“Very ugly silence” broken as Ontario MPPs come together to recognize Ukraine genocide

The legislative assembly of Canada’s province Ontario has passed a law by a unanimous vote for the first time in its history. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych, the law established the fourth Saturday in November each year as Holodomor Memorial Day in Ontario to commemorate the genocide by famine that occurred in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933.

The bill was proposed by representatives of all the political parties in Ontario’s parliament: Dave Levac (Liberal Party), Cheri DiNovo (New Democratic Party), and Frank Klees (Progressive Conservative Party). “The memorial day,” Levac said, “will provide an opportunity to reflect on and to educate the public about crimes against humanity that occurred in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 under the Stalin regime, when as many as 10 million people perished in a man-made famine and genocide. We must speak about these ugly things so they do not repeat in the future.”

He was supported by Cheri DiNovo who noted: “Those who fought long and hard to have Holodomor commemorated deserve the Legislature’s thanks. You are an example to the world, to those who deny oppression and who deny totalitarianism still… A very ugly silence has been broken.” According to MPP Frank Kless, “a tragedy in which, at its worst, 25,000 people died every single day in a region considered the Soviet Union’s breadbasket, traumatized a nation, leaving its people with deep social, psychological, political scars.” Attending the legislative hearings were A. Danyleiko, Consul-General of Ukraine in Toronto, Archbishop Yurii of Toronto and Eastern Canada, and representatives of Ukrainian civic organizations in Canada.

It will be recalled that on April 6 the genocide of Ukrainians was condemned by the municipality of Santa Susana, Catalonia. The historical fact of the 1932–33 Holodomor has been officially recognized by more than 70 countries. The presidents and heads of government and parliaments of 26 counties called the Holodomor an act of genocide. Of great political importance was a joint statement on the 70th anniversary of the 1932–33 great famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine adopted, as an official document, by the 58th session of the UN General Assembly. The statement, essentially a declaration, was cosponsored by 36 UN member states. The 1932–1933 events were thus recognized as national tragedy and have been called Holodomor since then at the international level.