Mr. Speaker, Dr. Oleksander Tysovsky is the Lord Baden-Powell of Ukraine. Just five years after Baden-Powell founded the scouting movement in Great Britain, Tysovsky created its counterpart in Ukraine known as Plast. On April 12, Plast will mark its 100th anniversary.
Now an international organization of Ukrainian youth, Plast fosters personal development to help young people grow into conscientious, responsible, valuable citizens of their local, national and world communities, and always with an abiding love for Ukraine.
I remember how excited our former colleague, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, was that day in 2007 when several hundred Plast members from Canada and abroad gathered on Parliament Hill.
Today we pay tribute to the good work of the Ukrainian scouting movement, including Plast Canada. We salute 1.2 million Ukrainian Canadians and we express again our passion for a genuinely free and democratic Ukraine.