__________________________ VLADE STERIOVSKI - Part 06

Еден од важните планови на МАНУ е изградбата на новата зграда на Академијата. Претходните работи се свршени и некаде напролет идната година ќе бидат удрени и темелите на тој највисок храм на науката во нашата татковина Македонија.

Почитувани сонародници и сонароднички, со овие неколку информации сакав да ве запознам тоа што може еден народ, кога е слободен, да постигне на просветното и научното поле.

Ние можеме да бидеме горди на постигнатите резултати, бидејќи од часот кога се објави првиот македонски буквар до формирањето на Универзитетот и Македонската академија минаа само дваесетина години; за вакви достигања на другите народи им требаа далеку, далеко повеќе години и десетилетија.

Многу ви благодарам на вниманието.

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3urq A[[eurj pue JUUNUOD UBOLIWY JON dU} UI SUBIUOPIIBA 2Ш JUN 0} dUOP Ud] рец зиом JO [Bap 18313 VV "BOLIOWY JO 501616 раз AY} UI PUB BpRUR)) UI SUBTUOPIIBIA pau ays Jo uoisuedxd ay) pue Aun “Шмот8 ajowoid ој duop uddq pey ey} SI0M JU} QUIULIOPUN 0) peur PeY “52П2в) PUB SUONEBSNOIE SI YIM ‘AO[ABJ UOIUY теј ST) PIAJIYIL Ud] pry Jey) SUIYIAIIAD PIA0IISIP pry ‘039 S ue UO 0} ANP ‘YOTYM ‘UOTIUIAUOD ()/ 6] Yi 191 зоБ|А 00) Jey} SJUIAD puLISIdpUN ој J[NOLJIP Sem 1] UONJUIAUO)) (LOT 2) 19)3јЕ SUBIUOPIIBIA род on the others who are managing the United Macedonians for Toronto. We are unable to disassociate from our painful feeling that the Macedonian community in Toronto, once the pride for all of you, even for the Macedonians of our homeland, today is devoured by the worm of disunity, disunited at its highest level. Only united you could make in a short time those magnificent things; raising the church St. Clement of Ohrid, the impressive picnics as the last year, which contributed amidst the Canadian Society the affirmation of the Macedonian name and reality. If disunited, what can you achieve?

You would only achieve ridicule and contempt from our enemies, who would rub their hands together, with pleasure.

In the name of that great Ilinden and in the interest and the prosperity of the Macedonian community in Canada, we extend to you; the leadership of the United Macedonians of North America and all the members of the United Macedonians, the warmest appeal for unity, confident that you will find the strength to overcome all that separates you and that you will reach out a hand to each other with a brotherly hand for unity and unanimity, which is the only guarantee for the affirmation of the Macedonian nation and the spiritual and cultural values that created our nation.

Skopje, July 22, 1971 Tome Bugleski President of the House of Immigrants of Macedonia.

По расцепот во 1971 год.Торонто гранка на Обединети Македонци од Северна Америка го добив следното писмо од нашиот многу почитуван претседател на Матицата на Иселениците од Македонија госп.Томе Буглески.

До: Претседателот на Јунајтед Мацедонианс за Северна Америка, Торонто.

Почитуван г. Гивенс, Илинденскиот национален празник и Вашиот најавен пикник, за кој се надеваме дека телеграфцки ги примивте нашите честитки, ми даваат повод да Ви го напишам ова писмо, во кое накусо ќе се осврнам на сегашните потреси во колонијата во Торонто, и за кое одговорноста паѓа на сите Вас што се наоѓате на чело на македонците било од Ј. М. за Северна Америка, било на другите што раководат со Ј. М. за град Торонто. Не можеме да се отргнеме од болното чуство дека македонската колонија во Торонто, која некогаш претставуваше гордост на сите Вас, па и за Македонците во татковината, денес е разјадена од црвот на разединетоста, неединството во самите нејзини врвови.

Само единствени можевте да ги направите за кратко време оние велелепни работи - подигањето на црквата " Свети Климент Охридски" импозантните пикници како минатогодишниот, што придонесе за афирмацијата среде канадското општество на македонското име и македонската стварност. А неединствени што можете да постигнете? Потсмев и презир, за што нашите непријатели ќе си ги тријат рацете од задоволство.

