Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, has released the following statement marking Holodomor Memorial Day:
 

“On the fourth Saturday in November, we join Ukrainian communities around the world in remembering the victims of Holodomor and honouring the strength of the survivors.

“During the years of 1932 and 1933, Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian Soviet regime inflicted a famine-genocide on the people of Ukraine. Between three million and four million Ukrainian children, women and men died as their lands were stolen and crops seized.

“The Soviet Union’s mass starvation of the Ukrainian people was a heinous attempt to suppress the nation’s culture and their dream of being an independent and free country. The impacts of Holodomor are still felt today, and it was not until almost 60 years later that Ukraine’s dream of independence was realized. 

“In 2019, Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day was officially designated as a day of remembrance in British Columbia. On this solemn day, we come together to remember the victims and recognize the injustice of their suffering. We do so in an uncertain global landscape, where Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens lives, freedom and democracy.

“Today, we stand with Ukrainians across the globe as we continue to work to build a better province and a better world for all.”