PRIME MINISTER’S SPEECH TO ELECTION UKRAINE MISSION CANADA
(APPLAUSE)
RT. HON. STEPHEN HARPER (Prime Minister of Canada): Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup. Bonjour à tous. Greetings, everyone, and thank you, Senator, for that very kind introduction. I think it’s common knowledge now, Raynell, that you will be leading our delegation to Ukraine. You will be putting to use all the skills you have developed as one of the few people ever in Canada to have served in all three branches of government: in the judiciary as a judge, in the executive as an ambassador, and now in the legislature as a senator. So let me take this opportunity to thank you personally for your willingness to undertake this assignment. I couldn’t be happier to see it in hands as capable or as committed as yours. Thank you. (APPLAUSE)
Greetings also to my Parliamentary colleagues, to Minister Baird, to Minister Fantino, to Parliamentary Secretary Lois Brown, and to all Parliamentary colleagues from all parties who have joined us today. Thank you for being here and for lending your support to this vital enterprise. Ladies and gentlemen, before I go any further, I want to congratulate all of you.
Parce que pendant la prochaine élection parlementaire en Ukraine, vous serez les représentants du Canada dans une mission qui est pour nous de la plus haute importance. C'est-à-dire, à notre effort résolu à aider le peuple ukrainien à tenir des élections libres et équitables.
I congratulate you all because during the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine, you will be Canada’s representatives in an undertaking to which our government attaches the highest importance: that is, our determined effort to help the Ukrainian people hold elections that are both free and fair.
Plus de 500 Canadiens et Canadiennes observeront le déroulement de cette élection.
More than 500 Canadians will observe this election, and I’m proud to note that this is one of the largest deployments of election observers that Canada has ever fielded. (APPLAUSE) Now, friends, that said, your jobs will not be easy, so you might well ask why does it matter so much that we observe elections, and why does it matter so much that we observe this one in Ukraine?
Voici la réponse à la première question : sous notre gouvernement, la politique étrangère du Canada est axée sur la promotion de la liberté, la démocratie, les droits de la personne et la primauté du droit.
The answer to the first question is that under this government, Canada’s foreign policy is focused on the promotion of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
La réponse à la deuxième question repose sur la caractère unique de notre relation avec l’Ukraine et sur sa quête de liberté, de démocratie et de justice.
The answer to the second question speaks to the uniqueness of our relationship with Ukraine and its quest for freedom, democracy and justice. The bonds of friendship between Canada and Ukraine are deep and wide.
Depuis 2004 le Canada a envoyé des observateurs à quatre élections ukrainiennes consécutives. Cette élection sera la cinquième.
Since 2004, Canada has sent observers to four successive Ukrainian elections. This will be the fifth. And again, the mission will be led largely by Ukrainian Canadians. Thanks to waves of immigration going back more than 120 years, Ukraine’s sons and daughters now number more than a million and a quarter, nearly four percent of all Canadians. And I know many of you are in the room today. Your contribution to the life of Canada, cultural, political and economic, has been immensely valuable. We also understand that for you the situation in Ukraine remains deeply personal.
Pour l’instant, laissez-moi simplement vous dire que l’histoire du Canada et de l’Ukraine sont liées. Elles sont connectées par les liens du sang, et pour certains, par des expériences personnelles qui les ont marquées.
The histories of Canada and Ukraine are intertwined, connected by ties of blood, and for some, by deep, personal and family experiences. I shared some of that history when I visited Ukraine two years ago. In addition to official visit, I also visited memorials from... from Ukraine’s past, from Ukraine’s tortured past. For example, in Kyiv I visited the statue of Ukraine’s national poet, Taras Shevchenko, persecuted by the czar for defending freedom. I laid a wreath at the monument of the Holodomor, literally the massacre by famine in which millions died.
Et en passant, je suis fier de vous dire que c’est notre collègue, James Bezan, qui a persuadé le parlement de décrire l’holodomor comme il était vraiment : le génocide délibéré de Staline contre le peuple ukrainien.
And I’m proud to say that it was a member of our caucus, one of our colleagues, James Bezan, who persuaded Parliament to call the Holodomor what it was: Stalin’s deliberate genocide against the Ukrainian people. We stood... (APPLAUSE) We also stood together at Babyn Yar, where another murderous regime, the Nazis, killed thousands. In Lviv I visited the Lonsky Street Prison Museum, and I want to tell you a little bit about that, because it made a deep impression on me. It’s a complex of nondescript buildings in the middle of the city. Nearby attractive houses and small businesses crowd against each other as they would in any Canadian down. Yet for decades, this was the place where Ukrainian freedom went to die. Here communist secret police interrogated, tortured and subjected thousands of Ukrainian men, women and even children to the most horrifying cruelties. This is the terrible memory that the Lonsky Street Prison Museum preserves.
