We were dismayed to learn this morning that Duncan Kinney, former editor of The Progress Report and founder of our parent organization, Progress Alberta, has pled guilty to vandalizing a monument to Roman Shukhevych at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton in 2021.

Roman Shukhevych was a Nazi collaborator; he was a commanding officer in the Nachtigall Battalion; he served in the 201st battalion of the SS; he is implicated in the genocide of Polish people during the Second World War. We are not troubled by the statue’s defacing.

For Mr. Kinney to perform this act and falsely report on it as having been committed by somebody else, however, is a cardinal breach of journalistic ethics and not acceptable behavior within any media organization.

Mr. Kinney always maintained his innocence in this matter and we trusted him; today’s news was an unpleasant surprise for us.

Mr. Kinney retired from journalism in the spring of 2025 to pursue a different vocation and has not been an employee or director of Progress Alberta since then. He will not return.

For the sake of transparency, all of Mr. Kinney’s work will remain within our archives.

Out of respect for the contributions of the many journalists, volunteers and donors who have helped us build Progress Alberta, we will do our best to continue the work of the Progress Report project: to build a sustainable journalism cooperative which reports on matters of concern to the left in Alberta.

On behalf of the Progress Alberta board of directors,
Jim Storrie