Category Archives: canada

canada, internment, news

Luxury project to be built on the site of a First World War-era internment camp [Article]

Leave a comment

From the Globe and Mail:

To be built on the site of a First World War-era internment camp, the Hotel in the Garden project will raise a few eyebrows – not just for its guests, but also for a public unfamiliar with Canada’s early attempts at mass civilian internments.

Below the dreary parking lot where the Hotel in the Garden will eventually stand are limestone foundations from a 19th-century military fort. Those walls once penned in civilians from Eastern Europe deemed enemy aliens. The internees were waiting to be shipped to remote work camps.

…

“This was a black spot on Canadian history,” explains Lubomyr Luciuk, a professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston and chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

After some prodding from the Ukrainian community, the city is making sure the developer showcases the history of the site as a prominent part of the luxury hotel.

“It took me 25 years to convince the government what happened,” says Mr. Luciuk, “but now we are going to hallow the memory of innocents who were held and dispersed through this site.”

…

Close to 9,000 civilians were forcibly held at 24 camps across Canada, and New Fort was Toronto’s collecting ground for detainees who were shipped to wilderness camps with electrified fences, where they would build roads and railways for no pay.

Descendents of internees have had a difficult time getting their story told – author Peter Melnycky contends that in the 1950s and 1960s, Archives Canada intentionally destroyed records of the internments. But in 2008, the federal government established a $10-million First World War Internment Recognition Fund to educate the country about this dark period.

…

“There is nothing negative about history,” says the owner of HK, a company with four boutique hotels in New York. “Bad things happen, but they are part of life. What is important is that you recognize it. The plan now is to erect a plaque, but we are more than happy to do more. The more communities involved, the better. We’d like to make Toronto’s diversity very much a part of this project. Finally we are going to create life at this site.”

Read the rest of the article

[Globe & Mail]

canada, holodomor, news

Man who coined the term: Destruction of the Ukrainian nation as the classic example of Soviet genocide

Leave a comment

From the Montreal Gazette:

Dr. Raphael Lemkin’s name and words are better known. He fathered the term “genocide” by combining the root words – geno (Greek for family or race) and – cidium (Latin for killing) then doggedly lobbied the UN’s member states until they adopted a Convention on Genocide in December, 1948, his crowning achievement.

…

Likewise overlooked were Lemkin’s views on communist crimes against humanity. In a 1953 lecture in New York City, for example, he described the “destruction of the Ukrainian nation” as the “classic example of Soviet genocide,” adding insightfully: “The Ukrainian is not and never has been a Russian. His culture, his temperament, his language, his religion, are all different … to eliminate (Ukrainian) nationalism … the Ukrainian peasantry was sacrificed … a famine was necessary for the Soviet and so they got one to order … if the Soviet program succeeds completely, if the intelligentsia, the priest, and the peasant can be eliminated then Ukraine will be as dead as if every Ukrainian were killed, for it will have lost that part of it which has kept and developed its culture, its beliefs, its common ideas, which have guided it and given it a soul, which, in short, made it a nation … This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.”

Yet Ukraine’s declaration that the Great Famine of 1932-1933 (known as the Holodomor) was genocide has secured very little official recognition from other states, Canada one of those few. Most have succumbed to an ongoing Holodomor-denial campaign orchestrated by the Russian Federation’s barkers who insist famine occurred throughout the U.S.S.R. in the 1930s, did not target Ukrainians and so can’t be called genocide. They ignore key evidence – the fact that all foodstuffs were confiscated from Soviet Ukraine even as its borders were blockaded, preventing relief supplies from getting in, or anyone from getting out. And how the Kremlin’s men denied the existence of catastrophic famine conditions as Ukrainian grain was exported to the West. Millions could have been saved but were instead allowed to starve. Most victims were Ukrainians who perished on Ukrainian lands. There’s no denying that.

Read the rest of the article

Written by Lubomyr Luciuk

[Montreal Gazette]

canada, holodomor, news

Black flags mark Ukrainian tragedy [Article]

Leave a comment

From the Standard in St. Catherines, Ontario:

Saturday’s memorial at St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on Lakeshore Road included a candlelight prayer service and a program inside the church.

The 33 black flags placed on the lawn symbolize the year the famine was at its deadly height.

Local politicians, priests from other parishes and Ukrainian community members joined the St. Catharines gathering.

A handful of the about 30 Holodomor survivors living in the area were also present.

