27 March 2019, Ottawa, UCC is pleased to announce the appointment of Orest Sklierenko as the Chair of UCC’s Education Advocacy Committee.
Mr. Sklierenko will lead UCC’s coordinated efforts to support Ukrainian education across Canada. He will be working closely with UCC Provincial Councils and local branches to address local education priorities.
“We are delighted to welcome Orest as the chair of the UCC’s Education Advocacy Committee,” said Alexandra Chyczij, UCC National President. “In this post Orest will be a strong voice advocating for Ukrainian Language education across Canada.”
Mr. Sklierenko has experience leading community initiatives in Ontario, specifically the community’s response to several issues affecting Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholic schools on budget and policy matters affecting Ukrainian language such as: Ukrainian language instruction in full-day kindergarten; proposed student transportation cuts; secondary school boundary discussions; and most recently leading the response against the proposed elimination and reduction of international language instruction.
“I look forward to working with our community and education experts to ensure Ukrainian Canadian educational initiatives to continue to build on the foundation of our prior success,” said Orest Sklierenko. “It is vital that our community grows our capability to advocate for quality programs for students, our future Ukrainian speaking generation.”
Orest will continue his ongoing work supporting Toronto schools’ fight to protect their Ukrainian language programs. He has already engaged with the UCC Manitoba Provincial Council and Manitoba Parents for Ukrainian Education (MPUE) to begin addressing their concerns about bilingual education.”
UCC also has a very active National Ukrainian Education Committee which works to support educators, parents and students to facilitate sharing of resources, information and training. Orest will be supporting their work by developing an advocacy and government relations capacity. Ukrainian Canadian educational issues include access to schools, curriculum content, community and parent support and teaching of Ukrainian language education in Canada.
UCC is proud to be co-organizing the National Conference for Ukrainian Educators in Winnipeg May 23-25, 2019 at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.
