Ukrainian President Volodymyr and Olena Zelenskyy’s historic visit to Toronto

HREC’s director of education, Valentina Kuryliw, attended President of Ukraine Volodymyr and First Lady Olena Zelenskyys’ historic visit to Toronto during a rally at the Fort York Armoury with a large crowd of approximately 1,000 members of the Ukrainian Canadian community present to show their support, including several dignitaries such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. After speeches and cultural presentations, Zelenskyy passed through the crowd greeting some of the attendees along the path. During this moment, Kuryliw greeted and gifted President Zelensky with a bag of HREC materials, including her recently published book, Maysternia Istoryka/Historian’s Craft Lesson on the Holodomor, in Ukrainian, published in 2021 by HREC Press in Kyiv. This was to apprise him that HREC Education is involved in a variety of educational projects and is helping to bring changes to the way Ukrainian history is being taught not only in Canada, but also in Ukraine today.  The gift bag also included the HREC Education mandate, Holodomor Memorial Day pamphlets and information on the work we do in Ukraine, including our two-week Summer School program teaching human rights and the Holodomor in Ukraine for the past 6 years.
Zelenskyy thanked Canada for the ongoing support to his country, which he said would help the Ukrainian people defend their land and eventually win the war:

“The day will come when we gather at a similar place in Ukraine, many people, millions, cheering crowds, blue and yellow flags and Maple Leaf flags,” he said to the cheering crowd. “Whole Ukraine will say, thank you…Canada.” Attendees spontaneously sang the Ukrainian national anthem together.