Solemn ceremony remembers millions of dead
November 25, 2009
Ottawa - Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East and Vice-Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, says the November 24 Holodomor Commemoration ceremony on Parliament Hill is a solemn reminder of the need for the world to remain vigilant against those who might create genocide.“In 1932-33 more than seven million Ukrainians starved to death in the midst of plenty,” Mr. Goldring says. “The Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, was determined to wipe out an entire people, and the nations of the world, in an act of genocide, were silent contributors. I hope that if we have learned anything in the past 75 years it is that we have an obligation to prevent such horrific crimes from happening again.”
The ceremony included remarks from the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism as well as His Excellency Ihor Ostash, Ambassador of Ukraine.
“I was especially moved by the presentation of Mrs. Halyna Zelem, who is a survivor of the Holodomor. Her first-hand account of one of the horrors of history is a stark reminder for us all.”
Peter Goldring was the first Member of Parliament to refer in the House of Commons to the Holodomor (Ukrainian for “murder by starvation) as genocide. He also spoke out forcibly internationally in Kazakhstan against Russia’s objections, which resulted in Ukraine’s Holodomor resolution passing with majority support of the OSCE’s 56 member states in July 2008. He is the former Chair, now Vice-Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Committee.