UKRAINIAN CANADIAN COMMUNITY WELCOMES $1.45M FEDERAL FUNDING FOR HOLODOMOR AWARENESS PROJECT
On February 22 the Ukrainian Canadian community welcomed the announcement by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, of a three-year grant valued at $1.45 million to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom "the HMC". The funding announcement was made in Toronto by Arif Virani (MP, Parkdale - High Park), Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly.
The HMC is a state-of-the-art interactive audio-visual learning centre geared to high schools, universities and the public. The Tour and the HMC educates Canadian students, community leaders and the public about the events of the horrific Holodomor Famine-Genocide in Ukraine 1932-33, and its relevance to the world today. Since its launch in 2015, the HMC has toured Canada from coast to coast. Over 25,000 people including more than 18,000 students and educators have visited the HMC, learning about the values of multiculturalism, diversity, human rights and respect for human dignity.
The "Holodomor National Awareness Tour" is a joint project between four organizations: the Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF, the lead on the project), the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC) and the Holodomor Research and Educational Consortium (HREC).
"This project was originally conceived to build bridges among communities to promote intercultural understanding, tolerance, awareness and a deeper respect for the democratic values that we Canadians hold so dear," said Bob Onyschuk, Q.C., Past Chair of CUF, and Project Lead. "We have done just that, and are delighted that the Government of Canada has honoured the success of this project by agreeing to renew it for a further 3 years. We are also very proud that the HMC was recognized in 2017 by the international A' Design Awards Competition (Como, Italy) with a coveted Gold A' Design Award in the Education and Training Content category for Best "Immersive Learning Experience" - and we plan to put the HMC to this hi-tech creative use for the next 3 years."
"We are grateful to the Government of Canada for its strong support for Holodomor education, which will teach Canadians of our shared responsibility to stand up to tyranny, oppression and crimes against humanity around the world," said Paul Grod, National President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. "This year, we commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor. We honour the millions of victims of the Holodomor and pay tribute to the survivors, whose courage in sharing their story ensured that the terrible Genocide did not remain hidden from the world."
