March 23, 2018

Canada provides $1.45 M in funding for Holodomor awareness project

More

National Holodomor Awareness Tour

At the press conference announcing a Canadian government grant for a Holodomor awareness project (from left) are: Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj; Roma Dzerowicz, executive director, Holodomor National Awareness Tour; MP Arif Virani, parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism to Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly; Bohdan Onyschuk, chair, Holodomor National Awareness Tour Committee; and MP James Maloney.

TORONTO – The Ukrainian Canadian community welcomed the announcement by Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly of a three-year grant valued at $1.45 million to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC).

The funding announcement was made on February 22 in Toronto by Member of Parliament Arif Virani (Parkdale-High Park), parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism to the minister of Canadian heritage.

The HMC is a state-of-the-art interactive audio-visual learning center geared to high schools, universities and the public. The tour and the HMC educate Canadian students, community leaders and the public about the events of the horrific Holodomor, the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, and its relevance to the world today.

Since its launch in 2015, the HMC has toured Canada from coast to coast. Over 25,000 people – including more than 18,000 students and educators – have visited the HMC, learning about the values of multiculturalism, diversity, human rights and respect for human dignity.

The Holodomor National Awareness Tour is a joint project of four organizations: the Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF, the lead on the project), the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC) and the Holodomor Research and Educational Consortium (HREC).

“This project was originally conceived to build bridges among communities to promote intercultural understanding, tolerance, awareness and a deeper respect for the democratic values that we Canadians hold so dear,” said Bob Onyschuk, past chair of CUF, who is the project lead. “We have done just that, and are delighted that the Government of Canada has honored the success of this project by agreeing to renew it for a further three years. We are also very proud that the HMC was recognized in 2017 by the international A’ Design Awards Competition (Como, Italy) with a coveted Gold A’ Design Award in the Education and Training Content category for best ‘Immersive Learning Experience’ – and we plan to put the HMC to this hi-tech creative use for the next three years.”

Paul Grod, UCC national president. stated: “We are grateful to the government of Canada for its strong support for Holodomor education, which will teach Canadians of our shared responsibility to stand up to tyranny, oppression and crimes against humanity around the world.”

He added, “This year, we commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor. We honor the millions of victims of the Holodomor and pay tribute to the survivors, whose courage in sharing their story ensured that the terrible Genocide did not remain hidden from the world.”

Funding for Holodomor National Awareness Tour has also been generously provided by the government of Canada, the provincial governments of Ontario and Manitoba, Temerty Family Foundation, Ihnatowycz Family Foundation, Petro Jacyk Education Foundation and the Huculak Foundation.

To learn more about the tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom, readers may go to the tour’s website at www.holodomortour.ca, its Facebook page or its Twitter account.

Comments are closed.