Во името на тој голем Илинден, во интерес на просперитетот на македонската колонија во Канада, упатуваме до Вас раководството на Јунајтед Мацедонианс за Северна Америка и до сите членови на Ј. М. најтопол апел за единство, уверени дека ќе најдете сили да го отстраните сето она што Ве разединува и дека ќе си подадете меѓусебе братска рака за единство и еднодушност, што е единствена гаранција за афирмацијата на македонската нација и на духовните и културни вредности што ги создал нашиот народ.

Скопје

22 Јули, 1971 година Томе Буглески Претседател на Матицата на Иселениците од Македонија.

Gadjovich’s presidency As I have mentioned before, after the split of the United Macedonians of North America Toronto branch, we had many difficulties in our efforts to unite the Toronto branch of the United Macedonians of North America. Mr. Gadjovich’s involvement was one of the main reasons why we failed to come to any agreement. Why was Gadjovich blocking the possibility of coming to any agreement with the Toronto branch of the organization? As I mentioned earlier, Gadjovich, as president of the church, was holding the splinter group, led by Teli Morihovitis and Anton Pavlov, hostage. The splinter group leadership had no will of its own to disagree with Mr. Gadjovich. Basically Gadjovich was the decision maker for the United Macedonians of North America Toronto branch (splinter group). One of the reasons for this hostility towards us was because we demanded that he disclose the church’s financial accounting for the years 1971 and 1972, when he was president of the church. Here are the minutes of the control committee, including the treasurer’s report dated June 12, 1972.

Decision and report:

“The Control Committee reported that, to this day, it had not seen the Church financial reports because there had been no meeting held with the secretary treasurer. The reason for not having seen the financial reports was because the bookkeeper was not ready and did not make the time to be ready. Up to date we have called three meetings but the bookkeeper did not agree to attend. On April 16, 1972 we had a Control Committee meeting scheduled for 9:00 am but the bookkeeper, to our disappointment, did not show until 12:30 pm. We then scheduled a meeting on April 22 for 8:00 o’clock but Paul, the bookkeeper, did not show until 11:00 o’clock and that is why we did nothing with the financial reports. Even today, June 12, 1972, we have no exact report.” Signed by treasurer Kosta Apostolovski and members of the Control Committee Bill Terzievski, John Naumovski and Don Pappas.

Even though the administrative council and the bookkeeper had plenty of opportunities, they unfortunately failed to produce the books for inspection.

At the general membership meeting I criticized the financial statement and pointed out that it was incorrect. I have explained this further in another part of my book. In the meantime, Mr. Don Pappas, member of the control committee, took the matter a step further. Here is what he had to say at the general membership meeting:

“After talking to the legal department of the Ontario Ministry for Consumer and Commercial Affairs, I was advised to engage a lawyer, who was to prepare a petition.

Please be advised that the petition and the motion are not acts of suing the church or members of the church, but a request for the court to appoint an inspector to examine the 1971 and 1972 books. These are the facts, which are contrary to the rumours that are being spread among our church members alleging that we are suing the church or members of the church”.

Before petitioning the court, on October 20th, 1972, our lawyer wrote a letter to President Sam Gadjovich, Secretary-Treasurer Kosta Apostolovski and Secretary Spiro Talevski in which, in part, he said:

“It would appear that you, jointly and severally, have refused or neglected to account to the members of the congregation of which you are trustees. It is my desire to obtain from you a voluntary accounting of the money which has passed through you during your respective terms of office and I Trust that you will not ignore the request contained in this letter as you appear to have resisted all attempts on the part of my clients to obtain such accounting.” On October 26, 1972 the Board of Directors sent a letter to lawyer Alan C. MacRobie, in which, in part, it said:

Dear Sir, We received your letter and read it over but we did not understand what kind of payment you wanted settled. We know that the money that was received by us and passed through our hands during our respective terms of office, we trust will be paid back.

However, we will need more information, specifically the names of the people who want their money back and their membership status with our church. We expect to hear from you within ten days, if we don’t get your answer then we will use legal means to find the names of persons wanting their money back. And without further notice we will issue you a Writ of Summons from the Supreme Court of Ontario.

Yours truly, The Board of Directors.

Don Pappas continued with his report to the general membership meeting with the following comments:

Also, a copy of the letter of reply by the board of directors has been submitted to the chairman of this meeting. Let me read it to you. But while I am reading it, someone from the floor please come up and explain its meaning because I am sorry as I fail to understand what it says...

