Saskatoon elementary students at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School joined a global initiative on Monday to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor.
The Holodomor was the genocide of Ukrainian people that took place under Joseph Stalin’s regime in the 1930s.
A flame lit in Ukraine on Sept. 1 is on an 85-day journey across five continents that will conclude back in the country at the end of November.
Saskatoon students joined in by lighting a candle of remembrance, in memory of the millions of lives lost, during a school assembly and ceremony.
“As always with history, you learn so you don’t repeat it again,” Bishop Filevich principal Shelly Lord said.
“For our kids, in their citizenship education, we tell them that they have a place in the world as Canadians in spreading kindness, and spreading compassion and making sure we’re always doing the right thing.”
During the commemoration, the names of 85 children who died in the Holodomor were read to remember those who did not return to school in 1933.
Bishop Filevich was one stop during a three-day tour in Saskatoon.