee met in Munich to plan their 8th world meeting (held in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics).


The Munich event, scheduled for Banderas 100th birthday, allowed UYA activists to join church leaders and others on a pilgrimage to his tomb in the Waldfriedhof cemetery14 where Yaroslav Stetsko is also buried. At Munichs Ukrainian centre, the UYA held an event to honour Bandera. Youth performing patriotic songs included two Toronto groups: the Baturyn marching band (above) and the Prolisok Youth Ensemble choir (right). A huge Bandera image rose behind them on stage.15  (The Baturyn band regularly marches in the Ukrainian Festival parade in Toronto.)

Bandera means flag in Ukrainian



In 2009, Stepan Bandera was
honoured on a Ukrainian
postage stamp.


In 2014, a US/NATO-backed coup empowered neoNazis in Ukraine.

In 2015, Ukraine banned all
Soviet and communist symbols
but turned the anniversary of
Banderas Ukrainian Insurgent Army
(UPA) into a national holiday.



In 2017, Europes largest
proNazi rally since WWII
was held in Ukraines capital
where 20,000 glorified the UPA.

In 2018, Banderas birthday
became a state holiday.

In 2019, UPA veterans received
the benefits of official status
and the city of Kiev declared it

"The Year of Bandera."

On January 1, 2020, state officials
joined events in four Ukrainian cities
to celebrate Banderas
111th birthday.




 

Sheltered from history by their elders, Bandera youth are unaware that their nationalist heroes were fascists with leading roles in the genocide of Jews, Poles and communists. Being raised in the Bandera cult, these youth are taught to denounce such facts as Russian lies, smears and propaganda.

References

1. Oleh Romanyshyn, "The Canadian League for the Liberation of Ukraine," Ukrainian Review, Spr. 1990.  http://bit.ly/CLLU-LUC

2. The UYA was based on Britains Boy Scouts, begun in 1907 by Lt.Gen. Sir Robt Baden-Powell, who served British imperial interests in India and in South Africa.

3. History of the Ukrainian Youth Assoc., UYA website  http://bit.ly/UYAhistory

4. Banquet commemorating CYMs 70th anniversary in the Diaspora, Mar. 10, 2016.  http://bit.ly/UYA-Czolij-Grod

5. Grod became UWC president after Czolij (2008-18). Previous presidents included Canadians: Catholic Father Wasyl Kushnir leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood (1967-69, 1973-78)  and SS veteran Peter Savaryn (1983-88).

UWC Presidents  http://bit.ly/UWC-presidents

6. Romanyshyn, op. cit., pp.8-9.

7. "Revitalize the Ukrainian Youth Centre in Calgary" 2015-2016.  http://bit.ly/CdaFundUYA

Richard Sanders, "Govt Funds another fascist-revering Bandera Youth Centre," Freeland Watch (Context), Jun.26, 2020.  http://bit.ly/UYAcalg

8. Romanyshyn, op. cit., pp. 11-12.

9. "100th anniversary of OUN-B chairperson Yaroslav Stetsko" (trans.), March 5, 2012.  http://bit.ly/UYA-Stetsko

10. See dozens of photos from this event:
 http://bit.ly/2uLNT2c and  http://bit.ly/2JlmpUu

11. Per A. Rudling, "Multiculturalism, Memory and Ritualization: Ukrainian Nationalist Monuments in Edmonton, Alb.," p.743-44.  http://bit.ly/EdmCen

12. M. Tysivskyi, "Dim Ukrainskoi Molodi v Edmontoni," Ukrainski Visti, May 9, 1974, p.4. Cited by Rudling, Ibid, p.745.

13. Ibid, p.744.

14. Plenary session of Druzhynnyky speakers, Oct.14, 2009.  http://bit.ly/UYA2009

15. Photos of LUC youth at Bandera commemorations, Oct.22, 2009.
http://bit.ly/Bandera-100th
http://bit.ly/Bandera2-100th


(See photos above of Toronto's Baturyn marching band and Prolisok Youth Ensemble Choir on stage in Munich beneath large portraits of Stepan Bandera.)

 

 

Learn more....  You may also be interested in these resources...


Click to read the contents of this magazine online



Captive Canada
Renditions of the
Peaceable Kingdom at War,
from Narratives of WWI
and the Red Scare to the
Mass Internment of Civilians


(Or, how we learned to stop worrying,
keep calm and carry on loving the
myths that define and confine us.)

 

Read the introductory article:
"The Canada Syndrome,
a Captivating Mass Psychosis
"
 


Click to read the contents of this magazine online



Fictive Canada
Indigenous Slaves
and the Captivating Narratives
of a Mythic Nation
 


Read the i
ntroductory article:
"
True Crime Stories and
the Politics of Literary Escapism:
Canada as a Fiction in the
Imperial Genre
"


 

Watch the COAT website
for news about....


  (1) an upcoming book
by Richard Sanders

with the
  working title...

The Grooming
of a Liberal
War Hawk
:
Chrystia Freeland

  (2)  PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION to
Stop Canadian government
funding of groups that
glorify Nazi collaborators

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