Carney, Poilievre Commemorate Holodomor Memorial Day Marking Soviet Atrocity in Ukraine

On Holodomor Memorial Day, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre commemorated the deaths of millions of Ukrainians from starvation due to Soviet policies in the 1930s.

The Holodomor, a Ukrainian word meaning “death from starvation,” refers to the massive famine in Ukraine from 1932–1933, in which an estimated 4 million people died as a result of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin’s collectivization of farms.

In 2008, Canada established the fourth Saturday in November each year as Holodomor Memorial Day, saying the famine was “an act of genocide.”

Carney called it a “genocide” by Stalin’s regime in a Nov. 22 statement.

“It was a deliberate attempt to starve and eradicate the Ukrainian nation, yet Ukraine endured,” he said.

Poilievre also issued a statement in honour of Holodomor Memorial Day, saying the communist regime committed “atrocities that shocked the conscience of humanity.”

“The Ukrainian people have long known the true face of communist ideology: that wherever the hammer and sickle are found, there is death and hunger,” he said.

He said that many families learned of relatives lost in the famine decades after the fact.

“Inside the Soviet Union, this trauma was compounded by generations of enforced silence,” Poilievre said.

He added that the Ukrainian spirit “refused to be broken.”

“In Soviet times and into our own, the Ukrainian people boldly preserved their native language and customs in the face of those who would see them erased.”

He said that Conservatives stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian people as they mourn victims of Stalin’s “brutality.”

“As the criminal regime in Moscow continues to draw on its Soviet past, Conservatives will fight to ensure Ukrainians have the weapons and resources they need to resist,” Poilievre said. “Vichna pamyat.”

Carney also commented on the situation in present day Ukraine with the Russian invasion, saying to the people of Ukraine, “We stand with you – now and always.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.