TranslatePolitics.ca

Yvan Baker

Liberal 1:40 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass next week while a sick senator can still watch. All parties support it. I tried to pass similar bills before, but they failed. Canada supports Ukraine against Russia. Passing this bill now is the compassionate thing to do.”

Official Hansard

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed. He said: Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise here to speak to Bill S-210. If passed, this bill will designate September as Ukrainian heritage month in Canada. As the sponsor of this bill in the House, I will give brief remarks today. I will not be using all of my time. The government side will not be putting up any other speakers, and the majority of the parties in the House have agreed not to have MPs speak to this bill today, to ensure that we can have debate collapse today on this bill so debate ends before the time allocated for it comes to a close. Why is this happening? All parties support the passage of this bill. We know that because it has been unanimously supported at second reading and unanimously supported at the heritage committee, and it has come back from the committee to the House without amendments. There is no doubt about that. If the bill continues on a normal schedule, it will likely pass sometime in the fall. Normally, this would be just fine, but former senator Stan Kutcher, who is the Senate sponsor of this bill, and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress have made the request that we expedite the passage of this bill so a final vote on this bill can be held next week. They have done so because the former senator is in poor health. In fact, that is why the former senator resigned his seat in the Senate several weeks ago, because his health did not allow him to continue his work. As the House sponsor, I have spoken with many colleagues about this, on all sides of the House. I want to be clear that I have no personal political interest in seeing this happen. I know that the bill will pass soon. I know it will probably pass in the fall. However, I do have an interest in this on a personal level, as I think all of us in the House do as well. Because the senator is in poor health, I believe it is the compassionate and humane thing to do to set aside the various political considerations we all have all the time and pass this bill while the senator's health allows him to be here to watch it happen. The senator, members of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who are watching this debate, and I have reached out to all parties over the past few months to ask for help in expediting the passage of this bill for this reason. From my end, I want members to know that I have done what I can as the House sponsor. I have traded up with other MPs so the bill gets debated sooner than it would have been otherwise. Normally, we would be at this stage in the fall. I have spoken with members of the heritage committee to ask for their help in this, and they have helped with this. I thank the heritage committee members for that. I have reached out to all parties in advance of this debate, as has the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, to ask for their help in allowing debate to collapse today. The reason this is important, for those who are not familiar with parliamentary procedure, is that if debate collapses today, the bill can go to a final vote next week and pass. If debate does not collapse today, the bill would probably not get to a final vote until at least the fall. My request to all MPs of all parties is that we allow the debate to collapse today. The majority of the parties have agreed to do what they can to make this happen. I appeal to members of all parties to allow debate to end before the allotted time is complete today so this bill can go to a final vote next week and so that former senator Kutcher can be here to watch it pass. For the benefit of those watching at home who have not followed the debate, I just want to say a few words about the bill. The first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada arrived on September 7, 1891. Since then, generation upon generation of Ukrainians have come to Canada, many of them fleeing oppression and seeking a better life. They found that life here in Canada. Ukrainian Canadians have helped to make Canada the great country it is today, and their contributions span our political, economic and social life, and much more. That is why, for example, in 2011, the Ontario legislature passed a law, unanimously supported by all parties at that time, to declare September 7 Ukrainian Heritage Day in Ontario. At the time, I was president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress - Ontario Provincial Council, and I was proud to have been one of the people who wrote that bill and helped to get it passed. That is also why I am proud to have introduced my own Ukrainian heritage month legislation in each of the last three Parliaments to do the same thing this bill would do, designate September as Ukrainian heritage month in Canada. Some have asked me why the three bills I introduced have not passed. The reason is that after every election, as all members know, MPs are put into a lottery to determine the order in which their bills come up for debate here in the House. Usually, in a four-year term, I believe about 60 to 80 MPs can have their bills debated and voted on. After each election, I have not been lucky enough to be in the top 80 in that lottery. I have been too far down. This time around, I think I am 218 or so. I have not been able to have a bill I have introduced here come to a vote. I want to be clear that this is not for lack of effort on my part. I have done everything I can to pass it, but it has simply not been possible. In fact, we can all think of examples of this on all sides. We have members here who have been elected for decades and have never had a bill pass. We recently had a member on our side who, after over 20 years in elected office, finally had a bill pass for the first time. That is how hard it is to pass a bill, because of the procedure. The fact that the bill we are debating today was introduced by a senator who was high enough in the order in the Senate, and given that it was passed in the Senate, it was given priority here in the House, is what gives us the opportunity to pass it. I just want folks to understand those dynamics. The reasons to support this bill, I think, are pretty clear. We have debated them before. First, it is an opportunity to celebrate Ukrainian heritage, which we see in our communities and every one of our ridings from coast to coast to coast. Second, it is a national acknowledgement of the people whose contributions have shaped Canada for about 135 years. Third, since 1891, Ukrainian Canadians have come to Canada seeking a better life, and since 1891, Canada has supported them. That is why Canada was the first country in the world to recognize Ukraine's independence in 1991. That is why Canada was among the first countries in the world to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide. That is why our government has been a global leader in supporting the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend themselves against Russia's brutal invasion. I would argue that there has never been a more important time to pass this bill than now. For the past four years, Ukrainians have been defending themselves against that invasion, and Canada has been a global leader in supporting them. I believe there are two key reasons we support the people of Ukraine. The first is that it is the right thing to do. It is the moral thing to do. The second reason is that it is the right thing for Canada. This is because I believe Ukraine's victory is vital to Canada's security. If Russia wins, we know it will not stop at Ukraine. We know this because Vladimir Putin has told us so. He is leading a hybrid war against European countries right now. He has sent drones over military bases in NATO. He has claimed, in the past, parts of the Canadian Arctic as Russian territory. European, French and German military and political leaders are publicly saying that their people have to be ready for a land war with Russia in the next five years. Therefore, Russia's invasion is not just about Ukraine. Ukraine is just the first step in Putin's expansionist ambitions. If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, make no mistake that NATO will be next. That means we will be next. We will be fighting to defend ourselves against Russian aggression, whether in Europe, the Canadian Arctic or somewhere else, so either we pay a small price now to help Ukraine win, or we pay a much bigger price later, in Canadian dollars and in Canadian lives. That is why I believe we have to stand with the Ukrainian people until they win. That is why Canada has been a global leader in supporting Ukraine, with over $25 billion in support since 2022: military, humanitarian, financial and more. Ukraine is fighting on the front lines of the global struggle between democracy and tyranny. Its struggle is our struggle. That is why there has never been a more important time to adopt this bill. This bill honours the past, strengthens the present and inspires the future. Ukrainian heritage month would offer a special opportunity for us to celebrate Ukrainian heritage, the role that Canada has played in supporting Ukrainian Canadians, and the contributions that Ukrainian Canadians have made to Canada. I hope all members of this House will not only support this bill, because I know all members of this House do support it, but join us in allowing debate to collapse today so we can pass it next week, with the former senator watching, and designate each September, including this coming September, as Ukrainian heritage month across Canada.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Marilyn Gladu

