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RALPH GOODALE’S REPORT | 23Nov2012 | Ralph Goodale
A commentary by the Member of Parliament for Wascana
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79th ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINIAN FAMINE & GENOCIDE
Saturday, November 24th, 2012, is International Holodomor Memorial Day,
a day upon which the civilized world pauses to remember one of the most
horrific atrocities of the 20th century.
In the winter of 1932-33, the ruthless regime of Joseph Stalin used the
power of the Soviet state to contrive a totally artificial but deadly
famine, specifically targeted at the people of Ukraine. It
constituted an act of genocide, entrapping and deliberately starving up
to 10 million people – about a third of them, children.
Amid bountiful harvests in what was known as the breadbasket of Europe,
food supplies were confiscated. The desperate population was
blocked from seeking sustenance elsewhere. At the height of
the devastation, 25,000 people were dying every day. As much
as 25 percent of Ukraine’s population was eliminated, to suit Stalin’s
brutal political objectives.
It took a long time for the world to come to grips with this sorry
reality. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, an
independent Parliament in Ukraine enacted legislation recognizing the
Holodomor as an act of genocide. They also urged the whole
global community to acknowledge, honestly and accurately, what had
transpired in 1932-33.
To date, over 20 countries (including Canada) have recognized the
Holodomor for the genocide that it was. The fourth Saturday
in November has been identified as an annual day of remembrance.
Such an anniversary matters to Canadians. With Ukrainian
settlement in Canada stretching back over 120 years, more than
1.25-million citizens of this country trace their family heritage to
Ukraine. Canadians and Ukrainians share a deep love of
freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
That’s why we mourn those who perished in the Holodomor, and pay solemn
tribute to the fortunate ones who survived.
That’s also why Canadians take a passionate interest in Ukraine’s
difficult journey toward genuine democratization, after so many decades
of foreign domination and totalitarianism. As the most recent
elections have demonstrated, it’s not easy.
As we mark the Holodomor this year, let us be firmly resolved to
support the Ukrainian people in their on-going struggle for honest
elections, for legal rights and freedoms that mirror our Canadian
Charter, and for a political system that respects the unquenchable
Ukrainian thirst for freedom.
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