Ten years ago, on June 2, 2010, members of the National Assembly of Quebec unanimously passed Bill 390 – An Act to Proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.
Introduced in November 2009 by Member of the National Assembly Louise Beaudoin, the bill received unanimous approval at its first reading. The legislation recognizes the Holodomor as “the famine and genocide that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 where millions of Ukrainians perished as victims of a famine deliberately induced by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin to quash the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a free and independent Ukraine.”
Bill 390 was based on the 1998 Ukrainian presidential decree on the Holodomor, the law adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine in 2006 and legislation unanimously passed by the Canadian Parliament in 2008. Similar statutes were adopted by provincial legislatures of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario that recognize the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people and establishes the fourth Saturday in November as a Day of Remembrance.
“Today, the government of Quebec paid tribute to the millions of innocent victims of the Holodomor, condemned the heinous crimes of the Soviet Communist regime of Joseph Stalin and has helped to restore historical justice,” stated Marika Putko, president of the Quebec Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). “We applaud the resolve and courage of Quebec’s legislators in ensuring the passage of Bill 390, which proclaims the fourth Sunday of every November as a day of remembrance – Holodomor Memorial Day – and that recognizes the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as an act of genocide.”
“We commend the members of the Quebec National Assembly for their work to ensure that the tragedy of the Holodomor is recognized and will no longer be whitewashed by apologists for the Soviet system,” stated Paul Grod, president of the UCC. “Quebec becomes the sixth jurisdiction in Canada to recognize the Holodomor as Famine-Genocide. May the lesson that the world has acknowledged not be forgotten in Ukraine.”
Source: “Quebec passes bill recognizing Holodomor as an act of genocide,” The Ukrainian Weekly, June 13, 2010.