Toronto – On January 20, 2011, representatives of the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre met with Dr. Clint Curle, a researcher at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR). The Museum is scheduled to open in 2013 in Winnipeg.

Dr. Curle, whose research responsibilities at the CMHR include the Ukrainian Holodomor Famine-Genocide of 1932-33, asked to meet with representatives of the UCRDC in order to discuss with them the archival materials and resources available at the Centre on the Holodomor.

According to the CMHR’s website, “The Holodomor will be displayed permanently in the ‘Mass Atrocity’ zone, immediately adjacent to the Holocaust zone.  This zone will feature detailed information on the Holodomor and many other mass atrocities that have taken place worldwide…”

Dr. Frank Sysyn (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Historical Consultant, UCRDC), presented the current state of academic research on the Holodomor, and stressed Canada’s leading international role in recognizing the Holodomor as genocide.  Iroida Wynnyckyj (Head Archivist, UCRDC) introduced Dr. Curle to the UCRDC’s archival collection on the Holodomor; the UCRDC has been documenting the Holodomor since 1982. Orest Zakydalsky (Researcher, UCRDC) spoke about the UCRDC’s ongoing joint project with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Sharing the Story, which focuses on the collection of Holodomor eyewitness testimony. Valentina Kuryliw (Board of Directors, UCRDC, and Chair of the UCC National Holodomor Education Committee), spoke about the educational resources available on the Holodomor, presented Dr. Curle with a Holodomor Teaching Kit and stressed the importance of using the Holodomor, a communist genocide, as an excellent teaching tool for the 21^st Century. Switlana Medwicky (Curator, Barbed Wire Solution exhibit) reviewed the resources available at the UCRDC on Canada’s WWI internment of Ukrainians. An open and frank discussion followed on how the Holodomor might best be presented at the Museum.

Dr. Curle expressed his thanks to the UCRDC for making its extensive research materials and archives available to the Museum, and looked forward to future cooperation.

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