Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Encyclopedia
Borys Wrzesnewskyj (ˈbɔrɨs ʒɛzˈnɛfski ; born November 10, 1960) is a Canadian
politician who represented the riding of Etobicoke Centre in the Canadian House of Commons
in the 38th, 39th and 40th Parliaments. He is a member of the Liberal Party
.
, Toronto
, Canada
. He is a third generation Ukrainian Canadian
. He attended Humber Valley Village Public School and Upper Canada College
. He received a Bachelor of Commerce
from Trinity College
, University of Toronto
and has been a member of Plast
. He speaks Ukrainian
, Polish
, French
, and Spanish
. He is the owner of Future Bakery, founded by his grandparents, and M-C Dairy.
. Through Future Bakery, Wrzesnewskyj was one of the original sponsors of the Out of the Cold program to aid the homeless and numerous other charitable organizations working in a number of Toronto’s most challenging neighbourhoods.
In the late 1980s he helped organize and finance the nascent Rukh Movement (People's Movement of Ukraine
). In 1991, financed and organized a group in support of the referendum for the independence of Ukraine. One of his projects was an underground printing press which produced and distributed several million pieces of pro-independence literature in the South and East of Ukraine. Through the 1990s was involved with various civil society and humanitarian projects in Ukraine, such as the building of libraries and providing scholarships for gifted students.
Through his family foundation, Wrzesnewskyj has provided funding support to:
(a) The Ukraine Transparency and Election Monitoring Project to train independent election scrutineers in Ukraine.
(b) The Ukraine List electronic periodical of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies (University of Ottawa
) targeting policy specialists and academics.
(c) The delivery of Ukrainian News to every MP and Senator in Canada’s Parliament.
(d) The publication and delivery of Ukraine Analyst to members of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group.
(e) Ukrainian courses at The Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES) at the University of Toronto
.
(f) Grants for archival research into Ukrainian national movements during World War II
.
(g) The republication of books about Ukrainians who perished in the Holocaust.
(h) Archival research into victims of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in the Sambir
region of Ukraine.
(i) Donated $500,000 to build the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre (Toronto, Canada).
(j) Annually sponsored an intern from Ukraine to participate in an internship program in Canada's Parliament (Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program
).
(k) Donated $250,000 to finance election observers for the first round of voting in Ukraine.
(l) Self-funded missions to Sudan
, Darfur
, Somalia
, the West Bank
, and East Jerusalem
.
(m) Lead the Ukrainian Canadian community’s fundraising effort for famine relief in Somalia
, i.e. 2011 Horn of Africa famine, with $100,000 committed.
(n) Donated $100,000 on behalf of the Wrzesnewskyj family to the Ukrainian Catholic University
in Lviv
, Ukraine.
In December 2010, he created the Roman Wrzesnewskyj Polish Endowment Fund with a $35,000 donation toward the preservation and development of advanced Polish language
studies at the Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures, University of Toronto
.
, Orange Revolution
, and has often spoken to Canadian media on its behalf. Then, Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin
said that he was personally briefed by him to publicly warn Russian President Vladimir Putin
"hands off the Ukrainian election" in the House of Commons of Canada which fundamentally shifted Canada's position (Wrzesnewskyj telephoned Martin from Kyiv during the Orange Revolution
). Originally, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa
took a "hands off" approach to the contested Ukrainian election. Martin says that he, and the Government of Canada
would not have stood up for democracy in Ukraine "if it hadn't been for Borys". Subsequently, he was instrumental in securing the Government of Canada's commitment to sending five hundred Canadian election observers to the December 2004 Presidential elections in Ukraine.
(a) Bill C-180, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda)", 6 May 2009; Bill C-181, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking and transplanting human organs and other body parts)", 7 May 2009.
(b) Bill C-383, "An Act respecting education benefits for spouses and children of certain deceased federal enforcement officers", 12 May 2009.
