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Saskatoon Holodomor Commemoration

December 12, 2008 -- On Saturday, November 22, members of Saskatoon’s Ukrainian community marked the 75th anniversary of the tragic Holodomor/Genocide in Ukraine. Over 100 people gathered at the Memorial Gates of the University of Saskatchewan at 2 pm and formed a procession that made its way to St. Thomas More College. The procession was lead by members of the Bayda Kozaks who carried a symbolic black coffin with “7,000,000” printed in large white letters on its side. Members of the sisters of St. Joseph and clergy followed, leading the singing of “Vichnaya Pamyat’” as the procession made its way to the College about 10 minutes away. Representatives of Ukrainian communities carrying their organizations’ flags and the public made up the remainder of the column.

A solemn panakhyda memorial prayer service was conducted by Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox priests in the St. Thomas More chapel in front of the spectacular prairie scene mural painted in the 1970s by Canada’s most famous Ukrainian artist, the late William Kurelek.

Following the prayer service, the assembly moved downstairs to the auditorium for the program that began at 3 pm. Chairman of the proceedings Larry Balion, UCC-SB board member, explained that this commemorative program was organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Saskatoon Branch (UCC-SB). He welcomed the special dignitaries present, His Worship Mayor Don Atchison and the Honourable Don Morgan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Province of Saskatchewan.

In his introductory comments, Balion stated that the Holodomor was “one of the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind” and was “the result of a deliberate political strategy masterminded by Joseph Stalin and was carried out by Soviets who confiscated every last bit of food from Ukrainian peasants, who were resistant to collective farming -- and who represented the backbone of the Ukrainian people.”

“At the height of the Ukrainian famine in 1933, an estimated 25,000 people died each day,” added Balion.

Mr. Balion quoted the President of Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko, who a day earler had addressed the world on his website. President Yuschenko said, in part, “Only after cutting the fetters of the communist totalitarianism, independent Ukraine was able to claim out loud that in the far 1930s an attempt was made on the life of the entire nation.”

Yuschenko went on to say, “International support sustains our belief that historical justice will be restored, and it strengthens our will to ensure its full assertion. The global community ought to be aware that it will be impossible to prevent future crimes against humanity unless past crimes are condemned.”


CBC interview with Slawko Kindrachuk, UCC-SB president
Excerpts from two videos were then shown. A clip from “Eternal Memory”, directed by David Pultz and released by the Cinema Guild, New York, 2001 was followed by an excerpt from “Holod -- 33”, directed by Oles Yanchuk, and released by the Dovzhenko Film Studio, Kyiv in 1991.

Mayor Don Atchision then addressed those assembled. He compared the daily death total of 25,000 in Ukraine to whole subdivisions of the City of Saskatoon dying in one day. He commended the UCC-SB for organizing two events this year, this one and the greeting of the Holodmor torch on April 29th, that are designed to publicize the Holodomor to help assure that such acts of genocide will never be repeated.

Slawko Kindrachuk, UCC-SB president, ended the program with his own remarks. He included thanks to our visiting dignitaries for supporting the Ukrainian community.

A dark bread and water reception concluded the afternoon.

Saskatoon media covering the event were the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper, CTV and CBC radio.