Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-210. I’m pleased to make this speech during the month of September, as this bill would designate September as the annual Ukrainian heritage month in Canada.

Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world at 1.4 million people. Celebrating a Ukrainian heritage month would give us an opportunity to appreciate the historical contributions of Ukrainian Canadians towards the building of Canada and to build unbreakable bonds between Ukraine and Canada through the passing down of vibrant Ukrainian cultural practices and traditions through generations. This is especially important now, with Ukraine engaged in a fight for its very survival in the face of Vladimir Putin’s illegal Russian invasion.

Initiatives like this will strengthen Ukrainian cultural expression among the diaspora community, promoting support for Ukraine at a time when it needs it most. People may have become desensitized to this horrific war, which has lasted now for three and a half years. Increased discussion about Ukraine is a way to boost awareness of the conflict and illustrate the vibrant and distinct Ukrainian culture that Putin seeks to destroy.

As I have previously mentioned, the subject of Ukrainian heritage month is especially important to me as I am of 100% Ukrainian descent. I grew up immersed in Regina’s thriving Ukrainian-Canadian community. Ukrainian heritage and traditions were front and centre in our family home. We celebrated Ukrainian holidays, ate Ukrainian food and were and continue to be members of a Ukrainian Catholic church. My three sisters and I danced in Ukrainian troupes for many years, attended Ukrainian school classes and even acquired some Ukrainian language skills.

All our grandparents were from Ukraine. Three of the four of them migrated to Canada through Pier 21 in Halifax. The fourth — my grandfather — was born to parents who had emigrated to Canada via Ellis Island in New York the previous year. Their immigrant stories may echo those in your own family history, regardless of ethnicity or region. They left Ukraine for a new life in North America, settling in the vast expanse of the Canadian Prairies, a land offering untold opportunity and freedom from tyranny.

Ukrainian immigrants came to Canada in three large waves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first came in the 1890s, many of them farmers emigrating from western Ukraine to Western Canada, where land was advertised as free and plentiful. My own ancestors came to Canada during this first wave. Out of the desolate wilderness, Ukrainian immigrants cultivated not only productive farmland, but vibrant Ukrainian communities centred around religious and family traditions.

Xenophobia during World War I led to a dark and tragic chapter for Ukrainian Canadians. When the War Measures Act was invoked in 1914, Ukrainians and other “enemy aliens” from the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to register and report regularly to the police. Their basic rights were taken away, including to freedom of movement and association and, in 1917, their right to vote.

Sadly, nearly 8,600 Eastern European immigrants, around 5,000 of them Ukrainian, were imprisoned in Canadian internment or forced labour camps. After World War I ended, a second wave of Ukrainian immigrants came to Canada in the 1920s. It consisted of more farmers, but also labourers, professionals and industrial workers.

A third wave arrived after the Second World War and consisted largely of political refugees fleeing Russia and its dictator Joseph Stalin. Millions of Ukrainians died in a period of famine, violence and collective suffering orchestrated by Stalin, known as Holodomor. That, along with the aftermath of World War II, led many Ukrainians to flee persecution for the shelter of safer countries abroad, including Canada.

In our present day, Canada has continued to provide safe refuge for Ukrainians fleeing conflict in their homeland, including after Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada has welcomed nearly 300,000 Ukrainians fleeing this devastating and unjustified Russian aggression. Thank you to all the Canadians who have so kindly supported Ukrainian refugees fleeing this war, either financially or by volunteering to aid with their settlement in Canada.

Canada and Ukraine have shared a special relationship for the last 130 years, one of friendship, support and steadfast loyalty. It is a relationship forged on the common values of freedom, democracy and an unfailing commitment to optimism and hard work.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated during his historic address to the Canadian Parliament in September 2023:

The Ukrainian Canadian community is about millions of Ukrainian destinies that have become the destiny of Canada with all its diversity of communities.

Freedom-loving. Courage. Our special inner call for justice. The ability of our people to share comfort wherever they go, to build and create not to ruin or humiliate.

He continued, stating:

Ukraine and Canada are the same – we stand and we fight for life.

