Holodomor describes the 1932-1933 famine-genocide of Ukraine, where millions of Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death by the brutal policies imposed by the communist regime of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
The Canada-Ukraine Foundation developed the Holodomor National Awareness Tour (HNAT) program in 2014 to foster education and bring awareness of the Holodomor to Canadians.
The Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC), a state-of-the-art education center, helps educate Canadians of all ages on the tragic historic events of the Holodomor and is a key component of the HNAT program. To date, the HMC has visited 525 schools engaging over 43,400 students and educators and connected with over 24,675 people across Canada at 289 community events.
The Holodomor Mobile Classroom is a unique learning environment that uses cutting-edge technology to fully immerse and assist students in learning about the Holodomor in a digital classroom on wheels.
The fusion of technologies and interactive content that was developed for this program, defines an entirely new way to conduct lessons allowing both the facilitator and students to actively engage with each other.
This year, the focus of the Holodomor National Awareness Tour is on eastern and western Canada as well as commemorating the 90th Anniversary of Holodomor.
The travels started out in the latter half of May visiting schools in New Brunswick which HNAT originally planned for the spring of 2020 before COVID shut everything down and as such was not completed.
After several very engaging days in New Brunswick, and a brief stop in Sydney, Nova Scotia where we took part in the Ukrainian Festival of Culture based at the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church Parish Hall, we continued to Newfoundland, marking our first visit to the province. We spent ten days in Newfoundland visiting schools in Corner Brook and St. John’s where we received a very warm and positive reception from both students and staff at the schools visited.
Funding for the creation and implementation of the Holodomor National Awareness Tour was initially obtained through Federal and Provincial government grants, private sector sources, and individuals.
Funding, especially from Government sources, has evaporated in light of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine as governments and much of the private sector and individuals overwhelmingly focus their support to deal with the current humanitarian and military needs of Ukraine.
At the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, we have also redirected the majority of our efforts to alleviate the humanitarian damage of the illegal war caused by Russia. Nevertheless, we recognize that it would not be wise to lose some of the very important projects we have developed in an effort to forestall a repetition of the horrible lessons from history. That is why we are turning to you, to ensure that the Holodomor memory remains a relevant force in the 21st century.
We are appealing to you to help us raise sufficient funding to commemorate this 90th Anniversary of the Holodomor and to continue teaching Canadians about this genocide.
Background
The Canada-Ukraine Foundation is a national charitable foundation established in 1995 at the 18th Ukrainian Canadian Congress to coordinate, develop, organize and deliver assistance projects by Canadians directed to Ukraine and other organizations in Canada. For more information: www.cufoundation.ca
To learn more about the Holodomor National Awareness Tour (HNAT): https://holodomortour.ca/