(c) Bill C-394 "An Act to acknowledge that persons of Croatian origin were interned in Canada during the First World War and to provide for recognition of this event", 26 May 2009. This began as his Private Members’ Bill C-374, which The Winnipeg Sun
placed this item in its top ten list of bills (9 November 2006).
(d) Bill C-450, "An Act respecting a national day of remembrance of the Ukrainian Holodomor
-Genocide".
(e) Bill C-537, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (judicial interim release for offenses involving firearms)" to toughen up bail conditions for perpetrators of crimes involving guns, June 2010.
Regarding Bill C-181, Wrzesnewskyj gave a press conference in Ottawa together with David Matas
and David Kilgour
, authors of "Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong
Practitioners in China
". While saying that "consumers benefit from trade with China", and that "Canada would like to do more trade with China", he asserted "it does not exonerate us for addressing the issue of organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China" and questioned "trusting a country that would engage in this sort of horrific crime against its own people."
Wrzesnewskyj helped pass MP James Bezan
’s Bill C-459, An Act to establish a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day and to recognize the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 as an act of genocide, at all stages through the House of Commons and Senate.
He also worked with MP Bob Rae
to introduce and help pass unanimously through the House of Commons the Black Ribbon Day motion establishing an annual Canadian Day of Remembrance for the victims of Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes on August 23, called “Black Ribbon Day”, to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the infamous pact between the Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes.
Between 2004 and 2010 he served as Member on eleven committees including Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and Standing Committee on Transport among others.
Wrzesnewskyj discussed the importance of Ukraine's accession to NATO at meetings of the OSCE parliamentary assembly meetings and official meetings of NATO member states. Later, he was selected as an official member of the delegation of the Speaker of the House of Commons to Ukraine (a trip geared toward developing relations between Canada and Ukraine).
He helped the previous Canadian government to negotiate and sign the historic agreement for $12.5 million with the Ukrainian Canadian community for the acknowledgement, commemoration and education of Canadians of the dark episode of internment operations against Ukrainian Canadians.
, and East Jerusalem
along with fellow parliamentarians from the New Democratic Party
and Bloc Québécois
. The mission's goals were to gain firsthand knowledge and understanding and assess the opportunities to build towards a peaceful and just solution between Israel
, Palestine
, Lebanon
, Jordan
and Egypt
. He subsequently co-authored a report which offered several key recommendations to the Government of Canada. He also self-financed fact-finding missions to Darfur, Sudan regarding the Darfur Conflict
, and Somalia
.
pension fund scandal and spoke to the media on the matter. He was instrumental in bringing forward to the Public Accounts Committee, and pursuing, an investigation into the misuse of the RCMP pension and insurance funds involving the upper echelons of Canada’s national police force which pressured the government into establishing the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP. Here again, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
emphatically stated that "nothing would not have been done (with the RCMP pension scandal) if it hadn't been for Borys."
. There were some media reports in this period that Wrzesnewskyj called for Hezbollah to be taken off Canada's list of terrorist organizations. He responded that this was a misrepresentation of his position, saying, "on the contrary, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and I stated that it must remain on Canada's list because it has committed war crimes by sending rockets into civilian areas." He added that Canadian law should be amended to permit political and diplomatic contact for the purposes of ending the conflict. As the result of media perceptions about his comments, he resigned his post as foreign affairs critic. He would later be critic for Crown Corporations
for most of 2007.
As a Canadian parliamentarian of partial Polish heritage, Wrzesnewskyj is the founder of the Canada-Poland Parliamentary Friendship Group. He has persistently criticized Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney
for reducing immigration quotas from Poland
, and Ukraine
to Canada. He has also spoken to Canadian media on the Katyn Massacre
and 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
that saw the deaths of Poland's senior government, diplomatic and military leaders, including President Lech Kaczynski
.
In April 2010, with the President of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Mark Freiman, Wrzesnewskyj organized a symposium featuring Meylakh Sheykhet, Director of the Union of Councils for Jews of the Former Soviet Union
in Ukraine, on the importance of Ukrainian-Jewish relations in a historical and current geopolitical context.
