Holodomor Memorial Day 2024

Holodomor Memorial Day in Schools: the 4th Friday of November

On the 29 May of 2008, the Parliament of Canada unanimously passed an “Act to Establish a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day and to Recognize the Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933 as an Act of Genocide.” As a result of the advocacy of the Holodomor Education Team (UCC-Toronto) and later the National Holodomor Education Committee (NHEC), in 2008, the Toronto District School Board passed a resolution to hold an annual Holodomor Memorial Day in schools on the fourth Friday of November. Since then, other school boards across the country have followed suit. Each year for this event, the National Holodomor Education Committee (NHEC) and increasingly HREC Education, prepare an information pamphlet to help educators commemorate this day in their schools.

Memorial Day Announcement

What happens when food is taken away and used as a weapon against the very people who grew it?

Food is an essential human right that is part of our right to life. It sustains and nourishes our bodies and minds, unites families and communities, and is part of our cultural identity and celebrations.

In 1932-33, Joseph Stalin, the leader of the former Soviet Union, imposed policies that led to the confiscation of livestock and crops grown by farmers in Ukraine. His government officials searched homes for hidden food, seized private property, forbade citizens to leave their villages to find food, and closed the borders of Ukraine to prevent people from searching for food elsewhere. This resulted in a human-made famine, a genocide of the Ukrainian people by starvation, known as the Holodomor. Food was used as a weapon to starve the farmers into submission under Stalin’s dictatorial rule.

The Holodomor genocide has been denied, covered-up and ignored for decades, and the archival records remained closed to researchers for many years. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the facts of this historical injustice and genocide were brought to light and the Holodomor is now recognized as one of nine genocides by the Canadian Government.

In Canada, we remember the Holodomor on two days in the school year. On April 16th, we observe Holodomor Remembrance Day in Schools during April Genocide Month. In November, we commemorate Holodomor Memorial Day on the fourth Friday during Holodomor Education Week. These are days we learn about the Holodomor genocide and remember the millions of victims who died. We also honour the strength, determination, and resilience of the people of Ukraine who managed to survive.

In 2024, food is once more being used as a weapon against the peoples of Ukraine and other countries. Learning about the Holodomor empowers us with knowledge about the past and helps us respond to the war in Ukraine today with understanding. With this knowledge and understanding we can build our future global communities with compassion and hope. Let’s remember the people of Ukraine who were starved to death during the Holodomor, and the survivors whose children again fight for their identity and right to exist as a nation today.

Pamela Clark is an educator with the Calgary Board of Education in Alberta, Canada, and the 2024 recipient of the HREC Educator Award for Holodomor Lesson Plan Development.

April 16, 2024
Holodomor Remembrance Day In Schools

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress designated April 16 as HOLODOMOR REMEMBRANCE DAY IN SCHOOLS, together with HREC and UCC’s National Holodomor Education Committee (NHEC). Because April 16, 2022 falls on a Saturday, Holodomor Remembrance Day in schools will be held on April 19.

The Holodomor is one of nine global genocides recognized by the Government of Canada and by six of Canada’s provincial legislatures. It was in the Spring of 1933, during the Holodomor’s deadliest year, that the number of deaths escalated significantly.

Every year in April, Ukrainians worldwide traditionally visit cemeteries and remember the dead with special memorial ceremonies held the week after Easter, when victims of the Holodomor are specifically remembered.

Canada has been affected by many genocides and recognizes:
the Armenian Genocide, Ukrainian Holodomor, Jewish Holocaust, the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the Genocide in Bosnia. The Canadian Parliament has also recognized the ongoing genocide being committed against the Yezidi in Syria and Iraq today, the Rohingya
in Myanmar, the Romani during WWII, and currently the Uyghurs in China.

Educators are encouraged to take time in April to remember those who suffered and lost their lives in the Holodomor and other genocides, and to commit to using education to protect and defend human rights and dignity everywhere.

Kharkiv, Ukraine, 1932-33
Photo: A. Wienerberger, Innitzer Collection