Mr. Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words.
If I might, the first thing I would like to do is join with others who have mentioned how appropriate it is, during the week of Mandela's death, the celebration of his life around the world, and his funeral, that we would come together on this, the last time we will be sitting here this year.
We are all here for a common cause. We are all here for a very Canadian cause, which is reaching out and helping where we can. That is one of the great things that Canadians take pride in. Not all of the world, but most of it, sees us as help, as friends. When they hear the Canadians are coming, for the most part it is good news.
We know that Canadian Ukrainians and those now in the Ukraine are riveted on what is happening in Independence Square.
I would join with others who have commented on personal attachments. Mine attachment is somewhat different, in that it really was not personal in terms of my own background or even that I have many Ukrainians in my riding.
A number of years ago I received an invitation, as we all do, to come to city hall to make a few remarks about the Holodomor. I confess that at the time, I did not know about it. This was the better part of 10 years ago.
I researched it, as we all do, and I was shocked that I did not know about it. I was shocked that it seemed that most of the world did not know. It has only been in the ensuing years that now it has become, certainly here in Canada, a recognized date and time for us to reflect on those who were murdered by Stalin and the Communist Soviet empire.
A while went by, and just before Christmas in 2004, the word was going around that they were looking for MPs who wanted to go to Ukraine for an election observation mission. The only thing I knew about that was that Jimmy Carter did it. He did Habitat for Humanities, and he did these election observation missions.
When one is in the fourth party in the back row, one really is looking for some means to have some real effect beyond just the seat one has. I thought this was a great opportunity to do that, so I went to Ukraine.
I have been there three times, but the first time I went was in 2004 during the Orange Revolution. I see my friends, some of whom were on those missions with me, nodding their heads. I have to say that for an NDPer to be in Ukraine in 2004 was political heaven. I mean, everything was in orange, evening the Mercedes-Benzes and the banks. Everything was decked out in orange, at least in Kiev, so I certainly felt at home with the colour and the sentiment behind it.
What I remember more than anything about that was getting up in the middle of the night because I was drawn to Independence Square and the tent city that had formed. They had their own security system and their own supply system. They were totally self-contained within the confines of the downtown in Independence Square in Kiev.
What struck me was that the young people were the drumbeat that kept it going. Day in and day out, they would ensure that they did everything that needed to be done to maintain their presence. Now we hear that forces are moving into Independence Square to try to prevent something like that from happening, it would seem, through violence. That breaks our hearts.
The other thing I want to mention about that particular election is not only what it was like to be in a revolution in modern times, but the impact it had on individual citizens.
I remember specifically one voting station in a village in the mountains. One young man, who was probably in his early thirties, was carrying his young son. They went into the voting area and came out with a ballot. He got right up to the box, and he handed it to his son, who was maybe age seven or eight, and said something to him. Of course, I could not understand Ukrainian. His young son dropped the ballot in and I asked my interpreter what he had said. What he had whispered to his son was, “this is how we keep our future”. A whole nation was going through that simultaneously in 2004.
I returned again in 2010, six years later, for the presidential elections, and then returned two weeks later for the runoff. Although I am by no means an expert on that part of the world or the dynamics, it was pretty clear from the results that something like today was going to come.
Those of us who have been following some of the issues there know that language issues, the struggle between Russian and Ukrainian and which has priority and is recognized, is a huge issue for them.
In the election, the country divided right down the middle, not just demographically or even politically but actually geographically. The western part of the country wanted to go more to Europe and to the west and the east wanted to stay closer to Russia. In fact, as one goes closer to the Russian border, as would be expected, there is more and more Russian language.
I am not surprised that this day came. It is still heartbreaking that it is here, but I cannot say that I am surprised. As we stand here, I do not think there is a simple answer to this except that the only way the Ukrainian people can work this through in a way that is acceptable is that there has to be peace. There has to be peace.
I think about the people when their election was fraudulent, back in 2004. What struck me more than anything when the word came out that the election result was not what they expected was that people started coming out of their offices, out of their homes, and out of the schools, and they just started gravitating to Independence Square.
What struck me, to this day, is the fact that none of them knew for certain that there were not going to be tanks coming around the corner. They did not know for sure that they would not be facing a hail of bullets. Yet the desire, the demand, for fairness in their elections and a real democracy was so great that in spite of that possible threat to their own lives, they stayed.
They came out by the hundreds, then the thousands, then the tens of thousands, and when it got to be hundreds of thousands, finally the supreme court, I believe, and it is just my opinion, caved in the face of that kind of public pressure. It said that the election was null and void and called for the runoff. That is when we came from Canada, as many as we could stuff on planes, and headed over there to observe that runoff to try to assist the Ukrainian people in having a free and fair election.
What I know from that experience is that those who are there now, as we speak, in Independence Square, are not going anywhere. What they need more than anything is to know that the world is with them. They need that critical mass of free voices around the world, as we are doing here today, to speak out for them and say that this is not acceptable and that Ukrainians, like Canadians, are entitled to and deserve free and fair elections. They deserve a transparent democracy. They deserve control of their own country.
It is very rare that we get to end on this kind of note. I just want to say that I feel very good about this place, leaving here knowing that the last thing we were talking about on behalf of the people we represent was someone else. We are putting our voices and support toward their cause. Today, at this moment, we in the House stand united.
I would hope that every free country in the world is standing united and solidly in speaking out, as we are doing here tonight. One of the best things we can do for the struggle happening right now in Ukraine is to let them know that they are not alone. They have the bravery. They have the vision. They just need the support of everyone else to force the powers that be to leave them in peace and let them have the freedom they are entitled to.
