Toronto Trustees Recognize Holodomor

Alex Chumak

The Toronto District School Board has, after numerous calls, e-mails and personal requests by the Ukrainian Community, recognized the Holodomor.

In a motion that was unanimously approved on August 27/08 Board meeting, the trustees resolved that the “fourth Friday of November be a day of recognition in all schools in honour of those who died during Holodomor and that this day be officially marked in the system-wide calendar.” It follows that the next logical step is to introduce appropriate curriculum materials on the Holodomor.

Trustee Mari Rutka (Willowdale), who presented the motion, and whose husband is Ukrainian, stated that “the Holodomor has been wrongly denied over the years, and that students need to be aware of this sad epoch in Ukrainian History. It is important to give them an opportunity to study this significant and sad tragedy.”

In a dramatic turn around, other trustees joined in their support. Trustee Irene Atkinson (High Park/Parkdale), who seconded the motion, stated in an interview that “it’s time for our Board to acknowledge this monumental injustice to the Ukrainian people.”

Every speaker expressed similar sentiments, indicating support for the motion. Chris Bolton (Trinity/Spadina) claimed that “our Board is following the Federal governments lead (the federal government of Canada proclaimed in June 2008 that the Holodomor was in fact an act of genocide.)

But it was Trustee Bruce Davis (Etobicoke/Lakeshore) who emphasized that the Ukrainian community “educated us and made us aware of the facts concerning the Holodomor. To use food as a weapon, and suffering through starvation was insidious and unthinkable,” he said. He purchased books on the Holodomor at his own expense and provided them to schools in his ward.

Trustee John Campbell (Etobicoke Centre), the Chair of the Board in an interview concurred “Toronto staff and students must be educated on the Holodomor issues” he said.

Trustee after Trustee supported the motion. Trustee Josh Matlow (St. Paul’s) summarized the issue “while the board is emphasizing 3 other genocides, it is vital that the Holodomor not be omitted from the collective understanding of history by the next generation of Toronto students. This is a first good gesture.”

John Hastings (Etobicoke North) stressed the fact that the Ukrainian Community “must be vigilant to see this motion implemented since in a large system such as ours, things do fall through the cracks.”

In a sense, it was a pleasure to listen to the positive comments of the Trustees in supporting the recognition motion. It was especially rewarding when the motion was passed unanimously.

Markian Shwec, president of the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who was present at the meeting, extended “Congratulations to the Board for taking a huge step forward in recognizing the Holodomor and honouring the memory of its victims”, while Eugene Yakovitch, Chair of the Famine Genocide Committee at the Ukrainian Canadain Congress (Toronto Branch) remarked “the recognition of the Holodomor is an important step in the education process. We now have the impetus to continue to press the Board to include the Holodomor in the curriculum.”

Yakovitch is referring to the pending motions, to be debated on September 24/08 to prepare a teaching unit on the Holodomor, to be ready for use in the schools by September 2009.

Why this turn around by the trustees?

It was only a few months ago when the Ukrainian community en masse attended a School Board meeting to request the inclusion of the Holodomor in the curriculum. As reported in June 2008, well researched and thoughtful presentations to teach the Holodomor were made to the Board. At that time, the trustees seemed to be disinterested and appeared to be annoyed by the persistent requests by the Ukrainian community. In many cases, phone calls were not returned, emails ignored and staff failed to meet with UCC representatives to discuss the issues relating to the Holodomor.

So what happened?

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Ukrainian community acted in a professional and persistent manner. Well researched and conclusive documented facts were presented to the trustees and to the Board staff. Given this documentation, they can longer delay the inevitable – to include the Holodomor in the curriculum.

Having succeeded in commemorating the 4^th Friday of November as the Holodomor Recognition Day, the Ukrainian community must not stop and rest on its laurels. It is essential that we continue to lobby the trustees and staff of the TDSB in a well organized, professional and systematic way to ascertain that the motion to include a teaching unit on the Holodomor, to be debated on September 24/08 pass unanimously. 

Alex Chumak is a former school trustee.