Ukraine Remembers – the World Acknowledges Holodomor

Ontario Legislature Recognizes the Holodomor

By Orest Steciw

The Holodomor Memorial Day Act, Private Member’s Bill 147 recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide and providing for the declaration of Holodomor Memorial Day on the fourth Saturday in November in each year in the Province of Ontario, was passed by the Parliament of Ontario on Thursday, April 9, 2009.

The passage of the bill represented the culmination of an arduous process that started more than two years ago. Then Ontario Minister of Labour and current Speaker of the Legislature, the Hon. Steve Peters, initiated the discussion of Holodomor awareness, which was followed by a long series of consultations with Members of Provincial Parliament and the introduction of the first Holodomor Private Member’s Bill 61 by MPP Dave Levac on April 17, 2008. Bill 61 stalled in Committee and was re-introduced as the second Holodomor Private Member’s Bill 147 on February 19, 2009, this time as a tri-sponsored Private Member’s Bill. The co-sponsors, led by Dave Levac, Liberal MPP for Brant, along with Cheri Di Novo, NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, and Frank Klees, PC MPP for Newmarket-Aurora joined forces to introduce Bill 147. MPPs from all sides of the Legislature made history by unanimously supporting the first tri-sponsored Private Member’s Bill of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. And so, on April 9, 2009, Bill 147 known as the Holodomor Memorial Day Act passed Third Reading at Queen’s Park and will soon become Ontario law.

In addition to Mr. Levac and Mr. Peters, the MPPs who supported Holodomor recognition from the beginning and spoke out about it were the Hon. Donna Cansfield, the Hon. Peter Fonseca, Laurel Broten, Khalil Ramal, Maria Van Bommel, Cheri  Di Novo, Frank Klees, Ernie Hardeman and Gerry Martiniuk. We are grateful to them, and in particular to Mr. Levac, for their wisdom and leadership in moving the process forward to eventual Holodomor recognition. We would also like to thank Mr. Levac’s staff, in particular Susan Ho and Chris Yaccato, for their dedication to this project.

We would like to sincerely thank the Ukrainian World Congress; the Ukrainian Canadian Congress; the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches in Canada; Ukrainian community leaders; members of various Holodomor Committees, especially the London Holodomor Committee;  the Parents’ Committee on the Holodomor; the League of Ukrainian Canadians /League of  Ukrainian Canadian Women Joint Committee on the Holodomor, in particular their team leaders; and indeed all members of the Ukrainian Canadian community , who signed more than 8,100 hard-copy petitions and almost 4,600 on-line petitions, for their unwavering support in moving the process of Holodomor recognition forward. Copies of all signed petitions were sent to Mr. Levac’s office as further evidence of support.

Last but not least, we would like to thank all members of the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) and League of Ukrainian Canadian Women (LUCW), Allan Rewak in particular, for their undying dedication to this project. LUC and LUCW initiated the process of Holodomor recognition in Ontario - both Bill 61 and Bill 147 - and invested much time and effort in coordinating the day-to-day consultations and negotiations. Special thanks go to Dr. Oleh Romanyshyn, LUC President and Chrystyna Bidiak, LUCW President.

The passage of Bill 147 and the recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide is a significant victory for the Ukrainian Canadian community and the Ukrainian people as a whole. It will make the next step easier by providing a basis on which Holodomor education in Ontario can eventually become a compulsory part of the high school history/social studies program, and Holodomor Education Week as part of the school curriculum. Most importantly, the passage of Bill 147 is a tribute to all those, many of whom are no longer with us today, who struggled for decades to lay the foundation for the recognition of the Holodomor as genocide, and for the education of future generations to be aware of all genocides as crimes against humanity. Genocide awareness and education are proactive steps to help prevent genocides from ever happening again.

Orest Steciw is Holodomor Projects Coordinator for the League of Ukrainian Canadians and League of Ukrainian Canadian Women