Liberal 1:40 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass. I thank my colleague. He has done a lot for Ukraine. People should let this debate end now. That is very important.”

Yvan Baker

Liberal 1:40 p.m.

“I want this debate to end now so we can pass the bill next week. Passing the bill is more important than debating it.”

Rachael Thomas

Conservative 1:40 p.m.

“You control what gets debated. If you actually wanted this bill to pass quickly, you would have scheduled it sooner. Why didn't you?”

Yvan Baker

Liberal 1:40 p.m.

“I don't want to admit we control the agenda. I'll just claim what you said isn't possible.”

Connie Cody

Conservative 1:40 p.m.

“I like this bill. It would make September Ukrainian heritage month. My family came from another country too. People come to Canada and work hard. That's what Ukrainian-Canadians did. We should celebrate their contribution.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, September has always felt like a month of beginnings. The quiet of summer gives way to something busier and more purposeful. In Cambridge and North Dumfries, where I am from, we feel a shift. There is a particular energy to September that other months do not quite carry, a sense that something is being picked up and continued. Therefore, when I look at Bill S‑210, a Senate bill now at report stage in this House, sponsored by the member for Etobicoke Centre, which would designate September as Ukrainian heritage month, I see an opportunity to combine the vitality of that season with the pride of a community that has shaped Canada's character for generations. That is why I could offer my support. I want to take a few minutes to talk about why, and what I genuinely hope it accomplishes. The Ukrainian Canadian community's patience has outlasted more than one Parliament already, a testament to its perseverance and its faith in this institution. I have some personal understanding of what it means to leave a country and build a life somewhere new. That was my family's story. What I know from growing up with that history is that people do not leave easily. They leave because they have to, or because they believe the sacrifice is worth what is waiting on the other side. They carry what they can, and they let go of what they must. Then they get to work, because that is the only way forward. What heritage actually looks like, in my experience, is not the declared kind. It is the lived kind, and the two are not always the same thing. I grew up in Cambridge, Ontario. It is a city with deep roots and a proud identity built over generations by families who came from different corners of the world and decided to invest their full energy and hope in making this their home. The families I grew up alongside came from Portugal, from Scotland, from Germany, from all across this country and from across the world. What they brought with them was not only language or food or tradition, though all of that came too. They brought a way of working, a standard for how people treat their neighbours and a belief that if they show up and do the job right, this place will give something back. Over time, those values merged into something distinctly Cambridge, a city that is just as proud of where it came from as where it is going. That is what heritage looks like when it is working: not a flag on a building or a line in a speech, but real people making real choices, and those choices feeding generations of rich community. The first wave of Ukrainian settlers arrived in Canada in September 1891, and it is precisely that first recorded arrival that gives the month chosen for this bill its significance. Most of these settlers were farmers who broke ground on the Prairies and created communities from conditions that would have turned most people back. They settled in places like Chipman, Alberta, and Stuartburn, Manitoba, places that were barely names on maps when they arrived. They did not treat being Ukrainian and being Canadian as separate identities—

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Hon. Judy A. Sgro

Liberal 1:55 p.m.

“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later. I want this bill to pass so the government can claim it is helping families.”

