Holodomor, which means ‘death by starvation or ‘murder by hunger, was a manmade famine inflicted on the Ukrainian people from 1932 to 1933 by the Soviet regime. Estimates of the number of people who starved to death during the Holodomor range between 6 and 10 million. A precise idea of the number that died is difficult to determine due to the closed nature of the Soviet Union-controlled messages and the secrecy surrounding this tragic event.
This genocidal program was executed through orders of the Soviet regime that confiscated wheat and other foods and products mainly from grain-producing regions of central and eastern Ukraine. Many scholars believe that the Soviets executed the famine to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement.
Saskatchewan was the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize the famine as an act of genocide by the Soviet regime, passing “The Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day Act in 2008. Canada was the first country to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide under the Act by the same name.
