CUCUC Report & Remarks Delivered to the UCC 2022 Winnipeg Congress
Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), October 30, 2022
Council of Ukrainian Credit Unions of Canada (CUCUC)
Remarks delivered by Michael P. Mychailyshyn, President
On behalf of the Council of Ukrainian Credit Unions of Canada, its member credit unions, and over 62,000 members, I would like to express our thanks to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, its member organizations, and all delegates for such an engaging Congress. To those that personally count themselves among those 62,000 members, including leaders of UCC member organizations, that make a Ukrainian credit union in Canada your primary financial institution, I'd like to express the CUCUC’s gratitude. You are the reason that Ukrainian credit union cooperative banking exists in Canada and are absolutely key to our ability to support the Ukrainian-Canadian community. We are stronger together because of you.
Ukrainian credit unions in Canada are systemically important organizations in our community, servicing a diverse array of individual and business members with full-service banking, lending, and investment solutions. We recognize that when Ukrainian-Canadians are financially empowered and when Ukrainian businesses around us are strong, it creates a vibrant Ukrainian-Canadian cultural community. Importantly, Ukrainian credit unions in Canada recognize the Ukrainian-Canadian community to be an important stakeholder in the work we do.
To that end, CUCUC member credit unions have invested directly in the Ukrainian-Canadian community by proving over $33-million in donations and sponsorships over the last 14 years to Ukrainian community organizations, not-for-profits, and charities. That’s over $2.3-million in donations and sponsorships, on average, per year. We accomplish this with just about 20% participation in the regions our credit unions currently serve. This means that over 80% of the community benefits that could be realized from increased community participation are currently being directed to stakeholders (shareholders) outside the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
Imagine what we can achieve — and how much higher the $33-million figure could be — by increasing participation to stay strong together. I’m sure that most of you in this room and your organizations already bank with a Ukrainian credit union in Canada. But you probably know someone that doesn’t. So, I’ll leave you with a question to ask your friends: Does you bank support our community to this extent? If the answer is no, or probably not, then we encourage you to increase engagement with the Ukrainian credit union network – and to nudge your organization’s major donors and benefactors to do the same – in the way the Congress overwhelmingly resolved earlier today (October 30, 2022). This way, we can keep – and with your support, substantially increase – the base of assets within the network that drive our ability to sustain community support.
We also encourage your organization’s members to be active leaders in the Ukrainian credit union network, specifically our next generation of business and community leaders.
Continuing our cooperative and collaborative work will ensure that we truly are Stronger Together.
Слава Україні!