Connie Cody

Conservative 1:55 p.m.

“That's a nice story. It makes me happy. We should have a Ukrainian Heritage Month. The government should tell everyone to learn about Ukrainian culture during September.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, they did not treat being Ukrainian and being Canadian as separate identities. They recognize that being one deepened what it meant to be the other. They held on to their language, their faith and their traditions, while also becoming some of the most committed Canadians this country has ever seen. They knew that they could love where they came from and love where they were. Canadians recognize this truth instinctively because it mirrors the story of so many families who have made this country home. By 1914, approximately 170,000 Ukrainians had made Canada their home. They established newspapers to preserve their language while learning English. They sent their children to Canadian schools while teaching them Ukrainian songs. They carried something heavier too: the memory of the Holodomor, the Soviet-engineered famine, of 1932 and 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The grief of this travesty was carried across an ocean where it was held quietly for generations and where it still lingers in the hearts of their descendants. The fact that a community carrying that kind of loss still chose to build here, still chose to invest everything in this country, says something profound both about their resilience and about what Canada offered them. Continuing waves arrived after the Second World War, carrying the weight of further displacement and loss, but no less determined to build something beautiful. Another wave came after 1991, when independence opened a door that had been closed for generations. Most recently, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canadians from coast to coast have opened their communities to families arriving under circumstances no one should ever face. Each wave made the same essential decision to start over, to rebuild, and to give their children and grandchildren something reliable when everything solid had been taken from them. That decision, made when nothing was certain and everything mattered, demands a kind of resolve that deserves more than brief recognition. Ontario and Manitoba have already designated September as Ukrainian Heritage Month. Alberta and Saskatchewan have followed suit. Parliament is, in a real sense, catching up to what those provinces recognized some time ago. Federal recognition carries a unique weight, and it matters that this House adds its voice to what the provinces have already affirmed. When we designate Ukrainian heritage month federally, we are not just recognizing a community. We are inviting the entire country to see their story reflected in our shared Canadian story. Every May, communities across Canada mark Vyshyvanka Day, a celebration of Ukrainian culture and identity expressed through the embroidered shirts that have become a symbol of heritage and resilience. In Toronto, thousands gather at Nathan Phillips Square. In Edmonton, families fill Churchill Square. In Winnipeg, the celebration has grown into one of the city's largest cultural events. That is the spirit September heritage month should aspire to match. Someone can walk through Cambridge on any weekend and they will see that same spirit. They will see people who have been here for generations standing beside people who arrived recently, working on the same fundraiser or coaching the same team. There are firefighters, police officers, teachers, innovators, builders and workers. People do not focus on their differences. They focus on building the community together. That is what Cambridge does, and from what I see, it is what most Canadian communities do when given half a chance. The spirit of showing up, pitching in and not making a production of it is one of the most genuinely Canadian things I know. It exists because generations of people from different places brought their best and added it to something larger than themselves. That is the community I am proud to represent. That is the foundation that Bill S-210 is, in its own way, asking us to honour. I have met with farming families in North Dumfries who have worked the same land for four generations, watching the world change around them while holding on to a deep connection to this country and their community. They still gather for Easter dinner, whipped up from their family recipes handed down through generations. They still know the songs their great-grandmother sang, but they are also innovating with precision the sustainable farming practices their great-grandmother could not have imagined. Being that deeply rooted, combined with forward momentum, deserves recognition alongside the stories of those who crossed an ocean to build life here. These stories do not all follow the same path, but they share something: a decision made at some point to commit, to stay, to build and to trust that the place they chose would be worth it. This is how heritage months can carry real potential and how they can also carry a real risk. The potential is that they give communities a legitimate occasion to bring forward stories that might otherwise find no voice, stories that, once told, have a way of changing how people see each other and how they understand the country they share. The risk is that we stop at the declaration, that we mark it on the calendar and move on, having made a gesture without doing the harder work of actually listening. Canadians notice the difference between genuine respect and political convenience. What I hope Bill S-210 produces is something genuine: community gatherings and conversations in community centres, in church halls and around kitchen tables that would not happen without this invitation to begin them. There is the grandfather who arrived with almost nothing and who built something their grandchildren are still proud of, and the young person who is only beginning to understand what their family community gave up so they could have a better future. These stories exist in every riding in the country. September gives us a reason to find them and bring them forward, and that is worth supporting. I would encourage every member in the House, as September approaches, to do more than issue a press release. Members should find a story in their riding that they did not already know; sit down with someone from the Ukrainian community or from any community whose history they had not yet taken the time to understand; ask them what they brought when they started over; ask them what they sacrificed to get here; and ask them what they pray their grandchildren will remember 50 years from now. Those conversations are worth more than anything we can pass in the chamber. If Bill S-210 opens the door for more of those conversations to happen across Canada, it will have accomplished something that lasts past September and past this Parliament. September is a good time to start listening.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Fred Davies

Conservative 2:05 p.m.

