Ukrainian National Youth Federation of Canada

Ukrainian National Youth Federation of Canada (Молодь українського національного об’єднання; Molod ukrainskoho natsionalnoho obiednannia, or МУНО; MUNO). The youth affiliate of the Ukrainian National Federation, established in 1934 as Молоді українські націоналісти (Molodi ukrainski natsionalisty; Young Ukrainian Nationalists). During its earliest years MUNO was active in cultivating a nationalist consciousness among Ukrainian-Canadian youth, in attempting to counter the influence of the Ukrainian pro-Communist left (see Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association), and in providing youth with paramilitary training—most notably through the operation of a radio-telegraph school in Toronto (1935–9) and a flying school in Oshawa (1937–9). Led by the organizing efforts of president Paul Yuzyk (1936–7 and 1941–3), the group had established approximately 50 branches throughout Canada by 1939. During the Second World War many of its rural branches were dissolved, and MUNO’s strength was thereafter concentrated in Ontario and the urban centers of western Canada. After the war MUNO was reconstituted with a strong cultural focus, largely through the efforts of M. Orychiwsky (national organizer, 1945–8, and president, 1956–9). It became particularly strong in the field of folk dance and spawned a number of (later independent) ensembles, including Cheremosh (Edmonton), Yevshan (Saskatoon), Rusalka (Winnipeg), and Kalyna (Toronto). It adopted its current Ukrainian name in 1963. The group published a separate page (with interruptions) in the newspaper Novyi shliakh in 1934–47. It then sponsored Holos molodi (1947–54) and MUN Beams (1955–66). After 1977 it published for more than a decade New Perspectives as a monthly supplement to Novyi shliakh.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]