Thursday March 25 at City Hall in Toronto, Mayor Miller unveiled a display in honour of the late Paul Robeson in the spirit of “recognizing the global humanitarian efforts of individuals in the areas of equality, justice and diversity.” The irony is that Paul Robeson despite his accomplishments in the arts and American football was a defender of the Soviet Communist regime and ignored its crimes against humanity.

Mr. Robeson’s actions are chronicled in the Globe and Mail (Mar. 25, 2010):

“He accepted the Stalin Peace Prize from Moscow. He defended the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact. He made excuses for the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. He praised the paper promises in the Soviet Constitution to punish racial discrimination and respect ethnic minorities. He chose to overlook the mass deportation and murder of minority groups that Stalin suspected of treason….

…When Moscow executed a group of “counter-revolutionary assassins” – its label for political opponents – he said that “they ought to destroy anybody who seeks to harm that great country.””

The honouring of Mr. Robeson is an affront to those of us who suffered and the memory of those who suffered under the Communist regime.

As a community and as individuals who value the “equality, justice and diversity” that the city is hoping to celebrate we must act now to ensure that the City of Toronto removes the the display in honour of Mr. Robeson and issues an apology immediately to all Torontonians.

Please call or write Mayor Miller’s office (contact info and sample letter below) to urge him to remove the display honouring Paul Robeson and issue an apology for disrespecting those who suffered at the hands of the Communist regime and those who dedicated and gave their lives in the fight for equality and justice in the Soviet Union and around the world.

Please also cc your letter to the 5 councillors listed below.

Contact Mayor Miller

E-mail: mayor_miller@toronto.ca
Mail: Toronto City Hall, 2nd Floor, 100 Queen St. West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2
Phone: 416-397-CITY (2489)

CC:
Mark Grimes councillor_grimes@toronto.ca
Doug Holyday councillor_holyday@toronto.ca
Gloria Lindsay Luby councillor_lindsay_luby@toronto.ca
Peter Milczyn councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca
Bill Saundercook councillor_saundercook@toronto.ca
Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Toronto) ucctoronto@bellnet.ca

 

---

Dear Mayor Miller:

Re: Paul Robeson display

I am writing to express in the strongest terms possible, my opposition to the honouring of the late Paul Robeson by the City of Toronto. 

The display dedicated to Mr. Robeson by the City of Toronto is an affront to the hundreds of thousands of Torontonians who suffered at the hands of Communist regimes which Mr. Robeson steadfastly defended to the end of his life. 

I urge you to remove this display as soon as possible.

Yours truly,

Walter Warywoda
President, League of Ukrainian Canadians - Thunder Bay Branch
4260 Mapleward Rd.
Thunder Bay, ON  P7K 1A1