“I want Ukrainian Heritage Month to be a law. It's very important right now. Russia is attacking Ukraine. We can't let them erase Ukrainian culture. Ukrainian Canadians deserve to be recognized. This bill will let schools teach about Ukrainian history. It will show we stand with Ukraine.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Bill S‑210 to designate September as Ukrainian heritage month in Canada, not merely as a matter of multicultural courtesy but an act of moral clarity, historical justice and national affirmation. This bill is not symbolic in the diminishing sense of the word. It is substantively symbolic, the kind of recognition that tells a community we see them, we remember with them and we stand beside them. In this moment, when the soil of Ukraine runs red from Russian bombardment and when cities that Ukrainian Canadians' grandparents once called home are being reduced to rubble by an imperial aggressor, the passage of this bill carries a weight that goes far beyond ceremony. It is a declaration of who we are as Canadians. Let us begin with history, because history is where the story starts. When the first great wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada began in the 1890s, tens of thousands of women, men, farmers, labourers and dreamers crossed an ocean to escape poverty, land scarcity and political oppression under Russian imperial and Austro-Hungarian rule. They came at the invitation of the Canadian government that needed settlers for a vast, unbroken prairie west. They came with almost nothing. They were given land, raw, stubborn land that had to be cleared by hand, broken by oxen and coaxed into yield through sheer endurance. They built homes from sod and timber. They raised churches with onion domes on the Saskatchewan horizon. They planted sunflowers beside wheat fields in Manitoba and Alberta. They gave the Prairies a soul. In Alberta, Ukrainian settlers established hundreds of communities from Vegreville to Mundare, from Two Hills to Smoky Lake. In Saskatchewan, Canora, Yorkton and Foam Lake became centres of Ukrainian cultural life. In Manitoba, the north end of Winnipeg became a vibrant Ukrainian corridor, home to cultural halls, Orthodox and Greek Catholic parishes and newspapers printed in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian contribution to Canada did not stay on the Prairies. In Ontario, Ukrainian communities built cultural institutions in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton. In Quebec, Ukrainian immigrants added their voices to an already‑complex multicultural chorus. In British Columbia, communities in Vancouver carried forward traditions that connected generations to a homeland thousands of kilometres away. Over 1.3 million Canadians today identify as having Ukraine heritage. Four Governors General have been of Ukrainian descent. Ukrainian Canadians have served in our military, on our supreme courts and in our legislatures, shaped by culture that prizes resilience, community and a ferocious attachment to freedom. One such individual is a man that I worked for as a member of Parliament for Edmonton East. In 1984 he was elected. He was a proud Ukrainian Canadian. He often told me stories of how his family came over here from Ukraine. I was proud to spend a few years with Bill Lesick, the MP for Edmonton East. I will never forget his passion for Canada. He ended his career as a citizenship judge, which reflected his commitment to his country. His attachment to freedom brings me to the present moment, and I will not mince words. On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a full‑scale invasion of a sovereign democratic nation. Russia did not stumble into war. It chose war deliberately, systematically and with the stated ambition of erasing Ukrainian national identity from the map of the world. Putin has said explicitly that Ukraine is not a real country, that Ukrainians are not a real people and that their language, culture and history, the very things that this bill celebrates, are fabrications to be corrected by force. This is not a border dispute or a regional conflict. This is a genocidal ideology expressed through artillery shells and mass graves. When this Parliament debates Ukrainian heritage month, we are debating it against the backdrop of Mariupol, Bucha and Kherson, while Ukrainian families in Canada carry the grief of relatives killed under Russian occupation. To pass this bill is to say the culture Russia is trying to destroy is a culture Canada honours. The identity Russia calls fictional is an identity Canada celebrates. There is no more powerful rebuttal to imperial erasure than democratic recognition. That resolve is alive right here in our own communities. In Hamilton, Ontario, a drone manufacturer called Sentinel Research and Development, founded in 2023 specifically because of Russia's war of aggression, is now part of the Canada‑Ukraine defence partnership. When the Russian government responded with threats, CEO Kath Intson did not flinch. She called it what it was, which was “political posturing”, saying, “It does not affect our way forward in any way whatsoever”. This is the Canadian answer to Russian intimidation: not retreat, not appeasement, but moving forward. Sentinel is cut from the same cloth as those prairie settlers. The geography has changed; the adversary has not. Some will ask why we need a dedicated month. The designation matters because it would create space in schools, communities and public life for structured reflection and education. It would mean teachers have a framework to bring Ukrainian history into classrooms. It would mean that Ukrainian Canadians, particularly the younger generation, the grandchildren of those prairie settlers, would see their inheritance acknowledged at the highest level of democratic governance. Given the current war and Russia's documented attempts to suppress Ukrainian cultural expression, ban the Ukrainian language in occupied territories, destroy cultural monuments and abduct children, the designation of Ukrainian heritage month is an act of cultural solidarity. It says that, what they are burning, we are keeping alive. Let me close with an image. Somewhere on the Prairies, perhaps in Alberta, perhaps in Saskatchewan, there is a small Ukrainian Orthodox church, white-walled and blue-domed, standing alone in a field of wheat. It was built over 100 years ago by hands calloused from a hard crossing and harder work. Around that church are the graves of men and women who arrived with nothing and gave everything to this country. Those graves are Canadian soil. That church is Canadian heritage. The culture it represents is alive in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and my riding of Niagara South. There are 1.3 million Canadians who carry that Ukrainian heritage with them. They deserve a month. They deserve this bill. In passing it, we would send a message heard far beyond our borders, which is that Canada does not only welcome the people of Ukraine, but also preserves what those who wish to destroy Ukraine are trying to erase. I ask members to vote yes, support this bill, honour the heritage and stand with Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Michael Kram

Conservative 2:05 p.m.

