Speech: An Act to establish a Crimean Tatar Deportation Memorial Day
Channel: Linda Duncan
Date: 2016-12-13

It was my honour to speak to Bill C-306, An Act to establish a Crimean Tatar Deportation Memorial Day. 
In 1944, the totalitarian regime of Joseph Stalin deported more than 280,000 Crimean Tatars to Siberia and Central Asia. This act would recognize the mass deportation, also known as the “Sürgünlik,” as an act of genocide. Almost half of the Tatars lost their lives during the first year of exile, for no crime other than their language, culture, and traditions. Last year, the parliament of Ukraine established May 18 as the official day to recognize the Sürgünlik, and this bill calls for the same. The Canadian Association of Crimean Tatars has fully endorsed the bill.