They all recognized the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932 to 1933 as an act of genocide.
The Holodomor (literally murder by hunger) was a deliberate act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation. It killed up to 10 million victims.
Several Canadian provinces have also recognized the Holodomor as genocide, and many school boards, both in Canada and worldwide, have incorporated a teaching unit on this genocide as part of their curriculum.
As more evidence and documentation is made available, scholars and historians have concluded that the Holodomor is genocide as defined by the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Canada is home to 1.3 million citizens of Ukrainian origin. More than 100,000 Ukrainians live in Toronto, with thousands of students attending Toronto schools.
Consequently, the Ukrainian community has requested that in addition to the Holocaust and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides, the Holodomor be included in the curriculum of the Toronto District School Board.
While recognizing that "more people died in the Ukrainian famine than in all of the genocides in this course," the board did not see fit to include the Holodomor this year but to review its decision in three years.
The board did, however, establish an appeal process and on June 2, the Ukrainian Congress of Canada, Toronto Branch presented substantial educational reasons by professionals and parents to include the Holodomor in the 2008 to 2009 academic year.
The expectation was that the information provided at the appeal would be evaluated on its merit and the committee would render a decision that is fair and educationally sound.
But this did not happen.
While the presentations were made, the trustees, who were in a position to vote to include the Holodomor in the course of studies, seemed disinterested. When the presentations were over, the floor was open to questions. Not one trustee asked a question or indicated they would support the appeal. They seemed oblivious to the filled-to-capacity supporters who were present.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that Holodomor was in fact a genocide, as confirmed by scholars, historians and at least 15 national governments with more to come, the trustees turned a blind eye to the facts before them.
In fact, it was insulting to the Ukrainian community that only three of the five committee members bothered to show up to listen to the deputants, just barely meeting the quorum, although the two other trustees were available by phone.
It seems that victims of Holodomor, at least to the trustees, are only statistics.
Historically, the Toronto board has never shied away from controversial, sensitive or progressive issues. In fact, it is the first board in the GTA to have a course on genocide at the Grade 11 level. For this it should be applauded. However, not including this genocide in the curriculum is both offensive and unacceptable since 2008 is the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor.
In fact, the Canadian government has proclaimed the fourth Saturday in November as Holodomor Memorial Day. How can we juxtapose the government's proclamation with a lack of suitable resources in our schools to teach young Canadians about the Holodomor and its implications? This was raised at the June 2 meeting, but it seemed to fall on deaf and apathetic ears.
The Ukrainian community does not want to state that the Holodomor is more important than other genocides, in other words "my genocide is greater than your genocide." On the contrary, every genocide is a blemish in the world community, as it clearly demonstrates man's inhumanity to man. However, not to include the Holodomor as a genocide of gigantic proportions, which was ignored, concealed, and hidden until very recently, is both an injustice and lack of sensitivity and contrary to the Board's guidelines on genocide studies.
Alex Chumak