Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the people of Lithuania who today celebrate the 80th anniversary of their country's independence.
Since the founding of the first Lithuanian state in 1236 Lithuania has been occupied by the former Soviet Union for a majority of its history. But with the collapse of czarist Russia at the end of World War I, Lithuanians took advantage of the opportunity to regain their independence and on February 16, 1918 Lithuania's independence was restored.
However, with the outbreak of World War II this freedom was short lived. Lithuania was again occupied for some 50 years beginning in 1939. However, in the late 1980s, as changes were taking place throughout the Soviet Union, Lithuanians organized a powerful independence movement whose protests culminated with the re-establishment of the independent Lithuanian state on March 11, 1990.
Canada's steadfast refusal to recognize the occupation of the Baltic states during the Soviet era is greatly appreciated by people of Baltic origin and among the tens of thousands of Canadians of Lithuanian heritage.