I believe this letter is a good example which explains the difficulties that we had and the frustration we felt while dealing with Sam Gadjovich and his board of directors. By doing this, Sam Gadjovich was blocking the possibility of an agreement being reached between the splinter group, led by Morihovitis and his friends, and the Joint Executive Board of the United Macedonians of North America.

Attempts at Reconciliation – August 6th, 1973 - Minutes of Meeting Upon the initiative of the delegates from the Socialist Republic Macedonia, a meeting between the organizations “United Macedonians of North America” and “United Macedonians of Canada” was held on August 6th, 1973. Present at the meeting were:

John Givens, President of the Joint Executive Board of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Petre Vasilevski, President of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Toronto branch, Anton Pavlov, Chairman of the “United Macedonians of Canada”, Bill Yanev, Chairman of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Hamilton branch, Pavle Stergiou, Secretary of the “United Macedonians of Canada”, Vangel Stoikovski, Secretary of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Toronto branch, Kosta Durlov, Secretary of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Hamilton branch, Teli Morihovitis, President of the St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church Administration in Toronto, Vlade Ristovski, Vlado Steriovski, Petre Ilias, Pero Ginevski, Bill Klechov, Kire Janevski, Vlade Savevski, Paul Konstantinou, Danny Giuchos, Kosta Traichev, Pavle Basel, Jane Alexander, Kosta Romanovski, Pavle Ctoioc, Dan Pappas, Basil Stoikovski, Mike Tallin, Spiro Vasilev, Georgi Loukras, Borge Krstevski, Trpe Sarievski, Jimmy Bilkas, Priest Michael Teoharev of the St. Naum Macedonian Orthodox Church in Hamilton and the delegates from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia Vangel Nechevski Tunelot, Chairman of the House of Immigrants in Macedonia - Bitola, and Trajan Bavtirovski, Secretary of the House of Immigrants in Makedonija – Skopje, who led the meeting.

After some exhaustive discussion proposed by the president of the “United Macedonians” and under the insistence of the “United Macedonians of North America”, a chairman was selected to lead the session. This person was Trajan Baftirovski, one of the delegates from Macedonia. After the chairman took his place, the president then invited the priests to say a prayer before the meeting began. After the prayer was read, the two priests were appointed as minute takers. After that, the chairperson read the meeting agenda:

1. Proposals to be made by the “United Macedonians of North America” and by the

“United Macedonians of Canada”.

2. Discuss the proposals made by the organizations.

3. Conclusions reached through the discussions of the “United Macedonians” proposals.

After that the chairperson asked representatives from the two “United Macedonians” organizations if they had pre-prepared proposals and items for discussion. The “United Macedonians of North America” had pre-prepared proposals but it was agreed that the proposals would be carried forward by the organization’s president. The presidents would speak for the organizations. Representing the “United Macedonians of North America” was John Givens who read from his list of items as follows:

1. As a first condition to these proposals let us not discuss the Organization’s past history.

2. The statute and charter of the “United Macedonians of North America”, adopted during the First United Macedonians of North America Congress, must be the main condition for unification.

3. Form a coalition committee with an equal number of participants selected from the membership of both sides.

4. Regardless of all other conditions, in order to achieve full and lasting unification, some important changes must be made to the by-laws of our statute on behalf of the membership from each group separately.

5. After agreeing to the above points full unification of the organization can take place.

6. After unification has taken place and all changes to the rules and to the statute are adopted in accordance with the wishes of the two groups, an Extraordinary Conference will be convened to include all branches of the “United Macedonians of North America” during which everything that has been agreed to will be presented for approval and for inclusion in our constitution.

7. In continuing with these conditions, under no circumstances should the “United Macedonians of North America” become involved in the internal affairs of our Church Boards.

8. To avoid any political complications, no member of this organization will have the right to become involved in or interfere in the internal affairs of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

9. Any questions brought up by certain members of this organization concerning lawsuits should be left to be answered by the persons directly involved in these matters.

After the president of the “United Macedonians of North America” read his proposals, the chairperson invited the membership of the “United Macedonians of Canada” to give their comments regarding the proposals presented by the “United Macedonians of North America” and prepare for discussions with aims at coming to an agreement. After an exhaustive discussion in which almost everyone present took part, the following was concluded:

1. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the first point proposed by the

“United Macedonians of North America”.

2. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the statute in the second point of the proposal but rejected the charter of the “United Macedonians of North America”.

Proponents of the “United Macedonians of North America” remained steadfast with their proposal. With regards to the third point the following was concluded.

3. The “United Macedonians of Canada” have agreed to form a coalition committee which will review all contested issues and, after it finds resolutions, will call a membership meeting involving both organizations in about two month’s time. The “United Macedonians of North America” did not agree with the proposal put forth by the “United Macedonians of Canada” regarding the length of time the joint committee would need, but accepted the suggestion of extending the time frame to six months and if the committee has not completed its work in that time frame, to ask for an extension. There was no agreement reached with regards to this proposal. The following was concluded with regards to the fourth point.

4. The “United Macedonians of Canada”, with some enticement from the chairperson, accepted the fourth point of the proposal made by the “United Macedonians of North America”.

5. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the fifth point of the proposals.

6. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the sixth point of the proposals with the objection “if there is any need for it”.

7. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the seventh point of the proposals.

8. The “United Macedonians of Canada” accepted the eighth point of the proposals.

9. The “United Macedonians of North America” updated point nine of the proposals to include the following: “The United Macedonians of North America” has pledged to help find a peaceful resolution to the court case in the dispute that would be fair to both sides and, for as long as the plaintiffs do not accept help from the Organization, the Organization will carry no responsibility.

The “United Macedonians of Canada”, in connection to point nine of the proposals, requested the following be added: include a text of apology, the text to be immediately signed and to carry $ 1,100 of court costs associated with the dispute. This proposal was not accepted by the “United Macedonians of North America” and, because of this, point nine of the proposals was not accepted. This concluded the discussion in connection to the proposals made by the “United Macedonians of North America” and the floor was passed on to the president of the “United Macedonians of Canada” to read the proposals from his organization. Anton Pavlov read the following:

1. Return the money taken.

2. Determine date for democratic general election.

3. The two branches, “United Macedonians of North America” and “United Macedonians of Canada” are to resign with the formation of a working committee, the two charters are to be destroyed and a newly elected administration to decide on a new charter. After the president of the “United Macedonians of Canada” read his proposals the chairperson opened the floor for discussions, to take place with aims at coming to a resolution: After an exhaustive discussion involving almost everyone present, the following was concluded:

1. The “United Macedonians of North America” accepted the first point of the proposals made by the “United Macedonians of Canada”.

2. The “United Macedonians of North America” accepted the second point of the proposals without discussion.

3. The “United Macedonians of North America” did not accept the third point of the proposals, recommending resignation of the two administrations i.e. the “United Macedonians of North America” and the “United Macedonians of Canada”.

With this last point, all discussions of the proposals made by both sides were exhausted. With regards to the third point of the proposals made by the “United Macedonians of North America”, the chairperson proposed that the point be re-examined and a means or common ground for discussion be found so that the crisis could be overcome. The following was suggested: form a coalition committee to consist of an equal number of representatives from each side. Give the committee three months to review the contentious questions and, when it reaches consensus, convene a meeting and have elections. The committee is to consist of five representatives from each of the organizations “United Macedonians of North America” and “United Macedonians of Canada” and two representatives from “United Macedonians Hamilton Branch”. The administrations of the Organizations “United Macedonians of North America”, “United Macedonians of Canada” and “United Macedonians Hamilton Branch” were obligated to exchange information through their representatives about coalition committee achievements. Should any of these organizations avoid their responsibilities until August

14, 1973, they will carry the moral responsibility of having terminated the process of pacification for both organizations which started on August 6, 1973. With this the chairperson ended the meeting with a prayer. The minutes were recorded in triplicate, one copy for each of the three Organizations “United Macedonians” of North America, Canada and Hamilton Branch.

August 6, 1973.

Signed by the minute takers:

Michael Teoharov and Gligor Lapevski - priests.

*** At this point I would like to clarify a few things regarding the proposals made by the “United Macedonians of North America” and those of Teli Morihovitis and Anton Pavlov’s splinter group. The Joint Administrative Board of the “United Macedonians of North America” met in Hamilton on June 17, 1971. The meeting was also attended by the two feuding groups. The Joint Administrative Board, or the “Central Committee” as Anton Pavlov used to call it, during this meeting and without due consideration informed the splinter group that it did not recognize its March 7, 1971 elections and declared them illegal and unconstitutional. The Joint Administrative Board then ordered the “United Macedonians Toronto Branch” to revert back to its old administration, elected back in 1969/71 and to continue its work until new elections were held.

