Sam Lawrence Park sits along the escarpment in Hamilton with clear views of downtown and Burlington Bay.On the evening of 18 February 2018 the sky was clear and the air was brisk. The Ukrainian community was commemorating the Heavenly Hundred by lighting candles that were formed into a “100” symbol and placed alongside the Ukrainian national flag.
The Heavenly Hundred is comprised of more than one hundred people who were killed by the Ukrainian Berkut Special Forces during the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. At first, the Revolution was a push for European integration of Ukraine and by the end was a manifest of the Ukrainian people’s deep distrust and dislike of Yanukovych, who governed in a corrupt and brutal way. Yanukovych fled the country shortly after the deaths of hundreds on the capital’s Independence Square, the maidan, and is now in hiding in Russia.
Antonina Kumka, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Hamilton Branch, began the commemorative service by recalling how the Ukrainian community in Hamilton supported all those thousands of Ukrainians who were camped out on Independence Square.As she noted, four years ago more than one hundred protesters lost their lives in conditions that resembled a war front rather than the center of a major European city.
Father Yuri Tykhyj, the new priest of Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hamilton, then led a short memorial service to remember those who died for the dignity they so strongly wanted.
To close the ceremony, Kumka thanked all those who attended – despite it being a long weekend and a cold evening. She also reminded everyone that Ukrainians are stronger together, and should not look to others for answers to their problems but rather unite as one.
