UCC welcomes Chrétien's visit to Kyiv (02/07/99)

UCC welcomes Chrétien's visit to Kyiv

The following UCC news release was distributed on January 22 to the Canadian media by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Canada's Ukrainian community has welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister's Office that the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, prime minister of Canada, will be laying a memorial wreath at the National Famine Monument in Kyiv, Ukraine, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27.

The Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, engineered by the former Soviet Union, caused the deaths of at least 7 million Ukrainians and was covered up and officially denied by the government of the former Soviet Union. Recently, the government of Ukraine has declared that every fourth Saturday of November will be set aside for a National Day of Mourning and Remembrance of the Famine Victims. Prime Minister Chrétien will be the first Western statesman to pay his respects to these millions of victims during his first state visit to Ukraine.

The prime minister is also expected to lay a wreath at the Eternal Flame, which honors the millions of Ukrainians who fought and died in the struggle against the Nazi occupation of Ukraine.

Accompanying the prime minister's entourage as a special guest is the immediate past president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Winnipeg lawyer Mr. Oleh Romaniw, Q.C.

Responding to this news from Ottawa, the current president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Montreal lawyer Eugene Czolij, said:

"Canadians of Ukrainian descent are deeply moved by the prime minister's gesture in laying a wreath at the National Famine Memorial in Kyiv in memory of the millions of victims of Soviet tyranny during the genocidal Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33. We also congratulate the prime minister for laying a wreath in front of the Eternal Flame to solemnly remember all the Ukrainians who perished in the struggle against the Nazi occupation of their homeland. We hope the prime minister's visit to Ukraine will translate into his personal support for a federally funded Genocide Museum in Ottawa, a permanent educational center that will honor the memory of the victims of all genocides of the 20th century."

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