Again in December 2010, Wrzesnewskyj, together with Mustafa Jemilev (Dzhemilev), spoke out about the potential for ethnic conflict in Crimea between Russians, Tartars, and Ukrainians.
candidate Ted Opitz
by a margin of just 26 votes. A judicial recount subsequently confirmed Opitz's victory.
. In September 2011, Tabaj, his wife Anilda, his daughter and twin sons returned to Canada after Jason Kenney had the family deported in 2009. Later, a Canadian Federal court ruled that the family was wrongfully deported. Lorne Waldman, a leading immigration lawyer said that stark reversals like the Tabaj case "are rarer than hen’s teeth”.
After the arrest of Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko
in August 2011, Wrzesnewskyj participated in demonstrations at the Ukrainian Consulate in Toronto, calling for the support of democracy in Ukraine and release of all political prisoners. International organizations, representatives of the European Union
and the United States
called Tymoshenko's arrest "selective prosecution of political opponents".
In August 2011, Wrzesnewskyj lead the Ukrainian Canadian community’s fundraising effort for famine relief in Somalia
, i.e. 2011 Horn of Africa famine, with $100,000 committed, mostly from one donor, entrepreneur and Northland Power
founder Jim Temerty, "whose family roots go back to one of the regions that was worst affected in the Holodomor
".
in the May 2, 2011 federal election, and the previous defeat of Stéphane Dion
in 2008, party loyalists have objected to Liberal Party decision makers who reflexively promote and support high profile or star leadership candidates. Supporters have quietly urged Wrzesnewskyj to run for the Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 2013.
Wresnewskyj's appeal for a successful leadership bid includes his refusal to play "back room politics", seen as a key factor in rejuvenating the Liberal Party. Referring to Michael Ignatieff and inner Liberal party circles at his annual general meeting in January 2011, Wrzesnewskyj said "They can't buy me, they can't silence me, so I remain a pain in their side." In his first major interview since the May 2011 election, Wrzesnewskyj stated "it would be such a shame to lose the Liberal Party of Canada as a consequence of being highjacked by a so-called party establishment."
Tackling the RCMP pension scandal wide open in early 2007 through the Public Accounts Committee when "fellow MPs had warned him it could cost him his career" is seen as another example of Wrzesnewskyj's leadership appeal.
Previously, Ignatieff stopped Wrzenseskyj "from calling witnesses and submitting evidence in a parliamentary hearing... that would have pointed to Chinese influence on Canadian politicians."
In 2005, when Paul Martin served as Prime Minister, Wrzesnewskyj supported a Conservative MP Daryl Kramp
's private members bill for mandatory minimums for gun crimes. He described the events in a Virtual Town Hall meeting on 20 March 2011. Initially, Wrzesnewskyj was instructed by the Liberal leadership to oppose the bill. He refused on a matter of principle stating "If you use a gun, you're done. The moment you become a risk to the security of our neighbourhoods and communities, that's it".
He eventually convinced his Liberal colleagues on the merits of the bill and cast the deciding ballot for the Conservative bill to go forward.
Wrzesnewskyj stated that "Party elite needs to be ousted" and that he "is hoping to “unwedge the backroom boys” and open the party up through a grassroots effort to sign up new members. If all goes according to plan, it could lead to a run for the Liberal leadership."
awarded Wrzesnewskyj the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
, one of Ukraine’s highest honours, during a special 26 May 2008 ceremony on Parliament Hill, for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation.
In recognition of his public service in Canada-Poland relations, the Canadian Polish Congress
awarded him the Gold Honorary Award on 23 January 2010. For his work with Ukrainian Canadian community, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress awarded him its highest honour, the Shevchenko Medal, on 27 October 2010.
On 25 February 2011 Wrzesnewskyj was awarded the Estonian Canadian Medal of Merit for his outstanding contribution to Canadians of Estonian heritage.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
politician who represented the riding of Etobicoke Centre in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in the 38th, 39th and 40th Parliaments. He is a member of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
.
