By Fran Ponomarenko
The Holodomor International Remembrance Flame --“Keep the Flame
Alive”—reached
The commemoration began with a hymn and an
address by Professor Yarema Kelebay, President,
Ukrainian Canadian Congress –
Four members of the clerical community also spoke
to the gathering. Oleh Koretsky, of the
Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary read the
outstanding poem about the Famine, “Zahupaly dveri” by Pavlo Tychyna. Rev. Evhen Rudytch of the St. George’s
Orthodox Church in Lachine pointed out that the Canadian Council of Churches—a
committee representing all denominations of Christians—met with David Anderson
of the Federal Government in Ottawa to urge Prime Minister Steven Harper to
declare the 1933 Holodomor Famine in Ukraine a genocide. Father Rudytch also stressed that in the
26-year interval from 1921 until 1947,
Especially touching was the presentation by
Bishop Pakrat Galestanian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
Canada. After a prayer for the memory of
Holodomor victims, Bishop Galestanian stated that Ukrainians and Armenians
“share the same destiny … We have come to express solidarity and to share your
grief and to exhort you that these victims have not perished—they are witnesses
to freedom…”
After a greeting from the Liberal Party of
Canada, four students from the Ukrainian youth organizations SUM and Plast
put on a short play about the Famine, in order to make the experience of 1933
more immediate. At this point, Famine
survivor Stepan Horlatsch, who has travelled across Canada as the torch bearer
of the Remembrance Flame, stepped forward and said: “We have to know what took place 75 years ago
to pay tribute to the memory of millions of innocent victims, to condemn the
Soviet regime, and to get recognition of the Famine as an act of genocide.”
With this, Stepan Horlatsch lit Montrealer
Mykhajlo Hayduk’s candle, a fellow Holodomor survivor of the 1933
genocide. The intense look in Hayduk’s
eyes reminded the audience that here was indeed a man who had seen hell on
Earth. He spoke of the desperation of
hunger he witnessed. He talked of the
many villages where all had died and others were too afraid often venture into
them. Hayduk then proceeded to lighting the candles of those present and the
community sang first a hymn to the Virgin Mary and then the Ukrainian national
anthem.
This commemorative ceremony was coordinated and
organized by Bohdanna Hawryliuk, UCC Famine Genocide Committee of Montreal,
Marika Putko, UCC Montreal First Vice President, and Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova,
Press Coordinator, as well as Marika Farmus, Marie-Marte Markiza, Pavlo
Showhaniuk, and Evhen Osidacz.
Fran Ponomarenko teaches in the English
Department of Vanier College, in Montrea