And who were the people in that administration?

Teli Morihovitis was President, Anton Pavlov was Secretary and John Givens was Treasurer. In order to avoid new disputes and to reduce further conflict, we proposed that we would not discuss problems of the past and just focus on moving forward.

The second point of our proposals was clear because the name of the Organization, its statute and charter belonged to all four branches of the “United Macedonians of North America”, Toronto, Hamilton, Detroit and Windsor Branches. All four branches attended the “United Macedonians of North America” Congress and had agreed that only the Congress would have the authority to make changes to the Organization’s statute and charter. This was done so that there would be no room for any manipulation by the branches, groups, or individuals.

During the course of examining our proposals, the splinter group had agreed to the statute of the “United Macedonians of North America” even though they were speaking about some sort of platform concocted by Anton Pavlov with which to update and make changes to the principles of the “United Macedonians of North America” in order to turn it into a non-political organization. If they accepted the statute of the “United Macedonians of North America” then the question is: What was their reason for leaving the “United Macedonians of North America”?

One of the reasons was the fact that they had lost the elections at the Convention and now they would have to be accountable to the Organization’s Joint Executive Board. This new body was now responsible for the Organization’s programs, management of events, management of resources, etc., being guided by its statute and charter adopted during the “United Macedonians of North America” First Congress. Pavlov and Morihovitis did not expect this kind of outcome and when it happened they were unwilling to accept it, especially if having to answer to a higher authority in the Organization. And thus they outright rejected the new situation by refusing to accept the Organization’s charter, which was made a requirement for the unification and which represented all four branches.

It would be interesting at this point to say something about how we arrived at two charters with the same name, which, by the way, is illegal. Here is what Canadian law says about obtaining a charter:

“The undersigned are satisfied and confident that the proposed name required to register a corporation is unique and not identical to the name of another company, corporation, business, organization, or firm in existence functioning in Canada or in any Canadian province, or is similar to a name intended to deceive and that it is not a name of an entity currently being registered.” What we can tell you is that: Teli Morihovitis, Anton Pavlov and the others who had signed the application for a charter, lied to the federal authorities when they signed the application to receive their charter. They knowingly broke the law because they knew that the “United Macedonians of North America” had already applied for a charter and that they (Morihovitis and Pavlov) had earlier objected to the provincial authorities against issuing the “United Macedonians of North America” their charter. As a result the name issue was locked with the authorities of the Province of Ontario.

So, how did the Ontario Authorities react to the objections brought on by the splinter group against the “United Macedonians of North America” Joint Executive Board application for a charter?

The Ontario Authorities wrote a letter and sent it to the “United Macedonians of North America” organization’s lawyer. In part the letter said: “This issue has been carefully examined and I have been directed to inform you with regards to your client’s rights, or the group represented by Mr. Weir with the proposed name “United Macedonians of North America”. We cannot follow through with the incorporation using the name as requested by your clients. By the same reason, the name cannot be issued to Mr. Weir’s clients should they choose to file an application for incorporation by that name.

Hopefully both groups will come to some sort of agreement regarding the name. A copy of this letter was also sent to Mr. Weir for his information.” signed Charles RB Salter, QC Deputy Director.

As I recall, during the 70s, the liberal party was in government on the federal side and the conservative party was in government in the province of Ontario and, as usual, there was lack of cooperation between the two levels of government. So from the moment that the splinter group was informed that it could not use the name “United Macedonians of North America”, our “friends” decided to change the name of their splinter group to “United Macedonians of Canada” Toronto Branch. Then by using this name they applied to the federal authorities for their charter, knowing full well that they were lying when they claimed that no other organization by that name existed.

The question is, why a "branch"? Why register a branch of United Macedonians of Canada when no other such organization existed? Calling themselves a “branch” implied that their group was a splinter from the four “United Macedonians of North America” branches. Calling themselves the “Toronto Branch” created confusion and misinformation in the communities in Canada.

