On June 14th, Estonians commemorate victims of the June 1941, Soviet mass deportations of over 10,000 persons, including children and the elderly to Siberia. Estonians share this tragic date with Latvians, Lithuanians, and thousands of others who were deported from western Belarus, western Ukraine and Moldova. These deportations and the terror of the first Soviet occupation of Estonia (June 1940-July 1941) were the primary reason for the Mass Flight from the invading Red Army in the fall of 1944, when approximately 80,000 people fled Estonia, with many perishing along the way.
Today, the world bears witness again to a brutal war of genocide waged by Putin’s Russia – successor to the Soviet Union – against the people of Ukraine. Russia’s full-scale invasion includes the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia and a “re-education” campaign to disconnect them from their Ukrainian identities. In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin over allegations of involvement in child abductions. The ICC is investigating hundreds of other alleged Russian war crimes including deliberate attacks against civilian targets, torture and murder of civilians and the killing and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In a rapidly changing and unstable world, where the United States under Donald Trump is abandoning the international rules-based order and threatening Canada’s sovereignty, it is more important than ever for Estonian Canadians to remember our history. As we reflect, we continue to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who continue their courageous fight for freedom.
Estonia has been under threat for decades from an aggressive and belligerent Russia waging hybrid warfare in the Baltic region. The Estonian people are all too aware that democracy is fragile, requires hard work and all of our participation to survive.
On Saturday, June 14, 2025, the Commemoration Day for the Victims of Communist Genocide, a commemorative event for the 1941 deportations will take place at the Memorial to Victims of Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge, in Ottawa starting at 10 a.m. It will be preceded by the reading of names of Lithuanians deported to Siberia at 9 a.m.
This event is organized by the Embassies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together with the Estonian Central Council in Canada, the Latvian National Federation in Canada and the Lithuanian Canadian Community. The Estonian Central Council in Canada will lay flowers of commemoration.
The Memorial to Victims of Communism was unveiled in December 2024 and is located in the Garden of Provinces and Territories in downtown Ottawa. All are invited to attend.
