Mr. Speaker, the Ukrainian community in my riding of Parkdale—High Park and Ukrainians worldwide are commemorating the 65th anniversary of the 1932-33 famine in the Ukraine. This famine is considered to be the largest famine of the 20th century and one in which some seven million Ukrainians perished.
In 1932, under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union dramatically increased its grain procurement. Wheat grown on Ukrainian farms was shipped to Russia and as a result many Ukrainians were unable to feed themselves.
Soviet leaders, backed by the military and secret police units, seized all food in an attempt to break the spirit of independent-minded Ukrainians. Large parts of the Ukraine were blockaded, with no food being allowed in and no one being allowed out.
Only after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980s did information on this terrible human tragedy come to the world's attention.
I join today with members of the Ukrainian community and all Canadians in recognizing and remembering this man-made famine that killed seven million Ukrainians.