“I went on and on about the Ukrainian community. I really want Ukrainian Heritage Month. But I will not be happy with just a symbol. I want the government to build pipelines and sell oil to Europe. I want Canada to stop Russia's war in Ukraine. I think the government should do what I say.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity this afternoon to speak in favour of Bill S‑210, which would designate the month of September as Ukrainian heritage month. This bill is particularly relevant to Saskatchewan and the Prairies as a whole because of the long and rich history of Ukrainians and Ukrainian communities that has contributed to the development of that region of the country. The settlement of western Canada was one of the most transformational events in Canadian history. In the late 1800s, the land that would eventually become Saskatchewan had a population of approximately 10,000 people. That number would increase nearly a hundredfold by the 1920s. Homesteaders from all across Europe, including some of my great-grandparents, moved to Saskatchewan because of the promise of free farmland and a better life. Many of these settlers came from Ukraine. In addition to their farming practices, they brought with them their language, their culture and their traditions, many of which can still be seen today across the Prairies. The town of Hafford, Saskatchewan, proudly displays Ukrainian-language street signs as a tribute to the Ukrainians who first homesteaded and settled in that area. What would become the Ukrainian Museum of Canada was established in Saskatoon in 1941 by the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada before it expanded into a national network of museums. The town of Vegreville, Alberta, is home to the world's largest pysanka, or Ukrainian Easter egg, outside of Ukraine. This Ukrainian Easter egg is one of the most popular tourist stops along the Yellowhead Highway, visited by thousands of tourists every year, including my fiancé and me just last summer. Of course, many Ukrainian Canadians, as well as Canadians without Ukrainian heritage, celebrate Vyshyvanka Day every year on the third Thursday in May. The vyshyvanka is the traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt. I know I enjoyed wearing my vyshyvanka and spending time with members of the Regina chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress when we celebrated this occasion in Regina just last month. With the possible exception of the grain elevators, I would argue that few buildings have defined the prairie landscape more than Ukrainian churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. There are two of these churches in particular that I would like to mention. The first is St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Regina, which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year. I know that I and many members of the community are looking forward to the centennial celebrations. The second is St. Onuphrius Ukrainian Catholic Church. This church was originally built in Smoky Lake County, northeast of Edmonton, between 1915 and 1928. In the 1990s, the building was meticulously disassembled and relocated to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, where it was reassembled in the Canadian history hall, where it stands today for all to see. While the history of Ukrainians in Canada has been mostly positive for over a century, we recently entered some very sad and dark times in February 2022, with Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We all remember the images on TV of Russian tanks rolling across the border into Ukraine. I remember having many conversations with members of Regina's Ukrainian community. I would ask them, “Do you have any friends or family members who are close to the fighting?” The answer was invariably yes. Practically everyone had received an email or text message, or had had a phone call, from a friend or family member not far from the fighting, and practically all of them had fled with nothing more than the shirts on their backs. It is certainly a tragedy that they will remember for the rest of their lives, but as Mr. Rogers famously said, whenever there is a catastrophe, always “look for the helpers”, because if we look for the helpers, we will know that there is hope. When the people of Ukraine needed help, the people of Saskatchewan provided that hope. All of a sudden, a century of Ukrainian heritage in Saskatchewan kicked into action. Cousins, aunts and uncles started texting each other to arrange for spare bedrooms and clothing and to make all of the necessary arrangements to welcome their Ukrainian friends and family members who were coming to Saskatchewan to flee the war zone. People who had taken Ukrainian language classes in Saskatchewan schools had a newfound use for their language skills, as newcomers from Ukraine were given work placements on farms, oil rigs and local businesses. Masses and services at Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox churches were, all of a sudden, standing room only on Sunday morning. Overall, on a per capita basis, Saskatchewan welcomed more Ukrainians than any other province in the months following Russia's invasion. I have to say that designating Ukrainian heritage month is a fine idea, particularly for the people of Saskatchewan. Therefore, I certainly support Bill S-210. However, it is important to keep in mind that Bill S-210 is only a symbolic gesture. That is not to say that symbols are not important, because in a way, they are, but I wish the Liberal government would take some more tangible, concrete steps to support our friends and allies in Ukraine through their current struggles against the Russian invasion. In particular, the single most beneficial action that Canada could take to help Ukraine would be to sell more Canadian oil and gas to western Europe so those countries could stop buying from Russia. In fact, I said as much in a speech in the House four years ago. When then finance minister Chrystia Freeland made her 2022 budget speech in the House, she received one standing ovation from all members of all parties. It was when she said that the Russian army invading Ukraine needed to be vanquished. I agreed then and I agree now that nothing would be better for the Ukrainian people than to get the Russian army off of Ukrainian soil. The best way to do this would be to displace Russian oil and gas sales to western Europe with Canadian oil and gas exports, thus making it financially impossible for Russia to continue the war. As I said in my speech four years ago, exporting oil and gas to Europe requires pipelines. We need to build pipelines in this country by repealing the Liberals' anti-energy laws, including Bill C-69, the no more pipelines law, and Bill C-48, the west coast tanker ban, so that we could export Canadian energy and be a force for good in the world instead of enriching dictators such as Vladimir Putin and enabling them to wage war against Ukraine. In the following four years since Chrystia Freeland's speech in the House of Commons, the inaction from the Liberal government has been disappointing to say the least. The Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Minister of Greece, the President of Poland and the President of the European Union have all asked the Liberal government for more Canadian energy exports to Europe, only to be told, quite famously by Justin Trudeau, that there was no strong business case for LNG exports from Canada to Europe. As a result, Russian troops continue to occupy Ukrainian soil, Russian rockets continue to rain down on Ukrainian cities and Ukrainians continue to suffer. In conclusion, I support Bill S-210 to officially recognize Ukrainian heritage month, and I encourage all members to vote in favour of the bill. I also hope that it serves as a reminder to the Liberal government that there are some very tangible measures that it could be taking to help our friends and allies in Ukraine that would ensure that their culture and heritage remain strong for generations to come. Slava Ukraini.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Dave Epp

