Honorable Members of the Legislative Assembly, Dear Guests and Participants of this Gathering!
In the mid-19th Century Ukrainian wheat accidentally found its way to Canada. Ukrainian settlers made their way here even sooner. In both cases,Canadabenefitted greatly: Ukrainian wheat yielded generous harvests, while Ukrainians helped buildCanada– especially the prairies ofAlberta,SaskatchewanandManitoba. This particular sort of wheat took on the name “Red Fife,” and in time would turnCanadainto a world exporter of grain. For their part, Ukrainians, who came to be called pioneers, turned the wild prairies into the richest provinces ofCanada.
A few decades laterUkraine, the place of origin of this very wheat, suffered one of the worst acts of genocide in the history of mankind: Ukrainian farmers were starving on the most fertile soil in all ofEurope.
This was a country that had fought for its independence and, as a result, became the victim of a forced famine – the Holodomor.
This is a country whose people – to this very day – are struggling for a steadfast independence, for democracy and a just society, for the restoration of an acknowledged national history, in spite of the stagnating remnants of its colonial past.
It is critical to us that we are not alone in this struggle. The Ukrainian people, Ukrainian historians, are grateful to the people and Government of Canada, and to the Province of Alberta for proclaiming the Ukrainian Holodomor as an act of genocide, for spreading the truth, for its support.
In 1933, in just one town ofNedryhailiv, oblast ofSumy, where I spent my youth, 65% of the population perished from starvation. They were all of Ukrainian ethnic origin, and all had farmed the land. The authorities of theUSSRforbade even speaking of this, however. Consequently, for many Ukrainians today the unsealing of countless documents has meant a return to a collective memory, and a pathway to a common perspective. This subject is especially dear to me personally, for the truth shall set us free.
This autumn inUkraine, millions of people will light memorial candles, honouring victims of the communist regime. They will place new markers and crosses on multiple sites of mass graves. These crosses, resembling plus signs in arithmetic, seem to represent the bringing together of the past and the future, because neitherUkrainenor the World can move forward without analyzing the past. An unnoticed tragedy, like an unpunished act of evil, could well repeat itself.
“For as long as Ukraine maintains its national unity, for as long as its people continue to think of themselves as Ukrainians and demand independence, it will continue to pose a serious threat to the very essence of sovietism.” These words were spoken by Rafael Lemkin, who was attempting to explain his own concept of genocide by drawing on the 1932-33 Holodomor inUkraine. Today his words ring exceptionally true, because totalitarianism has not vanished in today’s world, it has merely changed its shape, andUkraineonce again finds itself face-to-face with the threat of Russian imperialism.
I expect that the Canadian Government’s bold policies regardingUkraine, especially in protecting the rights of Ukrainian historians to help their people resurrect their common, shared history, shall remain unchanged. Your support forUkrainegrants us strength and is destined to bring bountiful harvests on the fields of democracy and freedom.