Services like it were held in Ukrainian communities in Canada and around the world.

All were scheduled to coincide with the official 4 p. m. memorial in Ukraine.

The Holodomor flag display continues outside the 91 Lakeshore Rd. church until Tuesday

Read the rest of the article

[The Standard]

canada, holodomor, news

Holodomor survivor: ‘I saw very terrible things’ [Article]

4 Comments

From the Hamilton Spectator:

Victor Rojenko is 90 years old, but the memories of his childhood in Ukraine play in his mind as clearly as a movie.

“My obligation was: never, never forget what you see at your young age. And I saw very terrible things,” said Rojenko, sitting in a classroom at the Metropolitan Wasyly Learning Centre in Hamilton today.

Rojenko is a survivor of the Holodomor, a man-made famine and genocide in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed as many as 10 million people under Josef Stalin’s regime.

What’s also interesting to note from the article is that a Holodomor museum has opened in Hamilton:

The museum, which is a small gallery inside the learning centre on Barton Street East at Gage Avenue North, was open for the public as part of the second National Holodomor Awareness Week.

It officially launched as the country’s first Holodomor museum last year, but has recently been completed with historical literature and photos.

Read the rest of the article

canada, event, holodomor

Holodomor Week Events 2009

1 Comment

Looking for this year’s Holodomor Week Events?


This week is National Holodomor Awareness Week in Canada. Here’s a list of events that are happening around the country, it’s a little messy but only because there so many events happening this week:

National Events
November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
November 28, Holodomor Memorial Day, 9:00 a.m.  A moment of silence and candle lighting in homes
November 29  A requiem service in all Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches across Canada with solemn tolling of bells 10 times in memory of 10 million
Calgary, Alberta
November 22, 2009 4:30pm – Calgary Premier of “Okradena Zemlya: Famine Genocide 1932-33”; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Parish at 704-6th Street N.E. Clagary
Program Details
November 29, 11:00 a.m. – 1932-33 Holodomor Anniversary Commemoration presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Calgary Branch,??Commemorative Service at
St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre?411 Meredith Rd. NE?
Contact: info@calgaryucc.org, http://www.ucccalgary.org
Edmonton, Alberta
November 20, 7:00 p.m. Seminar: Andrea Graziosi,?Department of History, University of Naples “Frederico II”??The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1931-33? Contact: Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, (780) 492-2972, e-mail: cius@ualberta.ca, http://www.cius.ca
November 23, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Alberta Legislature, and coordinated by UCC-Alberta Provincial Council,??Rotunda?Legislative Assembly of Alberta?10800 – 97 Ave., Edmonton??Open to public. Program TBA??Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
November 28, 12:00 noon Annual Holodomor Commemoration Ceremony sponsored by UCC-Edmonton Branch;?Clergy will celebrate a Memorial Service, guest speaker is Sen. Raynell Andreychuk.??Edmonton City Hall,?1 Sir Winston Churchill Square?Edmonton, AB??Contact: UCC-Edmonton Branch, tel/fax: (780) 423-5422, e-mail: ucc_edm@yahoo.ca
November 28, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Presented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, Edmonton City Hall?1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,?Edmonton, AB?? Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
Hamilton, Ontario
November 23, 7:00 p.m. Film: FAMINE – 33, Ukrainian with English subtitles; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 241 Kenilworth Avenue North
November 25, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Visit the newly opened first Holodomor museum in Canada in the Metropolitan Wasyly Learning Centre, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir, 855 Barton Street East;  Hear eyewitness accounts from Holodomor survivors, Schools welcome.
November 27, 12:00 a.m. – November 28, 9:00 a.m.  33-hour fast in commemoration of Holodomor victims, Student Centre, McMaster University
London, Ontario
November 22 2:30pm – London Premier of “Okradena Zemlya: Famine Genocide 1932-33”; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 247 Adelaide Street London
Program Details
Oshawa, Ontario
November 29 12:30pm – Joint Community Holodomor Commemorative Program; St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox  “Odesa” Hall 31 Bloor St. East, Oshawa, Ontario
Sponsored by the Durham Region branch of the UCC
Ottawa, Ontario
November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
November 29, 7:00 p.m.  Film screening of Ukrainian language documentary “Okradena Zemlya”, Ukrainian Community Centre, 913 Carling Avenue
St. Catharines, Ontario
November 28, 8:45a.m. – Candle Lighting Ceremony, St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church, 91 Lakeshore Road
November 28, 8:45am – UCC St. Catharines will have a candle lighting ceremony and display 33 black flags in front of St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on 91 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines during Holodomor Awareness Week
November 29 – All other churches in the Niagara region will toll their bells and have Panachydy
Toronto, Ontario
November 16-29  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Scarborough Civic Centrel; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 17, 6:00 p.m.  Annual Ukrainian Famine Lecture,
Andrea Graziosi (University of Naples, Italy) “The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1932-1933”, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, & the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine; Combination Room, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 6 Hoskin Avenue; Contact a.makuch@utoronto.ca
November 22-26  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Toronto City Hall; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 23, 7:00 p.m. Holodomor Education Week Opening Ceremonies; The week is sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association with the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Consulate General of Ukraine; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 24-28, 10:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. daily, Holodomor Education Week program sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association; includes the newest films on the Holodomor, exhibits, meetings with survivors, lectures and poetry readings on the Holodomor; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
Program details
November 27  Holodomor Memorial Day to be marked in schools of the Toronto District School Board
November 29, 3:00 p.m.  Commemorative Concert, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416-323-4772, ucctoronto@bellnet.ca
Windsor, Ontario
November 15, 1:00 p.m.  Memorial Service and Commemorative Program at the Holodomor monument and St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Parish Hall. Sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Windsor Branch; Contact 519.256.8778
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sunday November 22, 2009 Premier of a film from Ukraine: “Zhorna” will be shown at the Museum of Man and Nature (Planetarium) at 4:00pm
Saturday November 28, 2009 Memorial Service in front of the Famine Monument at City Hall at 1:30 pm