Conservative 2:20 p.m.

“I went on and on about how I am a Mennonite with distant ancestors from Ukraine. I told long stories about my family history and travels. I mentioned my Neufeld and Epp heritage many times. In the end, I said I support making September Ukrainian heritage month. But I only spoke to use up my time with long personal stories and repeat my support without adding any substance.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour and a privilege to bring the voices of Chatham-Kent—Leamington to the chamber. I come today representing, especially, both the people of Ukrainian ethnicity and those of Ukrainian heritage. There is actually a difference, and I am going to come back to that in a moment. Of course, we are talking today about Bill S-210, about designating September as Ukrainian heritage month. Here are some ties that bind our country of Canada and our country of Ukraine. Canada is home to approximately 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent, and I am referring to ethnic descent. That actually represents 4% of Canada's population. Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora outside Russia in the world. The first Ukrainians came to Canada in 1891, with about 150,000 estimated to have landed between 1891 and 1914. These figures come from the Government of Canada in 2020, and I am actually going to dispute some of the numbers in a moment. Most Ukrainians from this period settled in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, which we have heard from other interventions today. They came to obtain farmland, bringing their rich heritage of agricultural expertise from the steppes of what was Russia at the time and is now Ukraine, here to Canada, to our untamed west at the time and to Ontario. In fact, 28% of Canadians identifying as being of Ukrainian ethnic descent live in Ontario. These are the statistics from Canadians who identify as being of Ukrainian ethnicity, but as I mentioned earlier, there are others who claim Ukrainian heritage, and I count myself among that group. As many members know, I am from a Mennonite background, and there are a number of Mennonites here in the chamber who have the honour of representing their constituencies. This year marks 100 years since all four of my grandparents came to Canada from, at the time, the steppes of Russia, which is now part of Ukraine. All four of them were actually part of the second wave of Mennonites who left Ukraine and chose Canada as their home. The first wave came in the 1870s and settled in southern Manitoba, primarily in the east and west reserves. They were also fleeing the greater intervention of the Russian government at the time into their way of life in the colonies of what we call Russia. I consider myself of Russian Mennonite background. There are two streams: Russian Mennonite background and Swiss Mennonite background. I could spend my 10 minutes and the next three hours talking about that wave of history, as Mennonites have fled war and persecution from the Russians from the late 1500s to Danzig in northern Poland, and then to Ukraine. I am going to talk specifically for a moment about the ties that bind my own family, specifically my Epp lineage, but I am fairly confident that my Neufeld, my Reimer and my Rempel sides also trace this same path of immigration into Ukraine in 1804. My ancestors spent 122 years in Ukraine and now 100 years in Canada. They came to Ukraine at the invitation of Catherine the Great. This is important because, again, they were fleeing, at the time, greater government intervention in their lives in Gdańsk, called Danzig at the time of the Austrian Hapsburg empire, in northern Poland. They came to the steps of Ukraine at the invitation of Catherine the Great to farm, to break those steppes of Ukraine, and they turned that into part of the breadbasket of Europe. That heritage is in my blood today. They were told, actually, that the territory at the time was empty. Reflecting now and looking at history, that actually is not true. The Tatars had been cleared of that area, and the land was given to my forebears in 1804. It was the second wave that came into southern Ukraine. The first wave of Mennonites who came from the Prussian empire actually came in 1789, settled into the Khortytsya region, which is called Zaporizhzhya today. My ancestors, as I stated, came in 1804, settling into the Molotschna region, which is near the present-day city of Tokmak. I will come to that. They left 100 years later. They came into Ukraine and left Ukraine for the same reason, and that same reason is actually one of the reasons we are talking about the bill today. It was the fact that they were experiencing both war and revolution. Mennonites have a complicated relationship with government. When they feel that their allegiance to their faith is superseded by government, historically they have fled or moved, but we must not mistake that for a lack of service to country. That is evidenced by the members of the chamber, and it is evidenced by my own family history. I am going to get into two short stories. My great-grandfather Gerhard Neufeld was drafted into the service, in 1904, of Czar Nicholas II. Rather than serving in the army, he served in what was called the Forsteidienst, the forestry service, so he was stationed on the banks of the Black Sea at the czar's summer resort, Yalta. My mother's father's family, the Neufelds, came from wealth, so my great-grandfather had been educated in Europe and knew that the phylloxera virus was spread by the aphid, and he saved the czar's vineyards from the phylloxera virus. He was decorated with a silver pocket watch, which remains in our family to this day. It was given to him in 1904. Those who know me personally know that I do enjoy the odd sip of wine. I do that not for enjoyment reasons but obviously because I am genetically predisposed to enjoy wine, given my Neufeld heritage. My Neufeld family, on August 1 and 2 of this year is celebrating 100 years of settlement in Canada. We are celebrating that in the Vineland region, where my great-grandmother is buried. That same Gerhard Neufeld who was decorated by the czar was shot dead in his bed, five days before they came to Canada. My great-grandmother left, bringing five children, and I and my mother are here because of that history. On my father's side is my Epp heritage. In 1926, my great-grandfather Epp bought, yes, bought, a passport in order to flee. He saw what was coming. My grandfather came to Canada on that passport at the age of 22. His parents were going to come that fall. When they had finished the harvest in southern Ukraine, they were going to join their family. For seven years, there were letters that went back and forth between my grandfather and his parents, and here is where those histories of ethnic Ukrainians and heritage Ukrainians unite. Stalin slammed the door shut on my great-grandparents. Their visas and passports were never honoured. They tried and retried. Those seven years of letters became increasingly desperate, and eventually a letter came from my great-grandfather to my grandfather stating that his mother had passed away at the beginning of the Holodomor. My great-grandfather would follow, dying of starvation in 1933. My own heritage is intertwined with the conflict that comes from war and revolution. My parents never had a desire to visit Ukraine, and neither did any of my grandparents, even when those opportunities opened up again post-1991. I, on the other hand, have been back three times. I have been to that soil, but it actually has not been my own heritage that has allowed me to go back. It has always been tomatoes and the Ukrainian involvement in the tomato industry. I could spend another hour talking just about that, but I will not. In the final minute of my speech, I want to talk about other areas in which Canada and Ukraine have become close and have supported each other. Canada was the first western country to recognize Ukraine's independence, and since then, we have maintained a close bilateral relationship. Canada is one of the leading bilateral development assistance partners of Ukraine, and many of us continue in that work today. Our free trade agreement has allowed for the further expansion of trade. Of course, time will not allow me to get into the last four years, but it is war, again, that has brought our relationship even closer. I stand here proudly today, as proud as a humble Mennonite can be proud, to support Canada's relationship with Ukraine and the designation of September as Ukrainian heritage month.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

