By Roman Zakaluzny
Post Staff Writer
Radio Canada International, �Canada�s Voice to the World,� which broadcast Ukrainian-language radio into Ukraine six days a week, has announced plans to drastically scale back.
Local listeners of the program and Canadian groups were upset about the Feb. 2 announcement.
�We listen every day, at 7 o�clock, six days a week,� said local radio host Vasyl Marusyk. �It had news, weather, international relations, stories about life in Canada...it even taught me some English.�
Marusyk said he, his wife Olha and their two kids had been listening to the program for more than six years.
In its place, the broadcaster is dedicating more resources to beaming Canadian perspectives to Brazil and India.
The show has been beamed via shortwave to Ukraine and surrounding countries, and directly into homes through Ukraine�s radio cable lines on Ukrainian National Radio.
Marusyk recalls when the program was scaled back two years ago, from one hour a day to just 30 minutes.
And, seven months before Ukraine holds its presidential elections at the end of October of this year, it will be scaled back further still.
Although this could not be confirmed, sources told the Post this week that the show will remain half an hour in length, but will be heard just two days a week. They also said that its production staff will be cut to two.
Caroline St-Jacques, a representative of RCI, said by email that RCI�s �repositioning� will mean changes across the board.
�Among the additions,� she wrote, �the most important is a new weekly program in Brazilian Portuguese � bringing to nine the number of RCI�s broadcast languages � and an evening daily program to India in English.� RCI also broadcasts in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin and Cantonese.
�We will continue to broadcast in Ukrainian,� St. Jacques said, �and we have invited the general director of Ukraine National Radio to rediscuss our agreement.�
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, an umbrella organization of Ukrainians in Canada, has urged people to write to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the broadcaster�s parent company, and voice their concerns over the reduction. It said the show was critical to Ukraine, only 13 years removed from communist authoritarianism.
�[The show] brings Canadian values to a developing democracy, and [is] part of Canada�s foreign policy goals for Ukraine,� said the UCC�s executive director Ostap Skrypnyk.
The show is not meant to be heard by Canadians, he said.
�There is no in-Canada listening audience other than off the Internet,� said Skrypnyk. �In Ukraine, they have a decent audience.�
An audience which included Marusyk and thousands of others.
In addition to cultural news and Ukrainian-Canadian community developments, Marusyk said, the show presented a perspective on world and domestic events that differed from the ones usually available here.
�The show is absolutely necessary,� he said. �For example, they had the latest news from Georgia, so we got the Canadian view on their revolution, not just the Ukrainian view. They also have a different view [from the local media] on Ukrainian opposition parties.�
RCI�s own Web site agreed with Marusyk.
�Canadians feel more objective about many international developments,� the site reads. �Our news service � through its balanced and global perspective � has always reflected this reality.�
�From the very beginning, we have dedicated ourselves to explaining the world to Canadians,� it continues. �But a funny thing happened. In explaining the world to Canadians, we also became very good at explaining the world � to the rest of the world.