National Events

  • November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
  • November 28, Holodomor Memorial Day, 9:00 a.m.  A moment of silence and candle lighting in homes
  • November 29  A requiem service in all Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches across Canada with solemn tolling of bells 10 times in memory of 10 million

Calgary, Alberta

  • November 29, 11:00 a.m. – 1932-33 Holodomor Anniversary Commemoration presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Calgary Branch,Commemorative Service at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre 411 Meredith Rd. NE. Contact: info@calgaryucc.org, http://www.ucccalgary.org

Edmonton, Alberta

  • November 23, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Alberta Legislature, and coordinated by UCC-Alberta Provincial Council, Rotunda Legislative Assembly of Alberta 10800 – 97 Ave., Edmonton. Open to public. Program TBA??Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
  • November 28, 12:00 noon Annual Holodomor Commemoration Ceremony sponsored by UCC-Edmonton Branch; Clergy will celebrate a Memorial Service, guest speaker is Sen. Raynell Andreychuk. Edmonton City Hall, 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,Edmonton, AB Contact: UCC-Edmonton Branch, tel/fax: (780) 423-5422, e-mail: ucc_edm@yahoo.ca
  • November 28, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Presented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, Edmonton City Hall,1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,Edmonton, AB Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca

Hamilton, Ontario

  • November 23, 7:00 p.m. Film: FAMINE – 33, Ukrainian with English subtitles; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 241 Kenilworth Avenue North
  • November 25, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Visit the newly opened first Holodomor museum in Canada in the Metropolitan Wasyly Learning Centre, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir, 855 Barton Street East;  Hear eyewitness accounts from Holodomor survivors, Schools welcome.
  • November 27, 12:00 a.m. – November 28, 9:00 a.m.  33-hour fast in commemoration of Holodomor victims, Student Centre, McMaster University

Oshawa, Ontario

  • November 29 12:30pm – Joint Community Holodomor Commemorative Program; St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox  “Odesa” Hall 31 Bloor St. East, Oshawa, Ontario
  • Sponsored by the Durham Region branch of the UCC

Ottawa, Ontario

  • November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
  • November 29, 7:00 p.m.  Film screening of Ukrainian language documentary “Okradena Zemlya”, Ukrainian Community Centre, 913 Carling Avenue

St. Catharines, Ontario

  • November 28, 8:45a.m. – Candle Lighting Ceremony, St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church, 91 Lakeshore Road
  • November 28, 8:45am – UCC St. Catharines will have a candle lighting ceremony and display 33 black flags in front of St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on 91 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines during Holodomor Awareness Week
  • November 29 – All other churches in the Niagara region will toll their bells and have Panachydy

