Mr. Speaker, this Saturday marks the 88th anniversary of the Holodomor genocide. In 1932-33, Joseph Stalin's brutal Soviet regime used food as a weapon to exterminate upwards of 10 million Ukrainian men, women and children. At its height, Stalin's starvation edict killed 28,000 Ukrainians per day in 1933.
To illustrate the extent of the Holodomor genocide in modern times, imagine if in Western Canada all the food was forcibly removed from all homes, produce, crops and livestock were seized from farms and all the grocery shelves were stripped bare. Then let every man, woman and child slowly starve to death in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. That would be the equivalent of the evil perpetrated on the Ukrainian people by Stalin and his communist thugs. The Ukrainians' only crime was being patriotic. Ukrainians wanted to keep their language, culture and traditions.
Today, Ukraine's very survival is threatened by Putin's kleptocratic regime, which is amassing Russian tanks and troops on Ukraine's border. This Saturday evening, I invite every Canadian to light a candle in remembrance of the millions of lives lost and honour those who survived.
[Member spoke in Ukrainian and provided the following text:]
Vichna yim pamyat.
May their memories be eternal.