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Canadian MP raises concerns over omission of Ukraine famine-genocide

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  • Canadian MP raises concerns over omission of Ukraine famine-genocide

    BRAMA (press release), NY
    Feb 2 2008


    Canadian MP raises concerns over omission of Ukraine famine-genocide
    from school course

    In his letter to John Campbell, head of the Toronto District School
    Board, M.P. Borys Wrzesnewskyj expressed his concerns that
    information about the 1932-1933 Holodomor (famine genocide) in
    Ukraine was excluded from TDSB's grade 11 course entitled Genocide:
    Historical and Contemporary Implications.

    * * *

    January 30, 2008

    John Campbell
    Chair
    Toronto District School Board
    5050 Yonge St.
    Toronto, ON M2N 5N8
    [email protected]

    Dear John,

    Let me begin by congratulating you on your recent election as Chair
    of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), the most diverse school
    board in a province and country that are recognized across the world
    for their commitment to multiculturalism. I am confident that your
    previous experience as Chair of the Administration, Finance and
    Accountability Committee has prepared you for the challenges that lie
    ahead.

    It is my understanding that the Ontario Ministry of Education has
    approved the TDSB's grade 11 course entitled Genocide: Historical and
    Contemporary Implications. As someone who has devoted a considerable
    amount of time to addressing human rights issues in the former Soviet
    Union and who has organized, financed and led fact-finding missions
    to devastated Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan, I applaud the
    introduction of a full-credit course which will allow students to
    study, explore and confront genocide, war crimes and crimes against
    humanity. It will provide young students with a historical context of
    the horrific consequences of traveling down the path of intolerance
    or a belief in racial or religious superiority.

    John, you are probably unaware that I am a founding member and serve
    on the executive of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the
    Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, whose first chair
    was Senator Rome'o Dallaire. We often engage in discussions about the
    importance of education in the prevention of future crimes against
    humanity.

    I have also had the opportunity to lecture and engage on the issue of
    genocide with University of Ottawa students who take Professor
    Dominique Arel's course `Political Violence: The Comparative Study of
    Mass Killing.' During this particular lecture I illustrated three
    categories of genocide and variants thereof. The first category of
    genocide is the most primitive and common form of genocide; this form
    of genocide, which predates written history, I call the `hurricane of
    hatred' when one tribe descends upon another with the intent to
    massacre the other tribe's members. In the 20th century, the world
    was frozen by a lack of political resolve when a `hurricane of
    hatred' descended upon Rwanda.

    The second form of genocide, `genocide by attrition,' appeared as a
    contemporary of human civilization and written history. Typically,
    this form of genocide entailed a city state's population being
    surrounded militarily, allowing hunger and disease, that is,
    `genocide by attrition.' In the 20th century the world stood by as
    Stalin encamped `Europe's breadbasket' in Ukraine, millions of
    peasants were starved through a `genocide by attrition' all the while
    grain produced on these fertile fields was being exported to the
    West. This particular `genocide by attrition' not only deserves
    special note as it had the largest number of victims by this form of
    genocide, but also because there continues to be `holodomor/genocide
    denial' by the Russian Federation and fellow travelers. Shockingly,
    Russian politicians such as President Putin pride themselves as the
    inheritors of Stalin's political legacy, and have even applied
    pressure in international forums (including in meetings with Canadian
    government officials) to deny this genocide.

    Finally, there is the third category of genocide of which there is
    only one horrific example, `the Holocaust.' A genocide by which
    politicians engaged not just soldiers, but highly educated engineers
    and scientists in its meticulously planned `Final Solution.'

    While I applaud the introduction of a course by the TDSB that
    `investigates examples of genocide in the twentieth and twenty-first
    centuries,' I am perplexed and disturbed that one of the greatest
    mass murders in European history and the most horrific example of
    `genocide by attrition,' the 1932-1933 Holodomor (famine genocide) in
    Ukraine, a famine master-minded and carried out by the Soviet regime
    under Joseph Stalin, is not explicitly mentioned along with the
    `Holocaust, Armenia, and Rwanda' (see PDF file). This is especially
    worrisome as there is no lack of `holodomor/genocide' deniers in
    Canada.

    John, a number of constituents, who are also your constituents, have
    raised concerns with me about the omission of the mention of the
    Holodomor in this course description. I have also been contacted by
    Mr. Marco Levytsky, editor of Ukrainian News, a national Ukrainian
    Canadian newspaper, seeking answers to the following questions:

    Why was the Holodomor omitted from the list of genocides to be
    explicitly studied?
    Are there any plans to rectify this omission?
    If so, is the TDSB willing to work with the Ukrainian Canadian
    community to rectify this omission?

    I would ask you to review the issues and concerns that I and many
    others in Toronto are raising and would appreciate meeting with you
    on this issue.

    Respectfully,
    Borys Wrzesnewskyj, M.P.
    Etobicoke Centre

    cc:
    Bruce Davis, Trustee (Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore)
    Marco Levytsky, Editor & Publisher Ukrainian News
    Hon. Yoine Goldstein, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for the
    Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
    Hon. Raynell Andreychuk
    Gerard Kennedy

    http://www.brama.com/news/press/2008/02/080202wr zesnewskyj_faminegenocide.html
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