In November, 2009, Toronto Centre Member of Parliament, Bob Rae, introduced a motion to create the national day, which was adopted unanimously by the Parliament of Canada.
A full day conference at The University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs on History, Memory and Politics in Eastern and Central Europe will feature distinguished panellists from around the world including a keynote address from the currently detained Russian pro-democracy activist , Boris Nemtsov, via Skype. Other speakers include international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam; Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Chairman, Dr. Lee Edwards; political scientist and Ukraine expert, Dr. Tara Kuzio; Finnish-Estonian analyist and journalist, Dr. Iivi-Anna Masso; independent Russian news network RTVi Washington Bureau Chief and pro-democracy activist, Vladimir Kara-Murza; and Estonian-Finnish documentary filmmaker and historia, Imbi Paju among others.
The conference is sponsored by the U of T Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, The Estonian Foundation of Canada, The Eastern and Central European Council of Canada, The Black Ribbon Day Foundation, UpNorth Magazine and ePOSHTA NewsMagazine.
Synagogues and churches across the country will also be opening their doors on the evening of August 23rd for special services to commemorate the victims of communism and Nazism in Europe. Individuals are asked to bring flowers and a black ribbon to the locations closest to them.
For further information and media availability of panelists please contact:
Marcus Kolga
BRD Conference Chair
BRD2010 Vice Chair
marcuskolga@gmail.com
+1 416 833 5553
Markus Hess
BRD 2010 Chair
BRD Conference Vice Chair
mjhess2003@yahoo.ca