On 6 June, the Mission’s team met with Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and a cultural anthropologist. The meeting was attended by Anna Sytnikova, Deputy Head of the Crimea Platform Support Service, and Daria Piskun, Chief Consultant of the Service.

The participants discussed cooperation in the area of promoting Ukrainian Studies globally, as well as in the field of preserving and popularizing the true history of Ukraine, supporting research on the historical heritage of Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people, and advancing academic initiatives that contribute to the formation of an objective and profound understanding of Ukraine’s past and present at the international level.

Special attention was given to the development of Crimean Tatar Studies in Canada. It is worth noting that in 2024, the University of Alberta, in cooperation with the Faculty of Native Studies, launched a doctoral program in this field. For the first time, within the framework of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, a scholarship program was established for Crimean Tatar Studies. This program provides new opportunities for in-depth research into the history, culture, and contemporary life of the Crimean Tatars as the Indigenous people of Ukraine. The first scholarship recipient was Nara Narimanova.