Canadian parliament honors Holodomor victims

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, a reception was attended by leaders of the Ukrainian community, diplomats, deputies from various parties, and three federal ministers.

An address from the Canadian Government was made by Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan. He mentioned the significant contribution of immigrants from Ukraine to the formation and development of Canada and called for such a horror as Holodomor not to be repeated again.

In turn, Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko thanked Canadians for preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage, which was often inaccessible to the citizens of Soviet Ukraine. He recalled that the world's first monument to the victims of Holodomor was erected in the Canadian province of Alberta 30 years before such a monument appeared in Kyiv.

Two witnesses of the Holodomor were also present at the event. They together lit a candle of memory.

Canada became the first state to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide of Ukrainians back in 2008. Since then, official events have been held in the country's parliament to mark the anniversary of those terrible events.

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