When President Zelenskyy came to address Parliament, I had the profound honour of meeting him. I was incredibly proud to welcome him to our Parliament wearing the traditional Ukrainian blouse of my Boonya — or grandmother — the one she had hand embroidered right before she sailed from Ukraine to her new life in Canada 100 years ago. This cultural artifact had made its way from her lifetime to mine. It was an indivisible thread linking her world in Ukraine to my own in Canada. It was the moment of a lifetime, emblematic of not only our treasured family history but of the shared values between nations and the wisdom and traditions passed from one generation to another.

This is why the celebration of our cultural heritage is so crucial. It brings us to moments like that, when we as Canadians can reflect upon the bravery our ancestors demonstrated in forging a new path and the sacrifices they and millions of immigrants made in helping to build their new country of Canada.

A national Ukrainian heritage month is an opportunity to offer our thanks to all the Ukrainian Canadians who have kept Ukrainian heritage alive and thriving in Canada for 130 years: the Ukrainian community groups, cultural associations and foundations and countless workers and volunteers who operate Ukrainian churches, schools, museums, archives, festivals, folk dance troupes and choirs, to name only some. Our Ukrainian-Canadian communities — and, in fact, all Canadians — are the fortunate beneficiaries of their tireless efforts.

It is also an opportunity to thank and remember brave Ukrainian immigrants like my grandmother, who came to Canada by herself as a very young woman 100 years ago on a big ship, aptly named the RMS Regina, not knowing a word of English. All she brought with her was what she could fit in a trunk.

Many thousands of Ukrainian immigrants came to Canada to clear the land and farm, often in harsh, unforgiving conditions and with rudimentary implements. Many of them first lived on the desolate prairies in sod huts. Survival alone was difficult. But they didn’t just survive; they thrived, and with their work ethic, they excelled in agriculture, business, politics, sports and many other spheres of life in their new home.

These Ukrainian immigrants built bustling communities. A church was often the first major community structure they built, reflecting the centrality of their religion to their Ukrainian culture. The often breathtakingly beautiful, intricately decorated Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches were the hubs of the community. These were where children would become educated in the catechism of these religions, and where members of the community would attend events; sing in choirs; or serve as altar servers, deacons or priests for the congregation. They built parish halls to host Ukrainian community events and hold weddings, funerals, receptions, dances and Christmas concerts.

Often, the children of these communities would attend Ukrainian school to learn Ukrainian language, history and cultural traditions. Of course, I can attest to the fact that not every student was necessarily always appreciative of the many benefits of Ukrainian school while enrolled in it. I remember many Saturday mornings ruing that I was missing the cartoons that were only on TV once a week — remember that? — or the many times I had to miss the most fun elementary school classes to attend Ukrainian school during the week.

Still, we owe a debt to the teachers and parents who kept the sometimes-grumbling students attending for understanding that Ukrainian cultural education was more important to building the children’s character than Bugs Bunny was.

The tradition of dance also features prominently in Ukrainian Canadian communities. Dancers, parents, teachers and group founders and organizers devote thousands of hours, most on a voluntary basis, to create the stunning performances by Ukrainian community dance troupes at significant cultural festivals and celebrations. Until recently, the many intricately decorated costumes required for these performances were sewn by parents, namely mothers. These are now more often purchased directly from seamstresses in Ukraine, which has the added benefit of supporting Ukraine in these challenging times.

The dances themselves illustrate the spirit of Ukraine come to life. They tell of Ukrainian history, love and heartbreak, warriors, survival and family.

Large Ukrainian festivals have become a key part of Canada’s cultural landscape. Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin, Manitoba, the largest in this country, celebrated 60 years this past summer. Winnipeg’s Folklorama, with its sizable Ukrainian pavilion, has run since 1970. The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival is the largest Ukrainian street festival in North America. Edmonton’s UFest, Saskatoon’s Ukrainian Day in the Park and the Ukrainian Karpaty Pavilion at Saskatoon’s Folkfest are other major displays of Ukrainian culture in Canada.

For 55 years, my home city of Regina has hosted an annual multicultural festival known as Mosaic, and the Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion has been a key part of that festival’s history and success. I performed with my dance groups at the Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion at Mosaic from the time I was a small child and continued to do so throughout my teenage years, and I’ve attended Mosaic with my family and friends for as long as I can remember. I was honoured to represent Regina’s Ukrainian community as Miss Kiev and our Kyiv Ukrainian Pavilion’s youth ambassador for two years.

