On the afternoon of March 2nd members of the UCBA and Pavlo Grod, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, met with Ukrainian Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko in Toronto.
Minister of Justice Petrenko travelled to Canada on mission within the framework of the Quality and Accessible Legal Aid (QALA) in Ukraine Project. He was accompanied by Andriy Vyshnevsky, the head of the Ukrainian legal aid system as well as two senior officials from the Ministry of Justice.
On this trip Minister Petrenko had the opportunity to meet with a host of stakeholders in Canada from the judicial sector and the Ukrainian-Canadian community, including parliamentarians, federal and provincial officials dealing with the administration of justice in Canada, civil society organizations, and Ukrainian-Canadian community representatives including the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the UCBA. This visit marks an important milestone in Canada’s ongoing relationship with Ukraine in promoting improved access to justice for Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens.
The QALA Project is a $9.5M Canadian government-funded project implemented by the Canadian Bureau for International Education aimed at supporting the establishment and operation of the Ukrainian legal aid system in collaboration with the Coordination Center on Legal Aid Provision under the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.