In response, a spokesperson for the Saskatoon-based Kalinka Folk Dance Group released a statement to clarify their community’s position regarding the war unfolding in Ukraine.

Oleg Kougiya wrote: “The Kalinka group cannot in any way be associated with the political regime of the Russian Federation. Having been in Canada for almost twenty years, myself, my family and all members of our group have obtained Canadian citizenship, consider ourselves Canadian and share a peaceful way of life, free of racism and stigma. Being of Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh and Moldovan origin is part of the history of each of the families in the group and it has always been this way in a welcoming Canada. You become Canadian, but don’t forget your roots, your heritage and your culture.

In an interview with paNOW On Sunday, Kougiya said the group decided to exclude traditional Russian dance from its program because of “the tragic war inspired by Russia’s undemocratic regime.” Members of the group, including Kougiya’s family, actively protested the war, saying they were “totally against Putin’s regime.”

“When the war broke out in 2022, we took all our Russian dances off the stage and we tried to eliminate as many Russian words from our announcements and everything else. I thought we did a pretty good job, but apparently not. It seems that the word “Russian” alone is a trigger.”

Kougiya said that ultimately, the Kalinka group decided to withdraw from the Tapestrama event all together so that Ukrainian Barveenok dancers would not miss the opportunity to perform in front of their hometown audience.

“We also have three generations of people dancing on stage – grandmothers, parents and children and where our middle generation is strong and willing to communicate with people, we consider our older generation and our younger generations vulnerable to this kind of situation,” he said.

Ultimately, neither band ended up performing at Tapestrama.

“I absolutely honestly believe that the Barveenok group was duped. They received misleading information (about us),” Kougiya said. “Those who started this clearly achieved their goals because they stopped the Ukrainian group from dancing and they stopped our group from dancing and actually created a very negative image. »

Requests for comment from the Prince Albert Multicultural Center were not extended to paNOW before publication, but the organization commented on the event’s Facebook page saying: “PAMC stands with Ukraine and does not support any form of violence or hatred! As well as discrimination against a culture, heritage and tradition!

It states that the Tapestrama cultural festival aims to “promote inclusion, diversity, celebrations and the continuity of each person’s culture, heritage and traditions”.

Tapestrama continues Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. at Carlton Comprehensive High School and features food and cultural merchandise. Sunday’s lineup includes Vietnamese and Filipino singers, The Creeland Dancers, DancEgypt Dance Company and the Mariachi Latino Band.

Latest news on the Russian-Ukrainian war

More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday.

It is one of the largest barrages seen in Russian skies since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A night barrage over the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia injured 13 civilians after Ukrainian military leaders warned that Moscow could be preparing for a new military offensive in Russian skies. the south of the country.

– with files from the Canadian Press

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