The Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council (UCC-APC) is stunned by the inaccurate column and editor-assigned heading to D. Marples’ article Feb .7…”Hero of Ukraine linked to Jewish killings; Honorary title sure to provoke divisions among Ukrainians today”. We raise two critical points in this regard.
Our first criticism is towards the highly inflammatory heading assigned to this column, a heading, which is reminiscent of articles written in Alberta papers a century ago, which discriminated against various ethnic groups. Today, some 110 years later our office is receiving calls from respected individuals in Alberta society who are being harassed at work as a result of an inaccurate, inappropriate and sensational headline and column. Furthermore it is important to inform your readers of the change made to this column on the Edmonton Journal website as of Feb. 10. Today it reads “Yushchenko erred in honouring Bandera; Honorary title may provoke divisions among Ukrainians today”. Our second critical point focuses on the misleading content of D. Marples’ column, the content of which has been corrected by many letters to the Edmonton Journal, some which were published and many which were not. The superficial remarks and innuendo throughout this column do not reflect the purpose or conduct of Stepan Bandera or the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Regrettably, even with the change of the tone of the column online, the damage has been done. We urge the Edmonton Journal to allow space for a balanced and accurate article on this topic. Respectfully, UCC-APC President Daria Luciw