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We warmly invite all community members, friends, allies, and Canadians of Lithuanian descent to this year’s Black Ribbon Day commemoration at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza on August 21 at 2PM. This year’s Black Ribbon Day is dedicated to Ukraine. On this occasion we call on you to join us to show our support for Ukraine, for if Russia succeeds in this war of aggression, it will go on to threaten Lithuania, the Baltic and Central and Eastern European states. Come, and bring your friends and your family!

It was on Black Ribbon Day in 1989, 50 years after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia organized the Baltic Way, when some two million citizens joined hands across three countries and 700 kilometers to show their determination to regain their independence, thereby leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A powerful echo of this event took place in January 1990, when a million or more Ukrainians joined hands in a human chain that also stretched for some 700 kilometers, signifying their hope and determination for independence.

At this year’s event on Sunday August 21 at 2:00 PM at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza, we will commemorate the victims of the Nazi-Soviet terror that began with the 1939 pact, and the millions who continued to live under Soviet occupation until the 1990s. We will also show our moral support for Ukraine, a sovereign state that gained its independence in 1991 and is now fighting courageously to preserve its independence and national identity.

The one-hour program will include community speakers, a reading of a proclamation for Black Ribbon Day from Vancouver City Hall, a dramatic reenactment, music, and more. At the end of the event, we will invite participants to join hands with one another as a visible and public display of solidarity for Ukrainians and Ukraine.

Organizations supporting this event: Preparations for this year’s event in Vancouver are underway with the support of the following local organizations, together with the Central and Eastern European Council in Canada (CEEC): the Canadian Polish Congress – BC Branch, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress BC Provincial Council, the Lithuanian Community of British Columbia, the Vancouver Estonian Society, and the Latvian Community in British Columbia.