My national dish: the mighty pierogi

I know what you’re thinking: The pierogi is not Canadian. Tell that to my great grandmother, who brought her family recipe from the Ukraine to Alberta at the invitation of Clifford Sifton, Wilfrid Laurier’s Minister of the Interior. On the Canadian prairie, she modified her recipe – being Ukrainian, she called them perohi – to suit Canadian terroir. She substituted cheddar for cottage cheese, and tweaked the dough to make it far suppler than anything in the old country. (The secret is more yolks and less egg whites, but that’s all I’m saying).

Click here for complete article.

Source: Globe and Mail

Legendary albums

I decided to lighten up the topic a little and wanted to publish an excellent article on the many great albums and artists that are making their way in popularizing Ukrainian music and its language and culture.
Some go back to pre-independence, while many mentioned are contempoary artists in a very tough cut throat industry. While the 'popsa' scene is still flourishing in Ukraine, run by the mafia element, it is nice to see other "normal" type of music evolving in Ukraine.

If anybody is interested in purchasing any of these albums, I recommend this site very highly.

Click here to read full article.

Source: The Day

Ukrainians Ponder Performance of New Government

While reading the Kyiv Post yesterday I came accross the following article: CLICK HERE
It mentions that almost two thirds of Ukrainians support Yanukovych’s foreign policy the poll reveals.

62.9% of respondents, polled recently by the Kyiv-based Gorshenin Institute of Management Issues, said the Yanukovych foreign policy reflects their interests in varying degrees, 27.5% oppose it and 9.6% were undecided.

Not really sure if this poll would be trustworthy, I would go more along beleiving this poll more, Angus Reid Global Monitor says that one-in-four Ukrainians believe the country’s situation has improved under the new government, according to a poll by Research & Branding Group. 26 per cent of respondents think the socio-economic situation in Ukraine has become better, while 56 per cent say it has not changed substantially.

It's like the following blog and picture above: "Now you see him, now you don't."

CLICK HERE to see the results.

Source: Angus Reid Global Monitor

Two Ukrainian Opposition TV Channels Stripped Of Frequencies

Now here is real proof of freedom of speach working in Ukraine.

A court has stripped two Ukrainian TV channels -- Channel 5 and TVi -- of their new broadcast frequencies, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.

The Kyiv district court today annulled the January results of a tender held by Ukraine's National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting that allocated those frequencies.

According to Ukrainian media experts, Channel 5 and TVi are among the few Ukrainian TV channels that provide independent news coverage.

CLICK HERE for complete story.

Source: RFE/RL

Quebec passes bill recognizing Holodomor as a genocide

QUEBEC, June 2 /CNW/ - Members of the Quebec's National Assembly today unanimously passed Bill 390 - An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.

The Bill, which was introduced in November by MNA Louise Beaudoin and received unanimous approval at first reading, commemorates victims of the Holodomor (the engineered famine in Ukraine which murdered millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33).

The legislation recognizes the Holodomor as "the famine and genocide that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 where millions of Ukrainians perished as victims of a famine deliberately induced by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin to quash the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a free and independent Ukraine."

The Bill further builds on the 1998 Ukrainian Presidential decree, the law adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine in 2006, legislation unanimously passed by the Parliament of Canada in 2008 as well as statutes adopted by the provincial legislatures of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario which recognize the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people and establishes the fourth Saturday in November as a Day of Remembrance for the victims of this mass atrocity.

"Today, the Government of Quebec paid tribute to the millions of innocent victims of the Holodomor, condemned the heinous crimes of the Soviet Communist regime of Joseph Stalin, and has helped to restore historical justice, stated Marika Putko, UCC Quebec Provincial Council President. "We applaud the resolve and courage of Quebec's legislators in ensuring the passage of Bill 390 which proclaims the fourth Saturday of every November as a day of remembrance - Holodomor Memorial Day and that recognizes the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as an act of genocide."

"We commend the members of the Quebec National Assembly for their work to ensure that the tragedy of the Holodomor is recognized and will no longer be whitewashed by apologists for the Soviet system." stated Paul Grod, Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) National President. "Quebec becomes the sixth jurisdiction in Canada to recognize Holodomor as famine genocide. May the lesson that the World has acknowledged not be forgotten in Ukraine."

More information and link to video of video of the Quebec's National Assembly June 2, 2010 which unanimously passed Bill 390 - An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day. CLICK HERE

Source: CNW