Dane Lloyd

Conservative 2:30 p.m.

“I said I support making September Ukrainian heritage month. Then I talked for a long time about the history of Ukrainians in western Canada and Alberta. I told stories about their settlements, farms, churches, and communities. I talked about their service in the world wars and how some were classified as enemy aliens. I mentioned symbols of Ukrainian heritage in Alberta like the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. I ended by saying how proud I am to support this bill.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is a great opportunity for me to rise to speak to Bill S-210. I just want to commend all the speakers today, particularly the last speaker, my colleague from Chatham-Kent—Leamington. I love history, and hearing the stories of people's families, where they have come from and the challenges they have overcome is always an inspiration to me. I thank the member for sharing. I know that many members of the House who are of Ukrainian heritage, or of that region, have shared stories of the hardships their families endured to come here and make Canada their home and to build a life for themselves and the generations after them in our great country. I must say, I am inspired by that. What the legislation is seeking to do is to honour the contributions of over 1.3 million Canadians who have Ukrainian heritage, including many of my friends. My stepfather is also a man of Ukrainian heritage, and I am proud to represent thousands of people of Ukrainian heritage in my constituency, Parkland, just outside Edmonton. The story of Ukrainian Canadians is inseparable from the story of western Canada and, particularly, Alberta. When the first Ukrainian settlers arrived in what is now Alberta in 1892, they came seeking freedom and opportunity to build a better life for their families. The Prairies were a vast, isolated region, largely undeveloped, yet through determination and hard work, these Ukrainian settlers transformed the landscape and turned western Canada into the developed agricultural region that it is today. Ukrainian settlers in Alberta, in particular, established farms. They built churches, opened businesses and created communities. These communities quickly became hubs for agricultural knowledge; cultural traditions such as language, music and dance; and a strong sense of community. Their contributions formed economic and social foundations for western Canada. Some of the earliest Ukrainian settlements in Canada were established just east of what is now my constituency, Parkland, and these communities still stand today. I want to talk about the service that Ukrainian Canadians have given to their adopted country, Canada. During the First World War, many Ukrainian Canadians demonstrated great loyalty to Canada by volunteering to serve in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Thousands answered the call to defend the country they had chosen as their home, including Ukrainian Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest medal of valour in the British Empire, Filip Konowal, who was also a member of the Governor General's Foot Guards, which is a regiment I serve in today. At the same time, though, there is a tragic history. Many thousands of Ukrainians who had immigrated to Canada were classified as enemy aliens by the federal government. Ukraine was not a country at that time. It was under the control of either Russia or Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary was a member of the Central Powers, so many Ukrainians, unfortunately, were lumped in with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which we were at war with, and thus were interned in camps across Canada. They were forced to perform labour under very difficult conditions. Many were sent to very remote locations, including areas that would become part of Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. I think it is important that, when we pass bills such as the one that is before us, we recognize the great sacrifices that Ukrainians made, not only in standing up for our country of Canada but also the sacrifices of the Ukrainians who were put through deprivations by the government at that time. The loyalty of Ukrainian Canadians was demonstrated further during the Second World War. I just recently learned this in my research for the bill. Ukrainian Canadians enlisted in the Canadian military at the highest rate of any demographic other than English Canadians or French Canadians. They served with distinction in every branch of the armed forces. They fought tyranny overseas, and they fought to secure the freedoms we continue to enjoy today. Ukrainians have a very real experience with oppression, knowing what their ancestors faced under the Russian Empire, under Austria-Hungary and under the Soviets, and they understood the value of liberty