Adhering to internationally accepted principles Canada did not recognize the illegal annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the USSR in 1940. With most other western countries Canada continued to acknowledge the de jure continuity of the Baltic republics. Canada espoused the universally honoured facts, that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were occupied by force and illegally annexed.

In 1991, with the re-establishment of de facto independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Canada was one of the first western countries to revive diplomatic relations with these countries and implement assistance programs of good governance, civil and human rights, free market economies etc.

We are convinced that Canada was not only motivated by its traditional stance of international good will, but also by knowing that the illegal occupation of the Baltic republics denied the latter the benefits of normal development that an independent, democratic existence would have provided.

Therefore, Mr. Prime Minister, of great concern to Canadian citizens of Estonian heritage and of central and eastern European background, are attempts by the Russian Federation to convince others that the USSR’s takeover of the Baltic republics was legal and welcomed by the indigenous populations.

This blatant distortion of history dismisses as inconsequential the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany that prompted the agreed-upon invasions of the Baltic republics and other countries by the Pact‘s signatories. We are convinced that the Soviet Union, to which the Russian Federation claims to be the successor, is equally to blame with the Third Reich, for initiating the Second World War.

The misrepresentation of facts also treats as insignificant the arrest, detention, liquidation and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians following the Soviet occupation of these countries in 1940-41 and 1945-1991. We reject the Russian Federation’s claim that by participating in the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union provided freedom and justice to countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Soviet Union’s contribution to the victory over the Third Reich is acknowledged. But thereafter these countries were directly or indirectly subjugated by the USSR until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Any signs of liberating trends were resolutely crushed by the USSR. (Witness the USSR’s brutal suppression of the uprisings against totalitarianism in 1951-52 Poland, 1956 Hungary, 1968 Czechoslovakia and the continuing repression of any political, ethnic, social, religious dissent.)

Mr. Prime Minister, Canada is being represented by Governor General, the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson at the May 9th celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism hosted by the Russian Federation in Moscow. Canada will in essence participate in an event that in fact also marks the start of the Cold War.

Canada enjoys a well-founded international reputation as a stalwart advocate of justice and truth. Canada was also a legitimate liberator of those areas of Europe to which it sent its troops during WWII. Those countries were returned to democratic foundations and their open societies prospered.

Taking this into consideration we call on Canada to reject any notions that the occupation and subjugation of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe were acts of “liberation” which the May 9th celebrations will in effect emphasize. We also call on Canada to reaffirm its commitment to truth, to principles on which Canada based its laudable policy of recognizing the de jure continuity of the independence of the Baltic republics irrespective of their illegal annexation by the Soviet Union.

The Estonian Central Council in Canada

May 5th 2005

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