Media Release – Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston and Ambassador Ihor Ostash
12 June 2011
His Excellency, Dr Ihor Ostash, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, visited Sir John A MacDonald Park on Saturday, 11 June 2011, there to view the “Gaskin Lion,” an iron statue originally owned by a former mayor of Kingston, Ontario, John Gaskin, whose family donated it to the city after his death. In 2010, to mark the 100th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Kingston, the Ukrainian Canadian community of Kingston had the lion restored and complemented with two trilingual historical markers, explaining who Gaskin was, recalling the centennial of Ukrainian settlement in the Kingston area and featuring photographs of people on and around the lion over the past century. These 2 plaques, part of a “Kingston Remembers” series, are also inscribed with text in English, French and Ukrainian braille characters, the first-ever such plaque anywhere. Ambassador Ostash and members of his staff also participated in the 42nd annual LVIV, Ukraine pavilion at Folklore 2011, one of Canada’s oldest continuing Ukrainian Canadian festivals, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston.
photos attached: members of the Ukrainian Maky Dance Ensemble (10 June 2011) and Dr L Luciuk, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston, with Dr Ihor Ostash, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada
