Ukrainian Heritage Month Bill
Third Reading
October 1, 2025
Moved third reading of Bill S-210, An Act respecting Ukrainian Heritage Month.
He said: Honourable senators, I rise to begin our third reading debate on this bill. Let me start by acknowledging all the support I have felt from the members of this chamber as this bill has made its way through the Senate.
I also acknowledge the contributions that those who have spoken have made toward our better understanding of the importance of recognizing a Ukrainian heritage month.
I want to make a special note of thanks to Senator Batters in her role as the friendly critic. Senator Batters, your second reading speech last week was a masterful address of the many aspects of Ukrainian heritage.
I will be brief: I have had conversations with Ukrainians in both Canada and Ukraine about this bill. Both the long-standing Ukrainian diaspora and Ukrainian newcomers to Canada thank the Senate for taking this initiative. Many Ukrainians who are experiencing the horrors of war see this bill as a beacon of hope — a signal that Canada can be counted on to help end this war with a victory for Ukraine and to assist in the rebuilding that will be necessary when peace returns.
Serendipitously, today is Ukraine’s Defenders Day, a public holiday that honours veterans and fallen members of the Ukrainian armed forces. It is also a reminder to us that Ukraine is not only fighting for itself but also to uphold the values that the democracies of this world hold dear.
Senator Batters was right; I should have added the word “freedom” to the preamble. In Ukrainian, the word “freedom” is cvoboda. It has a historic legacy reaching back to the Cossacks and their fight for independence.
In Ukrainian, “independence” is nezalezhnist. In Ukrainian, nezalezhnist also means freedom from the tyranny of Russia. It means sovereignty, democracy and upholding the rule of law internally and internationally; it means taking a place as a valued member of the EU and NATO, and it means closer ties with like-minded nations such as Canada. Canada is ready to strengthen those ties through enhanced business-to-business relationships supported by the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement framework, increasing cultural diplomacy, supporting the military necessity and working to ramp up the success of returning the children that Russia has stolen.
Speaking of children, I would like to end my speech with a few remarks about children, specifically the Ottawa Ukrainian Children’s Choir which sang in the Senate last week. Colleagues, did you know that Senator Ataullahjan received so many warm hugs from them she is still glowing today? Just look at her.
Senator McBean enthralled them with her Olympic story about losing a race to Ukraine, but winning so many medals that all of them lost count.
Senator Ravalia made them laugh as he took countless selfies with them.
Senator Dasko gave them a warm welcome.
Senator Patterson took them into the chamber where they recreated Harry Potter stories and learned how the Senate works. Colleagues, I understand some of their debates were of better quality than ours.
This was a night these children will never forget. As they grow up, however, there are things seared in their minds that they also will never forget.
These children are from many different cities, towns and villages in Ukraine, including Bucha and Irpin. One of the young choir members from Bucha arrived a few years ago, mute because of the horrors they witnessed. Now that youngster is singing their heart out here in Canada — a place of safety and a place to heal.
Honourable colleagues, these children are some of those who will help carry on the heritage of Ukraine here in Canada. These children are as they sang to us: “We are the world, we are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day.” These children are amongst those whom you recognize and honour with this bill.
Thank you, d’akuju.
Honourable senators, I rise today to make a few short remarks at third reading in support of Senator Kutcher’s Bill S-210, which designates the month of September as Ukrainian heritage month.
This bill is identical to Bill S-276 which passed the Senate in the Forty-fourth Parliament and then died on the Order Paper earlier this year.
I am pleased that Senator Kutcher has reintroduced this bill.
I want to thank all honourable colleagues who attended our historic event last week celebrating Ukrainian Heritage Day in the Senate. I also thank my co-hosts of the event, Senator Kutcher and Senator Patterson. We three were delighted to showcase Ukrainian music, dance and food.
The Ukrainian community in Canada has roots that are over a century old, going back to the first large wave of immigrants to Canada before 1914, when over 170,000 Ukrainians arrived on our shores, including my own grandparents. It is remarkable that Ukrainian culture and heritage remain so strong after so long.
I have learned a lot from studying Bill S-210 and Bill S-276, from the remarkable speeches of our colleagues — Senators Simons, Batters and Kutcher — as well as from the historical record, which includes stories of hardship and exclusion, as well as stories of integration and success.
This bill will recognize the significant contributions that Ukrainian Canadians have made and continue to make to Canada’s social, economic, political and cultural fabric. Let me give you just one example: Ukrainian Canadians tenaciously embraced and promoted a vision of Canada as a multicultural society at a critical time in Canadian history when Canada was described by sociologist John Porter as a “vertical mosaic,” a rigid hierarchy of ethnic groups, and when diversity was not accepted as a goal. The community pushed forward, and their more inclusive view was eventually adopted and embraced. In 1971, brought forward by prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt a multicultural policy. Ukrainian Canadians can be justly proud of their pivotal role in bringing this about.
As we recognize Ukrainian heritage through this bill, we also affirm the worth of all communities and the respect and recognition that all communities seek for their contributions to this country as we continue to build a better and more inclusive society for all.
In Ukraine today, Putin’s brutal and ongoing war has resulted in untold hardship and needless loss of life. And as we think about Ukrainian heritage, we must understand that Ukrainian culture, art, language, libraries, museums and other cultural institutions are essential targets of what the Russians are destroying today in Ukraine. For Putin, Ukrainian heritage and identity must be stamped out.
Our support of this bill sends a message to the world that we Canadians care about this community, that we will remain resilient in supporting Ukraine and its aspirations as long as it takes.
I am pleased and proud to support Bill S-210, An Act respecting Ukrainian Heritage Month, and I hope that you, too, will support it. Let’s now send it to the other place.
Thank you, d’akuju.
Honourable senators, in my part of Alberta, Ukrainian heritage is everywhere.
Canada’s first Ukrainian pioneers arrived in Edmonton in June of 1892, and for all the years that the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union tried to wipe out Ukrainian national and cultural identity, Alberta’s Ukrainian diaspora kept the faith, literally. But they didn’t just build traditional churches. They preserved Ukrainian food, Ukrainian dance, Ukrainian poetry, Ukrainian music, Ukrainian embroidery. They created a living time capsule, nurturing and protecting Ukrainian culture, waiting for the day Ukraine would be free again.
Far from being assimilated, they co-opted everyone else into Ukrainian culture. But Ukrainian Canadians didn’t just teach us all to dance and eat dumplings and colour fancy eggs. They taught lessons in courage, in fidelity, in passion, in pride. They kept alive a dream — a dream of a free country — and convinced all of us to dream with them.
As Senator Dasko just explained, they gave Canada the gift of multiculturalism, pushing us beyond an anglophone-francophone binary, to embrace true cultural diversity. They showed us you could be a passionate, loyal Canadian while remaining passionately loyal to your ancestral culture.
It wasn’t always easy. People may know about the famous statues in Alberta that celebrate Ukrainian heritage: the giant perogy, the giant pysanka, the giant Mundare sausage. But the most important Ukrainian-Canadian statue is very different. It’s called Endurance. It’s a memorial to the 8,600 Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans, immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who were interned as suspected enemy aliens during the First World War. Most were young men, but 81 women and 156 children were also imprisoned in what were then actually called concentration camps, 24 of them across Canada, including 3 in Alberta.
Many of these people were, in fact, refugees from the Austro-Hungarian regime, but Canada, afraid of traitors within, locked them up and forced them to do hard labour, working on farms, building places such as Banff and Jasper national parks.
The monument to the Ukrainian internment sits on the grounds of the Alberta legislature, where it has two equally striking neighbours: a memorial to the victims and Survivors of Canada’s Indian residential schools and a monument to the Shoah and the victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The triad stand together to remind us and our political leaders of the horrors wrought by prejudice and racial hate, paranoia and propaganda.
Today, Ukraine is once again under siege. Vladimir Putin, aided by his North Korean allies, seeks to destroy the valiant democracy on his doorstep. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his masked minions are forcing suspect “aliens” into modern internment camps, while here in Canada, most especially in Alberta, craven politicians whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.
And so, in this dark hour, I thank the generations of Ukrainian Canadians who have fought for freedom, for community and for inclusion, exemplars for generations of how to be true Canadians.
Ukrainian heritage month should remind us all to stand vigilant against oppression and xenophobia, to stand on guard against those who would divide us and to stand up for our allies and for an international order in which might does not make right.
Thank you, hiy hiy.
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed.)
