lucorg.com | 09Apr2009 | Ukrainian Echo
http://www.lucorg.com/luc/news.php?newlang=eng
The Holodomor Memorial Day Act
passes third reading
All Parties Unanimously
Support Legislation that Commemorates Victims of the Man-Made Famine of
Ukraine
Queen’s Park
– Making history today [09Apr2009], MPPs from all sides of the
Legislature unanimously support the first tri-sponsored Private
Member’s Bill of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Bill 147, the
Holodomor Memorial Day Act passes third reading at Queen’s Park today.
The co-sponsors, led by Dave Levac, Liberal MPP for Brant, along with
Cheri DiNovo, NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, and Frank Klees, PC MPP
for Newmarket-Aurora joined forces on February 18, 2009 to introduce
Bill 147 which commemorates victims of the man-made famine of Ukraine.
The legislation provides for the declaration of Holodomor Memorial Day
on the fourth Saturday in November in each year in the Province of
Ontario.
The Holodomor is the name given to the man-made famine that occurred in
Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, in which as many as 10 million Ukrainians
perished as victims under Joseph Stalin’s regime to consolidate control
over Ukraine, with 25,000 dying each day at the peak of the famine in
1933.
Ukraine has established the fourth Saturday in November in each year as
the annual day to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor. When
passed, this Bill will extend the annual commemoration of the victims
of the Holodomor to Ontario.
QUOTES
“Today is an important day for Ukrainian-Canadians and especially, for
family and friends who fell victim of the Holodomor,” said MPP Dave
Levac Brant. “The remembrance of these horrors from the past requires
our attention.”
“Finally Ukrainian Canadians will have the respect for all the victims
of Stalin's genocide they've been praying for in this Province,” said
Cheri DiNovo, MPP Parkdale-High Park.
“It is an honour for me as a Member of the Ontario PC Caucus to
co-sponsor this Bill which is enacted into law today,” said Frank
Klees, MPP Newmarket-Aurora. “Those who have advocated for many years
to have the truth concerning the Holodomor publicly recognized can take
heart knowing that their persistence has been rewarded.”
Raphael Lemkin, the Jewish-Polish scholar who was the father of the
1948 UN Convention on Genocide and coined the term “genocide”, applied
it to the destruction of the Ukrainian nation as follows: “This was not
simply a case of mass murder. It was a case of genocide, of
destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.”
“The passage of Bill 147 is a tribute to all those Ontarians, many of
whom are no longer with us today, who struggled for decades to lay the
foundation for the recognition of the Holodomor as genocide,” said
Orest Steciw, Holodomor Projects Coordinator at the League of Ukrainian
Canadians.
“Today, the Government of Ontario paid tribute to the millions of
innocent victims of the Holodomor, condemned the heinous crimes of the
Soviet Communist regime, and restored historical justice. We applaud
your perseverance and resolve to ensure the passage of Bill 147 that
proclaims the fourth Saturday of every November as a day of
remembrance-Holodomor Memorial Day and that recognizes the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as an act of genocide,” said Chrystyna Bidiak, National
President of the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women. “Learning the
truth about all crimes against humanity is the only way we can ensure
that criminals will no longer be emboldened by indifference and that
such dark pages in history will never be allowed to happen again.”
“This is the first tri-sponsored bill to pass in the history of
Ontario,” said Dave Levac, MPP Brant. “Through the creation of a
Holodomor Memorial Day, we mend a wrong in world history and in
defiance to tyranny and oppression, continue to preserve the culture,
heritage and way of life of the Ukrainian people.”
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CONTACTS:
Dave Levac, Liberal MPP Brant
(416) 325-6261
[email protected]
Cheri DiNovo, NDP MPP Parkdale-High Park
(416) 325-0244
[email protected]
Frank Klees, PC MPP Newmarket-Aurora
Please contact:
Monika Bujalska
(416) 268-9100