in a way that many people could take for granted. Those Ukrainian Canadians knew exactly what they were fighting for. Since the arrival of the first Ukrainians in Canada over 135 years ago, they have enriched our country in countless ways. They have contributed to agriculture, business, science, education, public service and art across Canada and, might I say, they produced some of the best hockey players we have ever seen in Canadian history. They have preserved and shared their vibrant culture, including the Vyshyvanka, which continues to thrive across Canada. Ukrainian festivals and heritage celebrations are some of the most wonderful events that people can attend in this country. In my own constituency, we have an organization of Ukrainian dancers who play an important role in preserving and sharing Ukrainian traditions. Since 1983, they have connected countless young Canadians with their heritage through dance, music and cultural education while also recognizing and welcoming those who want to learn more about Ukrainian culture. These organizations have been critical in recent years, as we have seen many Ukrainian war refugees coming to Canada. It is always really interesting to see how people who have been in Canada for over 100 years are connecting with Ukrainians who are just coming to Canada today, in the things that they are learning about each other and the traditions that they are reviving together. These organizations are doing more than just preserving traditions. They are building bridges. My home province of Alberta is home to many significant symbols of Ukrainian heritage. The giants of the Prairies, for one, are icons of Ukrainian heritage. This includes the world's largest perogy, as well as Canada's largest Easter egg. The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, which is just 30 minutes east of Edmonton, captures the early pioneering spirit of Ukrainian Canadians. This is an open-air museum and it hosts authentically restored buildings from across the Prairies. It is host to many school programs that provide generations of Albertans with a closer understanding of Ukrainian settlement in Alberta. The Ukrainian village suffered a devastating fire back in April 2025, but I want everyone in this House and across Canada to know that the village has finally reopened this year, as of May 16, for visitors. If they do have the chance, I highly encourage visiting this. The influence of Ukrainian Canadians is found not only in the west. It is found right here in Ottawa, where the St. Onuphrius Ukrainian Catholic Church has been preserved at the Canadian Museum of History. The original prairies church is still an active parish and provides visitors to the museum a glimpse of the faith that remains the strongest among Ukrainian Canadians today. Canada has also hosted a number of firsts for the Ukrainian community, with one of the most important being the erection of the first monument to the Holodomor. This was completed in Edmonton in 1983 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this famine genocide. We know in this House and across the world that between 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death by the Soviet Union. This is not natural in any way. This was not the result of a drought or a failed harvest. It was a man-made famine designed to crush the Ukrainian people. For decades, Soviet authorities sought to suppress the knowledge of these atrocities, but the truth has prevailed through the witness testimony of survivors and through the determination of Ukrainian Canadians who have sought justice and have sought to preserve the memory of those lost. Long before the world recognized the Holodomor, members of the Canadian Ukrainian community were fighting to ensure that this crime against humanity would never be forgotten. Conservatives are proud of our long record of standing beside Ukraine and the Ukrainian community within Canada. In fact, Canada was one of the first countries to recognize Ukrainian independence from the Soviets, and Canada became the first western nation to formally recognize Ukraine's independence. In 2008, I was proud that Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially recognized the Holodomor as a genocide. This recognition honoured the memory of those victims. Further, in 2014, when the Russians illegally annexed Crimea, it was Conservatives who stood up under Stephen Harper and delivered a clear message to Vladimir Putin that Russia must respect Ukrainian sovereignty. Once again, I am very proud to speak in favour of this legislation.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

What they said. What they meant.

Recent debates

Ukrainian Heritage Month Act

Yvan Baker

Marilyn Gladu

Yvan Baker

Rachael Thomas

Yvan Baker

Connie Cody

Hon. Judy A. Sgro

Connie Cody

Fred Davies

Michael Kram

Dave Epp

Dane Lloyd