Toronto, Ontario

  • November 16-29  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Scarborough Civic Centre; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 17, 6:00 p.m.  Annual Ukrainian Famine Lecture, Andrea Graziosi (University of Naples, Italy) “The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1932-1933”, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, & the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine; Combination Room, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 6 Hoskin Avenue; Contact a.makuch@utoronto.ca
  • November 22-26  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Toronto City Hall; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 23, 7:00 p.m. Holodomor Education Week Opening Ceremonies; The week is sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association with the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Consulate General of Ukraine; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 24-28, 10:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. daily, Holodomor Education Week program sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association; includes the newest films on the Holodomor, exhibits, meetings with survivors, lectures and poetry readings on the Holodomor; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com,
  • All events take place at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre on 83 Christie Street with the exception of the youth roundtable scheduled for 6:30pm on Tuesday at St. Vladimir Institute on 620 Spadina Avenue.
  • Monday, November 23 – 7pm:  Opening Ceremonies for Holodomor Education Week, starting at 7pm and including Canadian politicians who championed the recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide
  • Tuesday, November 24 - 10am – 10:30am – Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch ( Canadian author for young adults), topic: Holodomor: the Last Forbidden Subject
  • – 10:30am – 2:30pm – Films for elementary and high schools, including Harvest of Despair ( English) and Technology of Genocide – Part 2 ( English)
  • – 6:30pm – 8:30pm – Youth Roundtable on the Holodomor hosted by USC at St. Vladimir Institute, 620 Spadina Avenue, topic: Holodomor Awareness, Recognition and Education: What next?
  • The Ukrainian Students Club at U of T, together with other youth organizations from around Toronto, will be hosting a roundtable discussion and debate on the role of Ukrainian youth in today’s efforts to raise and promote awareness, recognition and education about the Holodomor. People of all ages, especially students and Ukrainian youth, are encouraged to come and take part in this constructive and important discussion.
  • Wednesday, November 25 – 4pm – 8:30pm
  • – 4pm – 6pm – Meeting with Holodomor survivors
  • – 6pm – 7pm – Eugenia Sakevych Dallas ( survivor), reading of prose on the Holodomor
  • – 7pm – 8:30pm – Film Закляття безпам’ятствa ( Ukrainian),
  • produced by Iryna Mahrytska and sponsored by the BCU
  • Foundation
  • Thursday, November 26 – 2:30pm – 8:30pm
  • – 2:30pm – 3:30pm – Mykola Latyshko ( survivor), reading of poetry on the Holodomor
  • – 3:30pm – 5pm – Film Хлібна гільйотина ( Ukrainian)
  • – 6:30pm – 6:45pm – Video presentation by Italian scholar and Holodomor expert Andrea Graziosi
  • – 6:45pm – 7:30pm – Andrew Gregorovich ( Holodomor researcher, bibliographer and editor of FORUM, A Ukrainian Review ), topic: Holodomor Resources and Research in English
  • – 7:30pm – 8:15pm – Iroida Wynnyckyj ( Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre archivist), topic: UCRDC Holodomor Archives and Projects
  • Friday, November 27 – 10am – 8:30pm
  • – 10am – 10:30am – Orest Steciw ( Holodomor Projects
  • Coordinator, LUC/LUCW), topic: Creation of the Holodomor: Genocide by Famine Exhibit
  • – 10:30am – 2:30pm – Films for elementary and high schools, and general public, including Technology of Genocide – Part 3 (Ukrainian) and The Living ( Ukrainian with English subtitles)
  • – 3:30pm – 8:30pm – Films for general public, including
  • Голод-33-33 (Ukrainian), James Mace ( Ukrainian), Брати (Ukrainian) and І тоді пролунав постріл ( Ukrainian)
  • Saturday, November 28 – 10am – 4pm
  • – 10am – 2pm – Ukrainian Saturday Heritage Schools (Рідні Школи) on the Holodomor
  • – 2pm – 4pm – Film Okradena Zemlya for parents and students,
  • including introduction of film by its producer and director, Yurij Luhovy
  • Sunday, November 29 – 3pm
  • – Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Toronto Holodomor commemoration, starting at 3pm
  • November 27  Holodomor Memorial Day to be marked in schools of the Toronto District School Board
  • November 29, 3:00 p.m.  Commemorative Concert, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416-323-4772, ucctoronto@bellnet.ca

Winnipeg, Manitoba

  • Saturday November 28, 2009 Memorial Service in front of the Famine Monument at City Hall at 1:30 pm

[Ukrainian Canadian Congress]