Je trouve donc profondément ironique et sérieusement troublant que ce soit maintenant le directeur du musée consacré aux crimes de la police secrète soviétique qui se fasse aujourd’hui harcelé par la police secrète ukrainienne.
I therefore find it deeply ironic and severely disturbing that the museum’s director is now himself harassed by the present day Ukrainian secret police. The charge is revealing state secrets, the secrets, apparently, of what went on at Lonsky Street in Stalin’s day. This brave young man’s name is Ruslan Zabily. Ruslan is with us today. I met him during my visit to the museum. I’m glad he could join us, and we should all welcome and acknowledge him here today. Where is he? Ruslan? (APPLAUSE) Earlier this year, Ruslan told his story to a Canadian Parliamentary delegation visiting Ukraine. He spoke of how he was pulled off the street and held incommunicado for 14 hours. Interrogated, asked about the liberation movement, his contacts abroad, how two years after they were removed, the museum’s computer’s files and information had not been returned. Friends, in such rights abuses as these, we see the darker side of Ukraine’s history, a darker side that threatens its future.
Il y a un an j’ai écrit au Président Yanukovich pour lui dire que je suis très inquiet du procès qui attend l’ancienne Première ministre, Yulia Tymoshenko.
A year ago I wrote to President Yanukovich to tell him that I am deeply concerned about the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Her prosection has had every appearance of political motivation. Legal experts agree that it did not reflect accepted norms of due process or fairness. To this day, Tymoshenko remains in prison. So, unfortunately, do many others who have fallen afoul of the Ukrainian government. As our own Parliamentary committee, an all-party Parliamentary committee recently concluded, and I quote...
«Le développement démocratique et le respect de la primauté du droit en Ukraine suscite de sérieuses inquiétudes.»
“There is cause, serious cause... there is serious cause for concern about Ukraine’s democratic development and respect for the rule of law,” unquote. Now, friends, freedom retreats quietly when small defeats are left unchallenged. That is to say, the road to Lonsky Street may be long, it may end well past the horizon, but its points of departure are rigged votes, lost ballot boxes, voter intimidation, and the abandonment of the rule of law. And all of this, I must add, in a situation where the democratic watchdogs that are so familiar to us, principally of free press, face government intimidation.
Chers amis, sous un autre gouvernement conservateur, le Canda a été le premier pays au monde à reconnaître l’indépendance de l’Ukraine, la journée après sa déclaration, avant même que l’Union soviétique ne soit officiellement dissolue.
Friends, under another Conservative government, Canada was the first country in the world to recognize the independence of Ukraine, the day after... (APPLAUSE) the day after its declaration, even before the official end of the unlamented Soviet Union. And since that day, through all manner of difficulty, Ukraine has come so far.
Comme vous, nous sommes déterminés à poursuivre ce chemin.
We, like you, are determined that the journey forward will continue, that there will be no turning back. The journey that began with Ukrainian independence must follow the path that Ukrainians in Canada have so proudly tread, to the political life of a great country based on freedom, democracy and justice for all. Such societies in this world remain too fragile a minority.
Avec son histoire et sa géographie, l’Ukraine est tout simplement trop important, trop important pour l’Europe, en réalité trop important pour le monde entier pour qu’on la laisse retomber dans le genre d’histoire dont elle est ré-émergée si récemment.
By its history and its geography, Ukraine is simply too important, it is too important to Europe, in fact, it is too important to the world to be allowed to slip back into the kind of history from which it so recently emerged. That, my friends, is what is at stake, and you all and we all know it. And by volunteering to observe this election, you are taking a stand in support of Ukraine and in support of democracy, and the government of Canada stands with you.
Nous demandons au Président Yanukovich de renforcer l’indépendance du pouvoir judiciaire de cesser de harceler les porte-paroles de l’opposition et de tenir une élection qui soit vraiment libre et équitable.
We continue to call on President Yanukovich to respect judicial independence, to cease the harassment of opposition voices, and to conduct an election that is indeed free and fair.
Alors, permettez-moi de vous envoyer ce mot d’encouragement.
So let me send you on your way with this encouragement: Canada has long been a beacon of hope for those who treasure freedom and value human dignity, not just in Europe, in Ukraine, but all around the world. Our shores will always welcome those in search of a better life. But our values oblige us to do more, and that’s where you come in, to take that piece of your life in Canada, and to share it with those in other lands. Never forget that the vigilant watcher can hold rulers to account, that the one who seeks and speaks up is truly the guardian of liberty. This election is pivotal for Ukraine. You leave tonight.
Nous sommes très fiers de vous.
We’re very proud of you. Do good work, and Godspeed. Slava Ukraini. (APPLAUSE)