Background
Wrzesnewskyj was born in EtobicokeEtobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke is a dissolved municipality located within the current city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the western section of the current city, it had an official population of 338,117 as measured by the 2001 Census and 334,491 people as of the 2006 Census. While it only contains 13% of...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is a third generation Ukrainian Canadian
Ukrainian Canadian
A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
. He attended Humber Valley Village Public School and Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...
. He received a Bachelor of Commerce
Bachelor of Commerce
A Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...
from Trinity College
University of Trinity College
The University of Trinity College, informally referred to as Trin, is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Trinity was intended by Strachan as a college of strong Anglican alignment, after the University of Toronto severed its ties with the Church of...
, University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and has been a member of Plast
Plast
The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply Plast is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.-First Phase: 1911-1920:...
. He speaks Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. He is the owner of Future Bakery, founded by his grandparents, and M-C Dairy.
Humanitarian work
Wrzesnewskyj is known for his humanitarian work both in his riding of Etobicoke Centre and abroad, including helping children causes in UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Through Future Bakery, Wrzesnewskyj was one of the original sponsors of the Out of the Cold program to aid the homeless and numerous other charitable organizations working in a number of Toronto’s most challenging neighbourhoods.
In the late 1980s he helped organize and finance the nascent Rukh Movement (People's Movement of Ukraine
People's Movement of Ukraine
The People's Movement of Ukraine is a Ukrainian center-right political party...
). In 1991, financed and organized a group in support of the referendum for the independence of Ukraine. One of his projects was an underground printing press which produced and distributed several million pieces of pro-independence literature in the South and East of Ukraine. Through the 1990s was involved with various civil society and humanitarian projects in Ukraine, such as the building of libraries and providing scholarships for gifted students.
Through his family foundation, Wrzesnewskyj has provided funding support to:
(a) The Ukraine Transparency and Election Monitoring Project to train independent election scrutineers in Ukraine.
(b) The Ukraine List electronic periodical of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies (University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
) targeting policy specialists and academics.
(c) The delivery of Ukrainian News to every MP and Senator in Canada’s Parliament.
(d) The publication and delivery of Ukraine Analyst to members of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group.
(e) Ukrainian courses at The Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES) at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
(f) Grants for archival research into Ukrainian national movements during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
(g) The republication of books about Ukrainians who perished in the Holocaust.
(h) Archival research into victims of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in the Sambir
Sambir
Sambir is a city in the Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Sambir Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. It is located at around , close to the border with Poland.-History:...
region of Ukraine.
(i) Donated $500,000 to build the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre (Toronto, Canada).
(j) Annually sponsored an intern from Ukraine to participate in an internship program in Canada's Parliament (Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program
The Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program or CUPP is a parliamentary internship program for Ukrainian students, established by the Ukrainian Diaspora in Canada. The Program provides an opportunity for Ukrainian students to learn about the principles of democratic government and parliamentary...
).
(k) Donated $250,000 to finance election observers for the first round of voting in Ukraine.
(l) Self-funded missions to Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
.
(m) Lead the Ukrainian Canadian community’s fundraising effort for famine relief in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, i.e. 2011 Horn of Africa famine, with $100,000 committed.
(n) Donated $100,000 on behalf of the Wrzesnewskyj family to the Ukrainian Catholic University
Ukrainian Catholic University
The Ukrainian Catholic University is a Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine, affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The ceremonial inauguration honoring its founding took place on June 29, 2002...
in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ukraine.
In December 2010, he created the Roman Wrzesnewskyj Polish Endowment Fund with a $35,000 donation toward the preservation and development of advanced Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
studies at the Department of Slavic Languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
and Literatures, University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
Politics
Wrzesnewskyj was actively involved in the Canadian delegation to the contested Ukrainian election of 2004Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was held on October 31, November 21 and December 26, 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union...
, Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
, and has often spoken to Canadian media on its behalf. Then, Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
said that he was personally briefed by him to publicly warn Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
"hands off the Ukrainian election" in the House of Commons of Canada which fundamentally shifted Canada's position (Wrzesnewskyj telephoned Martin from Kyiv during the Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
). Originally, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
took a "hands off" approach to the contested Ukrainian election. Martin says that he, and the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
would not have stood up for democracy in Ukraine "if it hadn't been for Borys". Subsequently, he was instrumental in securing the Government of Canada's commitment to sending five hundred Canadian election observers to the December 2004 Presidential elections in Ukraine.
Legislative work
His House of Commons legislative work saw the introduction of several Private Member's Bills and Motions including:(a) Bill C-180, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda)", 6 May 2009; Bill C-181, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking and transplanting human organs and other body parts)", 7 May 2009.
(b) Bill C-383, "An Act respecting education benefits for spouses and children of certain deceased federal enforcement officers", 12 May 2009.
(c) Bill C-394 "An Act to acknowledge that persons of Croatian origin were interned in Canada during the First World War and to provide for recognition of this event", 26 May 2009. This began as his Private Members’ Bill C-374, which The Winnipeg Sun
Winnipeg Sun
The Winnipeg Sun is a daily tabloid-sized newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.It is owned by Sun Media, a subsidiary of Quebecor Media, and shares many characteristics typical of Sun Media tabloids, including an emphasis on local news stories, extensive sports coverage, a Canadian conservatism...
placed this item in its top ten list of bills (9 November 2006).
(d) Bill C-450, "An Act respecting a national day of remembrance of the Ukrainian Holodomor
Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
-Genocide".
(e) Bill C-537, "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (judicial interim release for offenses involving firearms)" to toughen up bail conditions for perpetrators of crimes involving guns, June 2010.
Regarding Bill C-181, Wrzesnewskyj gave a press conference in Ottawa together with David Matas
David Matas
David Matas is the senior legal counsel of B'nai Brith Canada. He has maintained a private practice in refugee, immigration and human rights law since 1979. He has published various books and manuscripts and currently resides in Winnipeg....
and David Kilgour
David Kilgour
David Kilgour, PC is a former Canadian politician.Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27 year tenure in the Canadian House of...
, authors of "Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
Practitioners in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
". While saying that "consumers benefit from trade with China", and that "Canada would like to do more trade with China", he asserted "it does not exonerate us for addressing the issue of organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China" and questioned "trusting a country that would engage in this sort of horrific crime against its own people."
Wrzesnewskyj helped pass MP James Bezan
James Bezan
James Bezan is a Canadian politician. In 2004, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative....
’s Bill C-459, An Act to establish a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day and to recognize the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 as an act of genocide, at all stages through the House of Commons and Senate.
He also worked with MP Bob Rae
Bob Rae
Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
to introduce and help pass unanimously through the House of Commons the Black Ribbon Day motion establishing an annual Canadian Day of Remembrance for the victims of Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes on August 23, called “Black Ribbon Day”, to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the infamous pact between the Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes.
Committees - House of Commons
In 2010 Wrzesnewskyj served as Vice-Chair on two committees: (1) Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, (2) Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.Between 2004 and 2010 he served as Member on eleven committees including Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and Standing Committee on Transport among others.
Wrzesnewskyj discussed the importance of Ukraine's accession to NATO at meetings of the OSCE parliamentary assembly meetings and official meetings of NATO member states. Later, he was selected as an official member of the delegation of the Speaker of the House of Commons to Ukraine (a trip geared toward developing relations between Canada and Ukraine).
He helped the previous Canadian government to negotiate and sign the historic agreement for $12.5 million with the Ukrainian Canadian community for the acknowledgement, commemoration and education of Canadians of the dark episode of internment operations against Ukrainian Canadians.
