At the Holodomor monument at Winnipeg City Hall on April 22, 2026, the day Vancouver City Council agreed to welcome the girl to Vancouver.
This week I have been reading the posts about the Holodomor monument in the Ukrainians in Vancouver group. The Holodomor (holodomor: death inflicted by hunger, from holod, hunger, and moryty, to kill through suffering) was the man-made famine of 1932 to 1933 in Soviet Ukraine. Some community members are worried about how long it is taking to put up the statue. Others are worried about what will be written on the information board beside it. Each concern comes from care. It is still hard to watch a monument meant to bring us together become a reason to divide us.
Why a monument cannot go up tomorrow
On April 22, 2026, Vancouver’s Standing Committee on City Finance and Services unanimously carried Councillor Zhou’s motion, and Council adopted it that evening (City of Vancouver, 2026a, 2026b, 2026c). The motion supports the statue Bitter Memories of Childhood “in principle,” “subject to required approvals, policies, and agreements.” It directs City staff to work with the Vancouver Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on installing it on the City Hall campus, and to report back on the site, permitting, costs and terms of agreement. You can read the motion here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20260422/documents/cfscmotion2.pdf
In June, City staff sent Mayor and Council an update that shows what “in principle” means in practice (Amrolia & Wittgens, 2026). Here is what is still needed:
- letters of support showing broad community interest
- a confirmed location, chosen with the number of visitors, a gathering space, safety and maintenance in mind
- the whole-life costs of the statue and a strategy to fund them
- agreed terms for ownership, installation, maintenance, insurance and deaccession (deaccession: the formal process of removing a work from a public collection)
The statue will likely join the City’s Civic Art Collection. That means presentations to the Public Art Committee and consultation with local First Nations. A new City Commemoration Framework, approved in May 2026, also now guides every memorial of this kind. Staff plan to bring the application back to Council in the first quarter of 2027, and the memo says installation timelines “will be dependent on the work underway and future Council direction” (Amrolia & Wittgens, 2026). On Ukrainian Community in Vancovuer side, volunteers do this work in evenings and on weekends, after their paid work and family care.
The journey is also longer than a few months. From reading posts in the Ukrainians in Vancouver group by Iryna Shyroka Geller (https://www.facebook.com/groups/UkrainiansInVancouver/permalink/10164879408048664/), I learned that the Holodomor Statue Committee began in 2005, and the statue arrived in Vancouver in 2018. Ahead of the April vote, the community explained that it had pushed for this installation for more than a decade.
Policy windows
As a social policy educator, I teach my students about policy windows. Cohen, March and Olsen (1972) described decisions in organizations as a “garbage can,” where problems, solutions, people and choice opportunities flow separately and come together at unpredictable moments. Kingdon (2014) built on this model. Change comes when “a problem is recognized, a solution is developed and available in the policy community, a political change makes it the right time for policy change, and potential constraints are not severe” (p. 165). He also warns that “policy windows open infrequently, and do not stay open long” (p. 166).
April 22 opened a window. The October 17 municipal election changes the political stream, and a new council will make the next decisions. Asking the community to wait until after the vote is not delay for its own sake. It is reading the window carefully, so that twenty years of work is not lost in a few weeks of transition.
The monuments that made Canada my home
When I first arrived in Winnipeg from Lviv in 2004, I went to City Hall and found the Holodomor monument there. I stood in front of the events my Babusia (grandmother) and Mama told me about in Ukraine, now carved in stone in a city I had only just begun to know.
The Holodomor monument at Winnipeg City Hall, where the stories my Babusia and Mama shared with me found a place in Canada.
Then I found Shevchenko near the Legislature, and Winnipeg became forever my first Canadian home. Today the girl of Hirki spohady dytynstva (Bitter Memories of Childhood) also stands near the Manitoba Legislature, holding her five ears of wheat.
Bitter Memories of Childhood near the Manitoba Legislature, the same girl who will stand near Vancouver City Hall.
The plaque in English, French and Ukrainian, dedicated September 21, 2014.
On April 22, 2026, I was standing at the monument at Winnipeg City Hall at the very moment Vancouver City Council agreed to welcome the girl to Vancouver. I did not plan it. One city where I first found my place of memory, and another city just beginning to make one, joined for me in the same hour.
When I moved to Halifax, I found no Holodomor monument there. Instead, a dear friend and I often went to Vytaiemo (we welcome), the monument near the railway station that marks the centenary of the first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada. We debated how it looks, as friends do, but we were fortunate to have a Ukrainian place where we could gather and remember, the Holodomor included. Halifax taught me that not every community has its place of memory yet.
Vytaiemo (we welcome) in Halifax, where we gather and remember.
In Edmonton I stood before the first Holodomor monument in the world, erected in 1983, a fractured circle with emaciated hands reaching out of it.
Edmonton, the first Holodomor monument in the world, 1983.
In Toronto I stood with my colleague and friend before the same girl with her wheat.
Toronto, the same girl with her wheat and a Ukrainian flag.
Why every Ukrainian community needs one
It is hard to explain to others why these monuments matter so much. russia has tried for almost a century to erase this history, and it is still trying today. A monument is the answer that cannot be deleted. It says: here, in this city, people remember. It gives a grandchild a place to bring flowers and a teacher a place to bring a class. Memory also travels: the Holodomor National Awareness Tour brings its mobile classroom to communities across Canada. But a mobile classroom moves on, and a monument stays. That is why I believe there should be one wherever Ukrainians live.
Memory also travels: the Holodomor mobile classroom on the road.
About the sign
I understand why people care about the board. My suggestion is that it tell the story of how this monument came to be: the victims first, and then the many hands across twenty years that brought the girl to Vancouver. Toronto shows it can be done with grace, naming every donor beside the memorial. A full story leaves no one out, and no one needs to compete for a line.
The Toronto memorial names every donor, a model for telling the full story.
What I hope for
There is something each of us can do now. The City has asked for letters of support that show broad community interest. Every organization, parish, school and family that wants the girl in Vancouver can write one. That is a way to turn our worry into help.
When I come to Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto, I go to the Holodomor monument, stand and remember, and quietly thank the people who put it there so that I could commemorate. In Halifax I still go to Vytaiemo and remember there. I look forward to the day I come to Vancouver and stand by the girl near City Hall. Until then, let us ask our questions with kindness, and let us thank those who serve our community through these challenging times.
Love. Care. Share.
References
Amrolia, A., & Wittgens, M. (2026, June 9). Update on Holodomor memorial statue: “Bitter Memories of Childhood” [Memorandum to Mayor and Council]. City of Vancouver. https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/2026-06-09-memo-to-mayor-and-council-holodomor-memorial-statue-rts-18634.pdf
City of Vancouver. (2026a, April 22). Holodomor memorial statue: Honouring Ukrainian-Canadians [Council members’ motion submitted by Councillor Zhou]. Standing Committee on City Finance and Services. https://council.vancouver.ca/20260422/documents/cfscmotion2.pdf
City of Vancouver. (2026b, April 22). Standing Committee on City Finance and Services: Minutes. https://council.vancouver.ca/20260422/documents/cfsc20260422min.pdf
City of Vancouver. (2026c). Roundup of business at City Council for the week of April 20, 2026. https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/roundup-of-business-at-city-council-for-the-week-of-april-20-2026.aspx
Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392088
Jung, J. (2026, April 17). Ukrainian community asks the City of Vancouver to install historical monument. Homin. https://www.homin.ca/en/ukrainian-community-asks-the-city-of-vancouver-to-install-historical-monument/
Kingdon, J. W. (2014). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies (2nd ed., Pearson new international ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
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