View Full Version : Canada officially recognizes Ukrainian famine as act of genocide
Canada officially recognizes Ukrainian famine as act of genocide
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - Canada has formally recognized the 1930s Ukrainian famine as an act of genocide.
A bill recognizing the "Holodomor" - as it's known in Ukraine - received royal assent Thursday, making it law.
The legislation - a private member's bill introduced by Manitoba Tory MP James Bezan - also establishes a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day.
The House of Commons passed the bill this week, with support from all parties, during a state visit by Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko.
It's a big shift from last fall, when a government official said there were no plans to recognize the famine as a genocide.
The move is seen by some as an effort by the Harper government to win over voters of Ukrainian heritage.
The 1932-33 famine saw millions of people starve in an area long known as Europe's breadbasket. People on Soviet-controlled collective farms went hungry as food was exported from the region.
More than a dozen countries, including the United States, already formally recognize the famine as a deliberate attempt by the Soviet regime of Josef Stalin to eliminate ethnic Ukrainians and end their aspirations for independence.
But some academics, and many Russians, disagree.
Some historians say the famine was a result of Russia trying to pay for industrialization through grain exports while leaving millions of rural residents - not only Ukrainians, but also Russians and Kazakhstanis - to starve.
Historians also dispute the exact death toll. The estimates range from three million to 10 million people.
In Manitoba, the NDP government has passed a bill declaring the fourth Saturday in November the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day.
Source.... (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2008/05/29/5715211-cp.html)
delio
05-29-2008, 07:34 PM
The move is seen by some as an effort by the Harper government to win over voters of Ukrainian heritage.I know a lot of Canadians are of Polish ancestry. But Ukrainians? How well do they rank?
i say, blame Georgians. p-)
on a serious note, do they have too much time on their hands in Canada?
i say, blame Georgians. p-)
on a serious note, do they have too much time on their hands in Canada?
No just a lot of canadians of western ukranian ancestry.
It seems that nowdays every nation wants a "recognized genocide" of their own.
philbob
05-29-2008, 07:49 PM
wow..amazing..as soon as they did that the whole world got better,,,no more war,,, famin,,,anything does no one belive we have better things to do anymore then 'recognize' past wrongs?
Power_serj
05-29-2008, 08:13 PM
When will the United States officially recognize the Native American genocide and apologize?! [/sarcasm]
When will the United States officially recognize the Native American genocide and apologize?! [/sarcasm]
Just after russians get compensation for ethnic cleansing and occupation from mongols! [/sarcasm]
wow..amazing..as soon as they did that the whole world got better,,,no more war,,, famin,,,anything does no one belive we have better things to do anymore then 'recognize' past wrongs?
Its a way to win votes. See Mr Harper cares about you ukranian folk.
delio:
Matter is simple, Canada have huge population of Ukrainians, probably third after Ukraina and Russia. World Congress of Ukrainians is based in Toronto.
BTW. WCU is crypto-fascist organization and among old Ukrainians in Canada are many murderers from OUN/UPA bands and "SS Galizien" division.
delio
05-30-2008, 02:15 PM
Thanks
1234
Clayton Gold
05-30-2008, 04:22 PM
To those who are offended by this: What exactly is the problem with 'recognizing past wrongs' ? By jabbing at Harper, it seems as if you are supporting Stalin's policies which killed millions.
Whether or not you agree, Mr. Harper has done a good job of clarifying Canada's position on these issues; from the Chinese, to the Armenians, to Ukranians.
Perhaps instead of simply "trying to get votes", he is trying to show Canadians where his government stands on these types of human rights issues.
I salute him for the principled stand he has taken on these sorts of things, since he became PM. There is decisiveness here we have not seen in our leaders in a long time.
Maybe we should get back a liberal PM - who is too afraid to make any decisions - if these types of actions bother you ? :roll:
Lt. James Anderson
05-30-2008, 05:04 PM
I guess it's a good thing.
Even though six million people were murdered most people don't know about it.
F-ing communist cowards!