International self-financed fact-finding missions
From 7-14 August 2009, Wrzesnewskyj initiated in a self-financed fact-finding mission to Jordan, the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
along with fellow parliamentarians from the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
and Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
. The mission's goals were to gain firsthand knowledge and understanding and assess the opportunities to build towards a peaceful and just solution between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. He subsequently co-authored a report which offered several key recommendations to the Government of Canada. He also self-financed fact-finding missions to Darfur, Sudan regarding the Darfur Conflict
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
, and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pension scandal
In April 2007, Wrzesnewskyj publicly called for a full judicial inquiry into the Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRoyal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
pension fund scandal and spoke to the media on the matter. He was instrumental in bringing forward to the Public Accounts Committee, and pursuing, an investigation into the misuse of the RCMP pension and insurance funds involving the upper echelons of Canada’s national police force which pressured the government into establishing the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP. Here again, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
emphatically stated that "nothing would not have been done (with the RCMP pension scandal) if it hadn't been for Borys."
Hezbollah comments
In August 2006, Wrzesnewskyj said that the Canadian government should engage in talks with militant organizations, including Hezbollah, for the purpose of ending the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...
. There were some media reports in this period that Wrzesnewskyj called for Hezbollah to be taken off Canada's list of terrorist organizations. He responded that this was a misrepresentation of his position, saying, "on the contrary, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and I stated that it must remain on Canada's list because it has committed war crimes by sending rockets into civilian areas." He added that Canadian law should be amended to permit political and diplomatic contact for the purposes of ending the conflict. As the result of media perceptions about his comments, he resigned his post as foreign affairs critic. He would later be critic for Crown Corporations
Crown corporations of Canada
Canadian Crown corporations are enterprises owned by the federal government of Canada , one of Canada's provincial governments or one of the territorial governments. Crown corporations have a long standing presence in the country and have been instrumental in the formation of the state...
for most of 2007.
Special Advisor to the Liberal Leader on Emerging Democracies
From 2009-11, Wrzesnewskyj held the position of Special Advisor to the Liberal Leader on Emerging Democracies.As a Canadian parliamentarian of partial Polish heritage, Wrzesnewskyj is the founder of the Canada-Poland Parliamentary Friendship Group. He has persistently criticized Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney
Jason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
for reducing immigration quotas from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
to Canada. He has also spoken to Canadian media on the Katyn Massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
and 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
that saw the deaths of Poland's senior government, diplomatic and military leaders, including President Lech Kaczynski
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
.
In April 2010, with the President of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
Mark Freiman, Wrzesnewskyj organized a symposium featuring Meylakh Sheykhet, Director of the Union of Councils for Jews of the Former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in Ukraine, on the importance of Ukrainian-Jewish relations in a historical and current geopolitical context.
Again in December 2010, Wrzesnewskyj, together with Mustafa Jemilev (Dzhemilev), spoke out about the potential for ethnic conflict in Crimea between Russians, Tartars, and Ukrainians.
2011 Election
In the 2011 election, Wrzesnewskyj was defeated by ConservativeConservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
candidate Ted Opitz
Ted Opitz
Ted Opitz, CD is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2011 election. He represents the electoral district of Etobicoke Centre as a member of the Conservative Party....
by a margin of just 26 votes. A judicial recount subsequently confirmed Opitz's victory.
Post 2011 Election
Despite the narrow loss in the May 2011 election, Wrzesnewskyj has continued dedicating himself to public service. This includes the closure of the immigration case of Mr. Arjan Tabaj championed by Wrzesnewskyj and immigration lawyer Scott McDonald. Tabaj is a partly paralyzed survivor of an assassination attempt during elections in AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. In September 2011, Tabaj, his wife Anilda, his daughter and twin sons returned to Canada after Jason Kenney had the family deported in 2009. Later, a Canadian Federal court ruled that the family was wrongfully deported. Lorne Waldman, a leading immigration lawyer said that stark reversals like the Tabaj case "are rarer than hen’s teeth”.
