UCC-APC | 31Oct2008 | Bill 37
Holodomor recognized as Genocide by
Alberta
Legislature
On Thursday
October 30, 2008, the Alberta Legislature passed Bill
37, the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day Act
recognizing
the Holodomor as genocide and setting aside the fourth Saturday of
every
November as Holodomor Memorial Day.
Introduced by the Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Deputy House
Leader and
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, the legislation recognizes the
millions who
died during the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) of 1932-1933.
The Bill
received unanimous support by all members of the
Legislative Assembly and was only the fourth bill in Alberta history to
have
been introduced and conclude all stages of a bill on the same day. To this, Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly
Ken Kowalski stated “Mr. Premier, Mr. Minister, and Honourable Members,
you can
do very, very good work in this Assembly. You did such today.”
"This Bill was
the result of almost 10 years work by
the Ukrainian Canadian community in Alberta. We are very grateful to
and would
like to recognize Minister Zwozdesky who, with the support of Premier
Stelmach,
has been working diligently to have such a Bill passed in Alberta,”
stated
Daria Luciw, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Alberta
Provincial
Council.
During the
Holodomor (extermination by starvation) in
Ukraine in 1932-33, over 7 million Ukrainians perished through seizures
of food
deliberately aimed to starve-out the nationalistic pro-Ukrainian
peasantry,
thereby eliminating a serious threat to the integrity of the Soviet
empire.
“By letting the world know that the
Holodomor did happen and
that we will never forget, we pay tribute to those who died as a result
of this
man made, forced famine. We
thank the
Premier, Speaker Ken Kowalski, Opposition Leaders and all Members of
the
Legislative Assembly for their leadership, for raising awareness about
this
tragedy, and for honouring the victims of the Holodomor in this manner
today,”
said Luciw.
In
attendance in the Members Gallery and Public Gallery were
over 100 guests, including survivors of the Holodomor and
representatives of
many Ukrainian organizations from across the Province.
- 30 –
For more information, contact the
UCC-APC at:
780-414-1624
[email protected]
www.uccab.ca