News and Announcements

EDMONTON – “Throughout our collective history millions of people around the world have suffered at the hands of totalitarian regimes,” said Nathan Cooper, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. “On Black Ribbon Day we remember the European victims of Stalinism and Nazism, and we remain committed to upholding democracy and the protection of universal human rights and freedoms.”

Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees, Mrs. Angela Pitt, will host a public ceremony on Friday, August 23, 2019, at noon in the Legislature rotunda to recognize Black Ribbon Day. Remarks will be delivered by the Honourable Kaycee Madu, Minister of Municipal Affairs, and the Official Opposition. Also speaking will be Oleksandr Danyleiko, Consul General of Ukraine; Dr. Gergely Bodnar, Consul, Embassy of Hungary; John Szumlas, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland (Northern Alberta); Anna Szenthe, Canadian Regional President, Hungarian Diaspora Council; John Tomczak, National President, Canadian Polish Congress; and Olesia Luciw-Andryjowycz, President, Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Alberta). Alexander Szenthe, Honorary Consul of Hungary; and Zygmunt Potocki, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland (Southern Alberta), will also be in attendance.

The commemoration will include an invocation by Father Adam Lech, Moderator of the Curia with the Archdiocese of Edmonton, and a performance by violinist Maya Budzinski.

Black Ribbon Day was declared a national day of remembrance by the Parliament of Canada on November 30, 2009. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which led to the occupation of numerous eastern and central European nations and the victimization of millions of people. It also contributed to the start of the Second World War.

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Tracey Sales, Communications Consultant
Phone: 780.415.9584
E-mail: tracey.sales@assembly.ab.ca