RICHICOQUI
05-30-2008, 05:17 PM
Stalin killed millions of ukrainans BUT he also killed many more millions of russians!
Lt. James Anderson
05-30-2008, 05:39 PM
Stalin killed millions of ukrainans BUT he also killed many more millions of russians!
True. Fifteen million peasants and countless millions of others who were a potential threat to the "revolution".
And I don't think Stalin was the only one to blame ..
Afro-European
05-30-2008, 05:59 PM
I thought the UN and EU would be the first to recognize that genocide as it was the case with the Armenian genocide!!!
The Balkan
05-30-2008, 07:15 PM
I know a lot of Canadians are of Polish ancestry. But Ukrainians? How well do they rank?
My highschool was FULL of them. Them and germans and filipinos by far the biggest.
I honestly find their constant whining about this annoying. Not that it's not horrible, but how they go about it. Here anyway. But that's me.
packetloss
05-30-2008, 07:22 PM
So are you dorks going to get excited by people recognizing the holocaust, or the Rape of Nanjing? Official recognition is simply to remind people who havent been taught about the problems of the world. Why exactly is this silly?
Now, Behind the Ukraine itself, and Russia (2nd) Canada has the third largest ukranian population in the world - nearly 4% of canadas population is ukranian. (unlike say, armenian, mexican, etc)
Now back to your regularly scheduled (uninformed) hating....
Loke-Gao-Zhu
05-31-2008, 12:25 AM
come on it's just a hockey game...
Karaahmetoglu
05-31-2008, 12:07 PM
In western Canada(most in Alberta) there are a lot of Ukrainians, there is a town in eastern part of Alberta called Vegreville and almost everyone there is Ukrainian, except some Germans that where there before the Ukrainians came, Vegreville has the worlds largest easter egg. There is a lot of Ukrainians in Western Canada because long ago Canada was giving out free farm land, to develop the economy (it worked very well), and most Ukrainians fled Ukraine because of the way of life there was treacherous.
Brute
05-31-2008, 03:44 PM
To those who are offended by this: What exactly is the problem with 'recognizing past wrongs' ? By jabbing at Harper, it seems as if you are supporting Stalin's policies which killed millions.
Whether or not you agree, Mr. Harper has done a good job of clarifying Canada's position on these issues; from the Chinese, to the Armenians, to Ukranians.
Only three? What about Native Americans? Does Canada recognize their past treatment as an act of Genocide? Has the bill been passed?
Karaahmetoglu
05-31-2008, 10:01 PM
Only three? What about Native Americans? Does Canada recognize their past treatment as an act of Genocide? Has the bill been passed?
No, what about the Metis what about the Native Americans nothing, but Armenians and they are all over Turkey.
Clayton Gold
06-01-2008, 08:18 AM
Only three? What about Native Americans? Does Canada recognize their past treatment as an act of Genocide? Has the bill been passed?
What exactly are you getting at ?
If you want to discuss the Native issue, there is a thread about that. Although, in Canada, there was never a mass-murder of Natives. While some issues remain to be settled, many already have been.
annihilation
06-01-2008, 10:42 AM
No just a lot of canadians of western ukranian ancestry.
It seems that nowdays every nation wants a "recognized genocide" of their own.
If thats the case we will have a long list to go through. Really is it necessary to re-list acts from the past? Is it going to bring people back from the grave? All its going to do is piss nations off who will retaliate in other diplomatic ways.
packetloss
06-01-2008, 10:47 AM
Only three? What about Native Americans? Does Canada recognize their past treatment as an act of Genocide? Has the bill been passed?
Please. We've been apologizing to the ****ing indians all our lives, all generations, etc. Do the chinese have a Chinese affairs board? Do the Ukranians get Tax-free cards? Do we build the armenians new homes every 5 years?
We're too busy kissing native ass to be bothered to apologize anymore.
The point is of this announcement is that, canadians KNOW about the Indian problems. Canadians KNOW about the holocaust. Canadians do NOT know about the ukrainian famine (although it affected a large portion of our population). And when we have the largest ukranian population outside of ukraine/russia, whats wrong with our PM officially sanctioning something that will bring greater awareness to the plight of one of our largest populations?
