President Viktor Yushchenko made a very successful visit to Canada over several days last week, where he was lauded across a country with one of the biggest Ukrainian diasporas in the world. The results of the president’s stay include Canadian support of Ukraine’s NATO ambitions, recognition of the famine of the 1930s as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people and a treaty on partnership in the field of nuclear energy.
Mr Yushchenko spent three days, from May 26 to 29, on an official visit in Canada. On the first day of the visit he met with the general governor of Canada, Michaëlle Jean, during which the President emphasised that his visit was aimed at expanding the countries’ ties: “The main goal of my visit is to give a new impulse to our partnership, to expand the horizons of our cooperation, to strengthen and multiply contacts between business groups, different regions, the separate people of our two large states.” Full of optimism, President Yushchenko received a very warm reception and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Winnipeg.
Recognising Stalin’s genocide
As well as general notions of mutual ties Mr. Yushchenko also sought exact goals in Canada, namely to finish the process of having the 1930s famine (Holodomor) recognised, a process begun in 2003 when the Canadian Senate approved a resolution with an appeal to the government to recognise the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. “I hope that this appeal will be supported by the House of Commons in the Parliament of Canada at its meeting tomorrow,” Yushchenko stated while addressing the assembly on May 26. He raised the question of the Ukrainian tragedy in almost each speech made during the visit.
Ukraine’s President succeeded in receiving a better reception from the Canadian parliament than he has recently found in his own. The House of Commons passed a private member’s bill recognising the genocide which was introduced by Manitoba Tory MP James Bezan, with support from all parties. “It is a great victory,” commented Mr. Yushchenko. Meanwhile, in Manitoba, the provincial government passed a bill declaring the fourth Saturday in November the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day. “This represents a big shift from last autumn when a government official said there were no plans to recognise the famine as genocide,” The Canadian Press observed.
More than a dozen countries, including the United States, have already formally recognised the famine as a deliberate attempt by the Soviet regime to eliminate ethnic Ukrainians. The 1932-33 famine saw millions of people starve in an area long known as Europe’s breadbasket. People on Soviet-controlled collective farms went hungry as food was exported from the region. Those who claim that there was no concerted effort against Ukrainians per se claim that the famine was a result of Russia trying to pay for industrialisation through grain exports while leaving millions of rural residents - not only Ukrainians, but also Russians and Kazakhstanis - to starve.
Meeting with the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, which includes more than a million people, Mr. Yushchenko asked them to help with organising the marking of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor and participate in a planned cinema festival and book exhibitions and fairs that are set to be devoted to the event.
Canadian support for NATO bid
During his visit Mr. Yushchenko also received fresh assurances from the Canadians of their support for Ukraine’s efforts to become a member of NATO. Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper said he planned to discuss Ukraine’s NATO bid with the leaders of France and Germany when he travelled to those countries this week. He and Mr. Yushchenko carefully avoided mentioning Russia by name, though the Kremlin’s hostility towards NATO expansion sat like the proverbial elephant in the room. “I pointed out to the other leaders of NATO that it is a founding principle of NATO that outsiders do not make these decisions,” Mr. Harper told reporters on Monday as he recalled his discussions about the Ukraine bid at last month’s summit.
The Ukrainian President thanked the Canadian side for their support regarding Ukraine’s integration into the military alliance: “I expressed my gratitude to the Prime Minister and to the Government of Canada for their active and persevering support of Ukraine in the question of joining the Membership Action Plan.”