After the arrest of Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
in August 2011, Wrzesnewskyj participated in demonstrations at the Ukrainian Consulate in Toronto, calling for the support of democracy in Ukraine and release of all political prisoners. International organizations, representatives of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
called Tymoshenko's arrest "selective prosecution of political opponents".
In August 2011, Wrzesnewskyj lead the Ukrainian Canadian community’s fundraising effort for famine relief in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, i.e. 2011 Horn of Africa famine, with $100,000 committed, mostly from one donor, entrepreneur and Northland Power
Northland Power
Northland Power Inc. , is a Canadian corporation that currently owns or has an economic interest in nine power generation assets in Canada—primarily Ontario and Québec—Germany, and the United States. Overall, the firm controls assets that generate about 818 MW of electricity. Approximately 80% of...
founder Jim Temerty, "whose family roots go back to one of the regions that was worst affected in the Holodomor
Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
".
Potential Liberal Leadership Run in 2013
After the Liberal Party suffered their worst defeat in history under Michael IgnatieffMichael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
in the May 2, 2011 federal election, and the previous defeat of Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
in 2008, party loyalists have objected to Liberal Party decision makers who reflexively promote and support high profile or star leadership candidates. Supporters have quietly urged Wrzesnewskyj to run for the Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 2013.
Wresnewskyj's appeal for a successful leadership bid includes his refusal to play "back room politics", seen as a key factor in rejuvenating the Liberal Party. Referring to Michael Ignatieff and inner Liberal party circles at his annual general meeting in January 2011, Wrzesnewskyj said "They can't buy me, they can't silence me, so I remain a pain in their side." In his first major interview since the May 2011 election, Wrzesnewskyj stated "it would be such a shame to lose the Liberal Party of Canada as a consequence of being highjacked by a so-called party establishment."
Tackling the RCMP pension scandal wide open in early 2007 through the Public Accounts Committee when "fellow MPs had warned him it could cost him his career" is seen as another example of Wrzesnewskyj's leadership appeal.
Previously, Ignatieff stopped Wrzenseskyj "from calling witnesses and submitting evidence in a parliamentary hearing... that would have pointed to Chinese influence on Canadian politicians."
In 2005, when Paul Martin served as Prime Minister, Wrzesnewskyj supported a Conservative MP Daryl Kramp
Daryl Kramp
Daryl Kramp is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing Prince Edward—Hastings as a Conservative....
's private members bill for mandatory minimums for gun crimes. He described the events in a Virtual Town Hall meeting on 20 March 2011. Initially, Wrzesnewskyj was instructed by the Liberal leadership to oppose the bill. He refused on a matter of principle stating "If you use a gun, you're done. The moment you become a risk to the security of our neighbourhoods and communities, that's it".
He eventually convinced his Liberal colleagues on the merits of the bill and cast the deciding ballot for the Conservative bill to go forward.
Wrzesnewskyj stated that "Party elite needs to be ousted" and that he "is hoping to “unwedge the backroom boys” and open the party up through a grassroots effort to sign up new members. If all goes according to plan, it could lead to a run for the Liberal leadership."
Awards and recognition
Ukrainian President Viktor YushchenkoViktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
awarded Wrzesnewskyj the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise is an award of Ukraine. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation. The Order was instituted on August 23, 1995 by the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma....
, one of Ukraine’s highest honours, during a special 26 May 2008 ceremony on Parliament Hill, for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation.
In recognition of his public service in Canada-Poland relations, the Canadian Polish Congress
Canadian Polish Congress
The Canadian-Polish Congress , is an umbrella organization founded in 1944 by Polish-Canadians in Canada to coordinate the activities and to articulate the concerns of the Canadian Polish community on public policy issues....
awarded him the Gold Honorary Award on 23 January 2010. For his work with Ukrainian Canadian community, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress awarded him its highest honour, the Shevchenko Medal, on 27 October 2010.
On 25 February 2011 Wrzesnewskyj was awarded the Estonian Canadian Medal of Merit for his outstanding contribution to Canadians of Estonian heritage.