These massive Ukrainian cultural festivals rely on countless volunteers, including organizers, performers, parents, fundraisers, and cooks, which usually means an army of Ukrainian babas making perogies. Many of these festivals and cultural exhibitions are organized and funded by significant Ukrainian Canadian organizations, with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress being perhaps the largest. This umbrella organization consists of local, provincial and national Ukrainian groups across Canada and has existed for 85 years. It supports Ukraine, encourages leadership and advocacy within the Ukrainian Canadian community and fosters many philanthropic, heritage and cultural initiatives across the country.

Some of those initiatives include museums and exhibitions of Ukrainian culture. Notably, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has helped fundraise for the reopening of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village near Tofield, Alberta, after that treasured cultural site was partially destroyed by fire this past spring.

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is an interactive village experience of many heritage buildings, with costumed interpreters portraying daily life in a historical Ukrainian Canadian village. The devastation wrought by fire at the village is a reminder of just how important the preservation of Ukrainian Canadian heritage is. When the site’s visitor welcome buildings burned down, the fire consumed many irreplaceable heritage furnishings and artifacts housed there. Sadly, the original research regarding the collection of heritage buildings was lost in the fire. Thankfully, other research materials and resources held at other locations and already partly digitized survived, as did the priceless heritage buildings so important to the site. The Ukrainian Heritage Cultural Village was closed for this summer season but hopes to reopen soon.

Much of the preservation and transmission of Ukrainian heritage, as in other ethnicities, occurs largely in the home. Grandparents and parents — but if I can say, especially mothers and grandmothers — are the guardians of family heritage. It was this way in our family. My mom was the keeper of our Ukrainian family history, our memories and traditions. She embroidered and sewed our many intricate Ukrainian dance costumes, and they were seemingly endless with four daughters in Ukrainian dance at the same time. She ferried all four of us back and forth to our frequent dance practices and performances, too. My mom and grandmothers, Boonya and Baba, taught us to make traditional Ukrainian food, following unwritten recipes they’d learned from their own mothers, including borscht; perogies, or perohe; cabbage rolls, or holubtsi; and kutia, a traditional wheat soup.

As with many ethnic communities, food is central to the expression of Ukrainian culture in Canada. Many of the Ukrainian dishes used in family celebrations and holidays, such as Christmas or Easter, stem from religious symbolism. For the Easter meal from the blessed baskets, for example, eggs symbolize life, butter is carved into the shape of a lamb to represent the Lamb of God, and a rich, circular bread called paska, served with salt, symbolizes good will and hospitality. Elements of design used to decorate Ukrainian Easter eggs, or pysanky, are also derived from Ukrainian religious traditions. A straight line around the egg represents eternity, dots are for the Virgin Mary’s tears, and a sieve symbolizes that which divides good and evil.

Many traditional Ukrainian dishes have become so intertwined with Canadian culture that they are now also considered Canadian favourites as well. This is certainly the case in the Prairies. Perogies, kubasa, which is a Ukrainian garlic sausage, and cabbage rolls are standard fare at Saskatchewan community hall banquets, celebrations, including wedding receptions, and church basement potluck dinners.

So it is important that Canada take every opportunity to support and celebrate Ukrainian Canadian culture. Passing these traditions from one generation to the next, from the Old World to the New World, fundamentally changes and strengthens our own Canadian culture.

The transmission of culture can also serve as an act of defiant political resistance. Currently, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has intentionally sought to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian heritage as a method of warfare. He outright denies the existence of a distinct Ukrainian culture. Putin has attempted to undermine Ukrainian pride, strength and continuity because they are the very elements that have made Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s aggression so constant and effective.

Putin’s war on Ukrainian culture is meant to extinguish the Ukrainian spirit and memory. Like the Nazis in World War II, Russian forces destroy Ukrainian books as they invade and occupy Ukrainian territory, looting and plundering historical museum artifacts, artworks and cultural treasures. The intent is to assimilate the Ukrainian people into Russian culture and to prevent the passing of Ukrainian customs and traditions on to the next generations.

It is no coincidence that one of Putin’s early acts of war on the Ukrainian people was the forced deportation of thousands of civilians and, most shamefully, the kidnapping of Ukrainian children from their families and their forced adoption into Russian families across the border. The heart of culture, the heart of identity, is the home, the family, in particular, the bond between parent and child. It is within the family that traditions are held close. It is there that culture, history and language are passed on to future generations, creating an unbreakable bond between the ancestors of yesterday and today’s modern civilization.

My Ukrainian ancestors endured harsh challenges, not the least of which was seeking an unknown destiny on the unforgiving Canadian prairies. Their hopes and dreams, their optimism and their commitment to hard work and family helped forge their path in a new world. And those values were passed on to us through family celebrations, customs and traditions, through Ukrainian cultural festivals and Ukrainian religious ceremonies and practices. Thousands of Ukrainian Canadian families just like my own contributed to the building of strong communities within Canada, weaving that knowledge into the tapestry of Canada’s social and cultural fabric.

That is why the recognition of a national Ukrainian heritage month is important. It is through the celebration of shared Ukrainian culture that we strengthen that link not only between our ancestors and our modern reality but also between the ancestral homeland of Ukraine and our strong and free nation of Canada.

The bravery inherent in the Ukrainian spirit is strong. In 2014, I travelled to Kyiv as part of the Canadian government’s mission as an observer of Ukraine’s presidential elections. I was humbled to walk the Maidan in Kyiv where, only three months earlier, brave Ukrainians stood their ground, demonstrating for democracy, and more than 100 Ukrainians died there in the struggle to force that very election.

Putin’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine in 2022 only galvanized the resolve of the Ukrainian people for their independent future. Putin initially expected the takeover of Ukraine to take three days. Yet, here we are three and a half years later, and Ukraine is still holding strong in this immense conflict. I remember watching news footage of the Ukrainians in the early months of that invasion, dancing and singing in subway bomb shelters underground as Russian bombs flew above. As they celebrated their distinct Ukrainian culture, their hope and their strength in the face of adversity, it was a testament to the Ukrainian spirit to “fight like Ukrainians.” It was recognition of the fact that no matter the odds stacked against them, Ukrainians are committed to hope and to a free and democratic future. Their joy and celebration are proof that the evil dictator Putin will never quash the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

A yearning for freedom has always stirred in the Ukrainian heart. It was the desire for liberation from persecution and the desire for better opportunities for their children and grandchildren that spurred hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants to leave behind their homeland and, in many cases, their relatives to forge a brighter future in the New World.

The freedom of religion offered in democracies like Canada was especially attractive to Ukrainians suffering under an autocratic government in Russia and later under the communist Soviet Union cracking down on the freedom to worship. In some cases, they punished and imprisoned Ukrainians who dared to practise their religion.

As the friendly critic of this legislation, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I still think “freedom” should be specifically included in this bill. I noted this in both my second reading speech and third reading speech when we debated this bill as Bill S-276 in the last parliamentary session. I am dismayed that Senator Kutcher, this bill’s sponsor, has still failed to highlight “freedom” in this new but identically worded iteration. Freedom is a major shared value between Ukraine and Canada, and it should be listed as such.

The iconic Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko wrote in 1839:

Love your dear Ukraine, adore her,

Love her . . . in fierce times of evil,

In the last dread hour of struggle . . . .

Ukraine faces a fierce time of evil now, as it struggles for its very existence against the murderous tyrant Putin. Ukrainians will succeed against adversity as they always have — whether they’re facing war or an uncertain future on a new shore — through hope, resilience and a sheer determination to survive.

Ukrainians will derive strength for their fight by holding on to their culture and traditions passed down through generations, as well as from the support from nations around the world who remain their steadfast allies, including Canada.

Ukrainians have proven time and again their willingness to risk everything to obtain freedom and democracy. That is why it’s so vital that we continue to support them in their fight for their very survival.

Sometimes that support has repercussions, such as in 2022 when Russia banned several Canadians who had been outspoken in support of Ukraine. Many Canadian politicians were on that list, and I was gratified to find that I was one of them. As someone who grew up Ukrainian-Canadian, it is an honour for me to proclaim loudly my support for Ukraine from a national platform through my parliamentary work.

As Canadians, we should take every opportunity to show our support for Ukraine and to recognize our countries’ joint heritage and destiny. That is one of the reasons why I will be supporting this bill to establish a national Ukrainian heritage month. We should take this additional opportunity to thank the stewards of Ukrainian-Canadian culture and celebrate the rich traditions and history that have helped to build Canada during the last 130 years. I hope you will join me in supporting this bill.

Thank you. Dyakoyu. Slava Ukraini.