Corporate law clearly states that it is not possible for a name to be the same anywhere in Canada, and, as was mentioned earlier, during the time that the splinter group applied to the federal government, the name had already been catalogued with the Ontario provincial government. However, for some reason, Teli Morihovitis and Anton Pavlov figured that they could fast track their way to their charter through the federal authorities in Ottawa, but what they did not count on was the fact that federal laws and provincial laws in this matter were equal. By completely ignoring the fact that the name was locked at a provincial level, they knowingly tried to abuse the system. Aside from that, the federal authorities should have known better than to issue a charter to a group that had been turned down by the Province of Ontario only six months before… but they didn’t and a charter was issued. We can only justify it by calling it lack of cooperation between the two levels of government.

After the March 7th, 1971 split, we were under great pressure from official factors in the Republic of Macedonia to find a way to come to a peaceful resolution and have a joint Ilinden picnic. Unfortunately the gentlemen from the splinter group were more interested in secretly looking to obtain a charter than they were in finding a peaceful resolution to our problem, or in having a joint picnic. The splinter group received its charter on July 11th, 1974 and immediately began to boast that Canada had only recognized them. But, just because they had been issued a charter did not mean that Canada had “in any way” recognized them and only them. There was no political connection between being “issued” a charter for a corporation and being “recognized” by the state authorities. Receiving a charter did not have any political connotations. Having a charter meant that they had secured some privileges and at the same time, some liabilities.

The first thing about getting a charter was that the name had been reserved, which means that it would be impossible for someone else to use it. In other words, the name was now yours. The second thing was that now you could do business in Canada. Third, you were now absolved of any personal responsibility if the “Organization” had financial problems and allowed you to take loans in the name of your organization, etc.

When we first found out that Ottawa had issued a charter to the splinter group, I personally took a trip down to Queen’s Park (provincial government) to see Deputy Minister Salter. When I told him that the splinter group had succeeded in receiving their charter he immediately knew there was something amiss here. He thought that those in the splinter group were being very “clever”.

While we were still there, the Deputy Minister invited the Minister and explained the situation. Then, after a short consultation, the Minister turned to me and said: “Mr.

Givens, you will receive your charter by special delivery to your residence, tomorrow morning at 10:00 am.” The next day, ten minutes before ten o’clock, I had our charter in my hand. We don’t know exactly what kind of objections the splinter group had against us with the Ontario authorities and how they managed to subvert the law and obtain their charter from Ottawa. We attributed all that to miscommunication between the provincial and federal authorities.

However one thing that we were sure of and had, was the letter sent to the splinter group’s lawyer, Mr. Weir, which contained the name of the splinter group and applicant to Ottawa.

The letter was sent out on July 26, 1973 to the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Corporation’s Branch, 219 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario.

This letter was in response to a letter sent to the lawyer by Ottawa. In part the letter said:

“Attention Ms. Moyra Nicholson: Re: ‘United Macedonians of Canada’. In response to your letter dated July 19th, 1973 we want to inform you that the ‘United Macedonians of Canada Inc.’ have received their charter on July 11th, 1972. We searched the Ontario Corporation Branch database and found that the organization ‘United Macedonians of North America’ was incorporated on December 10th, 1972, 6 months later. But according to a presentation made to the government of Ontario, Charles R.B. Salter QC, Corporation Branch Deputy Director the clients of Mr. MacRobie would not be issued the name “United Macedonians of North America”. Further on in the same document Deputy Director Salter wrote: “For the same reason, the name would not be available to Mr.

Weir’s clients should they seek incorporation under such name”. Our standpoint is that MacRobie’s (lawyer of ‘United Macedonians of North Ameirica’) clients are those who since March, 1972 have split from the original and real organization to which they belonged.” If we are not mistaken, what they are actually saying above is that the Joint Executive Board, together with the four branches of “United Macedonians of North America”, have splintered from Teli Morihovitis and Anton Pavlov’s splinter group which professes to be the “original” United Macedonians Organization??? This would be hard for anyone to accept! Let me also say that this is a great pack of lies, no doubt concocted by those two to convince the provincial authorities not to grant us our charter. Can there be a bigger lie than this when the whole world knew the opposite was true?

