June 14 is an official national day of mourning and a flag day in Estonia, when the blue-black-white flag is flown on all government and state buildings. The memory of this mass deportation and that of March 1949 remains with Estonians around the world and is preserved through commemoration and stories that are passed on from one generation to the next.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas frequently tells the story of her own family, when her mother as a 6-month-old baby, her grandparents and great grandmother were deported to Siberia in the March 1949 wave of Soviet mass deportations.
These deportations have intensified since the start of its full-scale war on February 24, 2022. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed, tortured and raped.
There is a direct link between these tragic events to the present day, as the world bears witness to the brutal war of the Soviet Union’s successor – Putin’s Russia – against the people of Ukraine. Up to 30,000 Ukrainian children have reportedly been illegally deported to Russia starting in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine. These deportations have intensified since the start of its full-scale war on February 24, 2022. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed, tortured and raped.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Putin for the war crime of “unlawful deportation of population”. It is the responsibility of the entire international community to continue to support Ukraine as long as it takes to win this war and ensure that Russian war crimes are judicially punished.
Strong democratic institutions and a free and fair media are the best hope against authoritarian regimes such as Putin’s Russia. We know from our own history that democracy and freedom require constant work and can never be taken for granted. As Estonian Canadians, we have a collective responsibility to defend democracy and speak out against demagoguery wherever it may exist.
On June 14, we remember with the hope that future generations will never again be subjected to such terror and crimes against humanity.
Eestlaste Kesknõukogu Kanadas
Reet Marten Sehr, Chair of the Board
