The Universality of Human Rights

By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn

Members of the Ukrainian community in Canada are unsure whether the proposed Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg will reflect human rights violations central to the 1.2 million Canadian community.  The internment of Ukrainian Canadians here during WWI has gained some recognition in recent years, however, the Holodomor Famine in Ukraine created by the Soviet regime under Stalin, which starved some 10 million Ukrainians as part of an ethnic cleansing policy, has been suppressed by the Kremlin in Moscow since 1933 and continues to be unknown.

The Ukrainian community is seeking appropriate treatment but many are wondering whether raising money now and waiting for inclusion later is the right way to go.  The Famine, in particular, is at issue.  Many view it as equal, if not worse to that perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews, and believe that had there been appropriate punishment to the Communist crime, Hitler would not have dared to commit the Nazi atrocities some ten years later. They say that the time has come for the Famine to take its rightful place as a moral lesson for the entire world: evil begets evil unless justice and reconciliation occur.  With respect to the Famine, this position has been underplayed and undervalued by most of the world for much too long.  Recent calls for the Museum to resist considerations of “body counts” make it imperative to have well informed, strong representation as such statements constitute a clear and malicious undermining of a holocaust of 10 million people and must not be allowed to stand unchallenged. 

The Museum’s price tag is a hefty $265 million, plus $22 million in annual operating cost to be borne by donors and taxpayers.  It goes far beyond the $20 million given by the Asper Foundation of Winnipeg.

The idea of a human rights museum originated some ten years ago.  The Jewish community proposed that its holocaust become part of the Museum of War in Ottawa.  Canadian veterans objected.  The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Ottawa Branch, (I was its President at the time) made representations to government and in main stream media seeking “inclusion and equity”, arguing that a Canadian tax-payer supported museum must not be exclusive to one group. 

The view prevailed.  The Asper Foundation, interested in keeping the commemoration of the Jewish issue alive proposed the Winnipeg scenario.  Recalling the opposition to an exclusive treatment of the Jewish Holocaust, the government sought a “buy-in’ from the Ukrainians and others.  The UCC National was approached by the Foundation for support.  It was granted with the proviso that Ukrainian human rights violations—the internment of Canadians and the Famine—be included. 

The UCC held that strong representation on various boards and committees of the Museum would assure proper treatment. The Museum’s Advisory Committee, created last October, advises the Minister of Canadian Heritage on planning; scope and content; and, on its overall budgetary envelope.  Comprising nine members, it’s the chief decision making body.  There is neither UCC representation nor any Ukrainian Canadians there.  Furthermore, they appear to be absent from other working committees as well.  There is one UCC representative on the Advisory Council—a 33-member body, more likely to deal with endorsements than policy or operations.  Asper Family members are in leadership roles on all or most of the Museum’s organizational structures.

Despite under representation, the UCC launched the Holodomor Campaign last December to raise funds.  Headed by Winnipeg’s business leader Leo Ladohowski of Canad Inns, it is his ‘hope” that Ukrainian issues will be memorialized there.  Senator Raynell Andreychuk is the Honorary Chair.  Before Ukrainian Canadians, or other fair-minded taxpayers, feel comfortable about contributing, there are fundamentals that need to be addressed.

First, Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to add Canada to the growing list of countries, United States and Poland included, recognizing the Famine as genocide, a matter that he noticeably failed to do last fall. 

Second, citizens of Ukrainian decent here, and around the world, have a mission: to ensure equal treatment of their genocide dead.  Lack of equitable treatment is discriminatory and not an option.

Third, Canada has a global reputation as a human rights leader.  To continue, it must ensure that a heinous crime, like the Famine, is recognized and treated fairly in the Museum. The Museum needs to take a lead in universal recognition of a past wrong, making the Famine a central tenet in the argument that white washing such a holocaust simply leads to other grotesque crimes against humanity. 

If the Canadian Museum of Human Rights pays tribute to the Famine with a mere token exhibit, it will make Canada an accessory to the Holodomor cover-up, an additional crime against humanity. Given the stature of our country in advancing human rights in the world, such misrepresentation would be a serious misstep. 

Oksana Bashuk Hepburn is the former Director of Communications, Canadian Human Rights Commission and former member of the UCC National Board.