The truth is that the United Macedonians were the leading organization that held the First “United Macedonians of North America” Congress in 1970. That same Organization received the name “United Macedonians of North America” Toronto Branch at the Congress. Morihovitis, as president of the “United Macedonians” in Toronto, represented this organization on the stage at the President’s table during the Congress while Anton Pavlov, then Secretary of the Administration in Toronto, ran for president of the “United Macedonians of North America”. We must also say that Anton Pavlov, as a great actor, had the greatest role of his life at the Congress which was: to recite the Organization’s statute preamble.

As for John Givens, he was President of the “United Macedonians” Canadian Committee back in 1965. Before that he was Treasurer in 1964 and 1969/1970 in the same organization. In 1969/1970 he became a candidate and ran for President of the “United Macedonians of North America”. During the Congress in 1970, John ran for President and defeated Anton Pavlov (read Congress minutes). Anton Pavlov, after his defeat for president, was elected Secretary of the “United Macedonians of North America”.

The lawyer of the splinter group, in a reply to Ottawa, wrote: “President John Givens was not present at the meeting in London, but regardless the committee brought a resolution to urge Mr. Givens to defer the splinter group’s pre-selected election meeting of the executive of the group they chose to call ‘United Macedonians of North America’ whose name was adopted at the Convention.” As President of the Joint Executive Board (“Central Committee”) I had the authority to call a “Conference”, or Congress, to include all “United Macedonians of North America” branches but none of the membership from the splinter group were members of the organizations in which I was a member. The fact that they called themselves “United Macedonians of Canada” meant that they belonged to a different organization altogether and that they had ceased to be members of the “United Macedonians of North America”.

But according to the lawyer of the splinter group, the decision the “United Macedonians of North America” Joint Executive Board made then worked against us.

This may sound funny to some, right? But please rest assured that it is a big fat lie. In the name of the splinter group, their lawyer wrote: “The group represented by Mr. MacRobie has no more than five families and the membership of my clients numbered in the tens of thousands and when the membership drive is complete, the number will exceed 50,000 in the whole of Canada.

My response to these allegations is a bit more realistic. If you told the truth your membership would look more like this: 50,000 / 1000 = 50.

Записник Oд oдржаната седница на oрганизcацијата Oбединети Македoнци oд Северна Америка и oрганизацијата на Oбединети Македoнци oд Канада пo иницијатива на делегатите oд Сoцијалистичка Република Македoнија, oдржана на 6 Август 1973 гoдина вo присуствo на: Џан Гивенс, председател на заедничкиoт Извршен Управен Oдбoр на oрганизацијата "Oбединети Македoнци oд Северна Америка". Петре Василевски, председател на Oбединети Македoнци oд Северна Америка. Тoрoнтo гранка. Антoн Павлoв, председател на Oбединети Македoнци oд Канада. Бил Јанев, председател на oрганизацијата Oбединети Македoнци oд Северна Америка, Хамилтoн гранка, Павле Стергиу, секретар на oрганизацијата Oбединети Македoнци oд Канада, Вангел Стoикoвски, секретар на oрганизацијата Oбединети Македoнци за Северна Америка, Тoрoнтo гранка, Кoста Дурлoв, секретар на oрганизацијата Oбединети Македoнци за Северна Америка, Хамилтoн гранка, Тели Мoрихoвитис, председател на управата на Македoнската Правoславна Црква Свети Климент Oхридски oд Тoрoнтo, Владе Ристевски, Владo Стериoвски, Петер Илиас, Перo Гиневски, Бил Клечoв, Кире Јаневски, Владе Савевски, Паул Кoнстантинoу, Дени Јучoс, Кoста Трајчев, Павле Базел, Алек Јанев, Кoста Рoманoвски, Павле Cтoјoc, Џан Паппас, Васил Стoјкoвски, Мајк Таллин, Спирo Василев, Геoрги Лoукрас, Бoрге Крстевски, Трпе Сариевски, Џими Билкас, Михаил Теoхарев парoхиски свештеник при македoнската Правoславна Црква Свети Климент Oхридски вo Тoрoнтo, Свештеникoт Глигoр Лапевски парoхиски свештеник при Македoнската правoславна Црква Свети Наум вo Хамилтoн и делегатите oд Сoцијалистичка Република Македoнија вo лицата на Вангел Нечевски Тунелoт, председател на Матицата на Иселениците oд Македoнија - Битoла и Трајан Бавтирoвски секретар на Матицата на Иселениците oд Македoнија - Скoпје, кoј штo ја вoди седницата.