If thats the case we will have a long list to go through. Really is it necessary to re-list acts from the past? Is it going to bring people back from the grave? All its going to do is piss nations off who will retaliate in other diplomatic ways.
lol what part of remembering an attrocity and bringing awarness of a little known incident is going to bring diplomatic reprisals? Are the ukranians going to be angry that we're officially acknowledging and remembering a terrible time they endured? What nations do you think would be pissed off, exactly? Russia?
The Balkan
06-01-2008, 02:26 PM
The Ukrainian thing isn't that big compared to the native American thing.
Especialy since the Native American thing is part of Canada's own history on it's own soil, not some random event in Eastern Europe.
It's laughable to compare the two. Canada has nothing to do with Ukraine.
philbob
06-01-2008, 02:51 PM
The problem i have with all this is real work is not getting done. BTW I'm an American and not Canadian, and our town and city counciles would rather make amendment to crucify Bush or advance a pet social adgenda and this is no diffrent then that. THeir job is to create public policy and gather funding for the maintianing and expansion of local infastructer any thing else is the abusing what power they have and waisting tax payer time and money.
CPL Trevoga
06-01-2008, 05:10 PM
Please. We've been apologizing to the ****ing indians all our lives, all generations, etc. Do the chinese have a Chinese affairs board? Do the Ukranians get Tax-free cards? Do we build the armenians new homes every 5 years?
We're too busy kissing native ass to be bothered to apologize anymore.
The point is of this announcement is that, canadians KNOW about the Indian problems. Canadians KNOW about the holocaust. Canadians do NOT know about the ukrainian famine (although it affected a large portion of our population). And when we have the largest ukranian population outside of ukraine/russia, whats wrong with our PM officially sanctioning something that will bring greater awareness to the plight of one of our largest populations?
lol what part of remembering an attrocity and bringing awarness of a little known incident is going to bring diplomatic reprisals? Are the ukranians going to be angry that we're officially acknowledging and remembering a terrible time they endured? What nations do you think would be pissed off, exactly? Russia?
So how does it make you feel to be apologizing for crimes that you did not commit? Your ancestors probably weren't in Canada yet. Seems rather unjust.
eugenlitwin
06-01-2008, 05:17 PM
I know a lot of Canadians are of Polish ancestry. But Ukrainians? How well do they rank?
very well,)
PS good done Canada
annihilation
06-01-2008, 06:30 PM
lol what part of remembering an attrocity and bringing awarness of a little known incident is going to bring diplomatic reprisals? Are the ukranians going to be angry that we're officially acknowledging and remembering a terrible time they endured? What nations do you think would be pissed off, exactly? Russia?
I was thinking more of Turkey and their situation.
Clayton Gold
06-09-2008, 12:29 PM
Digging up a semi-old thread. With the way the discussion went, this article is quite on-topic.
I'm interested to see how the usual dorks can put a negative spin on this one. Especially after having it mentioned specifically in the discussion.
Only three? What about Native Americans? ...blahblahblah...
97 years later, apology at last
On behalf of all Canadians, Stephen Harper will say sorry to residential school victims such as 'Granny Wabano'
ANNE MCILROY AND BILL CURRY
From Monday's Globe and Mail
June 9, 2008 at 4:37 AM EDT
OTTAWA — Marguerite Wabano, 104, is known as Granny Wabano to everyone in Moosonee, Ont. On Wednesday, she and five other residential school survivors will be seated on the floor of the House of Commons to hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologize on behalf of all Canadians.
It will be a historic and personal moment for Ms. Wabano and tens of thousands other indigenous people who were taken from their families and sent to church-run boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their own languages. Many were ******ly and physically abused.
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said that if the opposition parties agree, the House of Commons will set aside all other business on Wednesday for the formal apology for Canada's Indian residential schools policy, which will start at 3 p.m. Church and native leaders are urging Canadians across the country to stop in their tracks on Wednesday afternoon and turn on the nearest TV.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080609.wapology09/BNStory/National/home
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