Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the famine genocide in Ukraine known as the Holodomor, when Joseph Stalin closed Ukraine's borders and confiscated all food to destroy a Ukrainian population that was opposed to his rule. Nineteen people per minute, 1,200 per hour and 28,000 per day were dying of famine at the height of the Holodomor. The world was silent, and millions died as a result.
My grandmother, Olena, was a survivor of the Holodomor. She once told me that she hoped the victims of the Holodomor would not only be remembered, but that they would be honoured. Honouring them for her meant not just remembering them or commemorating them, but taking the steps to ensure that a crime like this never happens again.
Right now in Russian-occupied Ukraine it is happening again. Russia is killing, torturing and raping civilians. Russia is deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine again.
The only way to stop this is for Canada and our allies to give Ukraine the support it needs to ensure that it recaptures all of its territory, to ensure that it achieves a decisive victory.
Let us do as my grandmother would have asked if she were here today. Let us remember the victims. Let us commemorate the victims. Let us honour them.