Teadustajaks oli sel mälestusüritusel, mille korraldasid Leedu, Läti ja Eesti suursaatkonnad, Vaida Vincevičiūtė Leedu Suursaatkonnast. Päevakohaste kõnedega esinesid Ottawa Peace Latvian Lutheran kiriku pastor Indra Skuja-Grīsle; senaator Rebecca Patterson; Eesti suursaadik Margus Rava; Ukraina suursaadik Andrii Plakhotniuk; Chair of Tribute Liberty Ludwik Klimkowski; Ottawa Eesti Seltsi ja Eestlaste Kesknõukogu Kanadas esindaja Paul Läänemets; President of the Latvian National Federation in Canada Dr. Fritz Traugott Kristbergs ja Chair of the Ottawa Lithuanian Community Agnė Butkutė.
Eesti Vabariigi suursaadik Margus Rava kõneles kolme Balti vabariigi suursaadiku nimel ja nii ka Läti suursaadiku Kaspars Ozolinš ja Leedu suursaadiku Egidijus Meilunase nimel. Oma kõnes juuniküüditamise 85. aastapäeval rõhutas suursaadik Rava, et lisaks 1941. aasta 14. juuni küüditamisele toimus nii Eestis kui teistes Balti riikides teine suur küüditamiste laine, kui 1949. a märtsis pidid kodud jätma tuhanded inimesed. ,,In numbers of people implicated it was even bigger than what had happened in 1941. My personal connection to it is through my wife, whose parents were also deported in 1949. They were fortunate to return many years later and raise their children in Estonia. But many perished.
“Standing in front of the Monument to the victims of communism I can't help pointing out that even if not physically deported, many people in occupied Estonia were kind of deported to the margins of life. Many scientists, artists and engineers were not able or not allowed to be free to practice what they knew, what they wanted and what they believed.”
(Margus Rava)
That policy of forced movements and deportations had started already in 1920’s in what was Soviet Russia. And it continues to this day during the cruel aggression by Russia in the occupied parts of Ukraine. As long as this cruelty continues we will continue to work with Canada and many other partners in order to make it stop, both the aggression and the deportations. Standing in front of the Monument to the victims of communism I can't help pointing out that even if not physically deported, many people in occupied Estonia were kind of deported to the margins of life. Many scientists, artists and engineers were not able or not allowed to be free to practice what they knew, what they wanted and what they believed.“ Suursaadik Rava lõpetas oma kõne, öeldes: ,,… we remember those who lost their lives in the Soviet deportations of 1941 and 1949, and their families. And we also remember those who perished in trying to escape in 1944 the Soviet terror, and their families. Many of whom did eventually reach Canada, the land of refuge.“
Paul Läänemets, kes esindas Ottawa Eesti Seltsi ja Eestlaste Kesknõukogu Kanadas (EKN) ütles: ,,Today, as we gather here in Ottawa, commemorations are taking place in Estonian communities around the globe. In Estonia, June 14 is an official day of mourning and a flag day, when Estonian flags are flown at half-mast on all state and government buildings. The memory of this tragic day, and of the March 1949 deportations will remain forever in the collective memory of Estonians. National identity and history are kept alive through remembrance and observance.“ Ta lisas: ,,On June 14, 1941, Soviet authorities loaded 10,000 – 11,000 Estonian men, women, and children onto railway freight cars and deported them to prison camps and penal colonies across the Soviet Union, where the majority perished. Between March 25 and 28, 1949, the Soviet Union forcibly deported over 22,000 people or nearly 3% of the total Estonian population to Siberia. Estonians endured decades of oppression, loss of freedoms including speech and suppression of historical memory under Soviet occupation.
Those of us here today all share a responsibility to keep historical memory alive by telling our personal stories and sharing our nation’s stories with others. The more we know, the more we speak, the less we forget. Never forget.“
Dr. Fritz Traugott Kristbergs, Läti Föderatsiooni Kanadas president rõhutas: ,,But the deaths and loss of these thousands of Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians have meaning for our homelands today – they have meaning for the Europe of today and, perhaps, tomorrow. Because they were our lost potential.“ Dr. Kristbergs lisas: ,,Our commemorations of the crimes committed against our people will have very little meaning if we see them only as the crimes of one ideology against a select people. To have meaning, we must remember these victims as part of the suffering of all humanity under evil regimes. Our act of commemoration will have meaning only if – to paraphrase Winston Churchill – We can draw from the heart of our suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival for all people and nations.“
Ottawa Leedu kogukonna juhataja Agnė Butkutė võttis ürituse kokku lubadusega alati mäletada kõiki, kes on erineval moel seisnud meie riikide vabaduse ja sõltumatuse eest, selle eest enda eluga makstes. Me austame nende mälestust asetades lilled sellele monumendile ning loodame, et kõik väärtused, mille eest seistes on elu kaotatud, jäävad püsima.
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Fotod: © Ülle Baum
