FOR THE RECORD: UCCLA letter to Ambassador Shcherbak (04/15/01)

FOR THE RECORD: UCCLA letter to Ambassador Shcherbak

On behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association's Director of Research Dr Lubomyr Luciuk met with Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Dr Yuri Scherbak on March 1, and presented him with a three-point memorandum. The full text of the memorandum follows.

* * *

Your Excellency:

On behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) requests your consideration of the following proposals:

1. That you grant permission for the UCCLA to unveil a trilingual plaque to the memory of all victims of Nazi and Soviet tyranny on the grounds of the Embassy of Ukraine to Canada in Ottawa, this event to take place on Saturday, November 24, 2001, involving a consecration ceremony and formal reception for survivors of the politically engineered Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, victims of the Nazi and Soviet gulag concentration camps, and representatives of those organizations which, throughout the 20th century, struggled to secure Ukraine's independence. The UCCLA would cover all of the costs involved in the design, preparation and installation of the memorial plaque while the Embassy of Ukraine would accept the responsibility for hosting the reception.

2. That, through your good offices, you convey to the government of Ukraine the UCCLA's expression of support for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes in Ukraine during the 20th century and that you request that the UCCLA, which has taken a leading role in representing the interests of the Ukrainian diaspora in this field, be formally involved in the planning, work and drafting of any recommendations put forward by the commission.

3. That you convey to the government of Ukraine our recommendations that funds be dedicated immediately for the compilation of a Ukrainian Book of the Dead, listing all Ukrainians who perished as a result of Soviet and Nazi tyranny, and for the development in Kyiv of a National Ukrainian Museum of Memory, whose goal would be to recall all of the millions of Ukrainians enslaved, driven into exile, or murdered by the Soviet and Nazi regimes. It is our belief that a country that does not hallow the memory of what its sons and daughters suffered in order to secure national freedom will not long endure.

Respectfully submitted for the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association by Prof. Lubomyr Luciuk, March 1, 2001, Ottawa.

| Home Page |