When: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Where: The Union Club, 805 Gordon Street
Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (registration desk opens at 11:30 am)
Our Speaker: Valeriy Kostyuk, Executive Director of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation

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We are pleased to announce that Valeriy Kostyuk, Executive Director of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, is coming to CIC Victoria. As we all know, the war between Ukraine and Russia has been going on since 2014, and in February 2022, Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Canada and many countries around the world have rallied to support Ukraine and some 300,000 Ukrainian refugees now call Canada home. Meanwhile, the Canadian Armed Forces are deployed in the UK, Poland, and Latvia providing invaluable training for Ukrainian military personnel.

Valeriy will speak about the role of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and its various programs which are designed to assist in the development of Ukraine as a democratic nation with a vibrant civil society that maintains and develops Ukraine’s culture, traditions and language. Valeriy will also speak about the current situation on the ground in Ukraine and what more Canada can do to support Ukraine.

Our speaker…

Like Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Valeriy comes from the entertainment sector and is a Ukrainian-Canadian producer of art and cultural projects. He has worked on theatre productions, concerts, and exhibits with leading companies such as Starvox Entertainment, Lighthouse Immersive, and Theaturtle. Valeriy’s professional highlights include the immersive exhibition: ‘Ukraine: Land of the Brave’ which combines footage of journalists, photographers, artists, as well as materials of leading media, giving visitors the opportunity to hear the voices of ordinary Ukrainians in the extraordinary circumstances of war. Since 2020, Valeriy has also been producing ‘Immersive Shevchenko’: Soul of Ukraine, which has toured internationally to promote and raise funds for Ukraine.

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The cost to attend this lunch is $42.50 for CIC members, $47.50 for guests of CIC members, $35 for CIC young professional members and $20 for CIC student members.

To register, please email Jennifer Button at cic.victoria.sec@gmail.com no later than noon on Wednesday, 14 May with your name and any specific dietary restrictions. After noon on Wednesday, 14 May additional dietary restrictions cannot be entertained. Meal substitutions on the day will incur an additional $45 charge.

Once we have heard from you, confirmation of your registration and eTransfer payment instructions will be provided. Please do not send e-transfers to the branch treasurer until you hear from us with instructions to do so.

Payment by eTransfer is strongly encouraged. (Please, no cash at the door, but cheques can be accepted).

Unfortunately, as meals must be pre-ordered and paid for, no refunds are possible after noon on Wednesday, 14 May unless we can fill the cancellation from a waiting list.