Canadian Lithuanian community walks in Toronto to honour freedom fighters

The Canadian Lithuanian group in Toronto organized a stroll Jan. 9 to honour the liberty defenders of their nation that stood as much as the Soviet Union in 1991.

Walkers carried handmade forget-me-not bouquets throughout the “Street of Life and Demise” starting at Lithuania Park in west Toronto, stopping at Lithuanian places alongside the best way, and ending on the Lithuanian Church of the Resurrection and neighbouring Lithuanian nursing residence Labdara and Lithuanian Resurrection Credit score Union in Etobicoke.

This Thursday, Jan. 13 marks the thirty first anniversary of the day when the Soviet Union used pressure to overthrow Lithuania’s authorities, which had declared Lithuania’s independence the yr earlier than.

“For us, taking part on this stroll was a approach to be part of Lithuanians and associates of Lithuania throughout Canada, and globally, as we ‘grew’ and ‘planted’ our meadow of forget-me-not flowers at key Toronto Lithuanian institutions to honour the previous, and cherish the position our Lithuanian areas have performed in shaping our group,” Skaidra Puodziunas, Canadian Lithuanian Youth Affiliation past-president, stated in a press release.

“By sporting the badges of forget-me-not flowers, we keep in mind and honour these killed throughout the Soviet navy aggression in Vilnius in January 1991.”

Puodziunas was joined on the stroll by Lina Samonis, president of the Canadian Lithuanian Youth Affiliation, Monika Satkauskas, affiliation vice-president, and Daina Sablinskas, one other affiliation past-president.

Puodziunas stated it was the management of Lithuanian Ambassador to Canada Darius Skusevicius, who with a crew organized a stroll in Ottawa and put a name out for others to do the identical throughout the nation, that impressed their Toronto stroll.

On Jan. 11, 1991, Soviet troops stormed the Press Palace, headquarters of most of Lithuanian's newspapers.

Hundreds of unarmed individuals gathered close to the parliament, TV towers and the radio and tv headquarters to defend Lithuania’s drive for independence.

BBC reported on Jan. 13, 1991, Soviet troops broke by means of the defences of greater than 1,000 protesters gathered on the tv tower within the capital Vilnius to make a stand in opposition to the Soviet navy. Many Lithuanians refused to retreat, and sporadic gunfire continued for at the least 90 minutes.

Fourteen individuals died and greater than 700 unarmed civilians have been injured.

Ultimately, Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Russian Federation, finally acknowledged the independence of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania on Sept. 7, 1991; the three nations have been admitted to the United Nations later that month.

By yr’s finish, the Soviet Union was changed by the Commonwealth of Unbiased Republics, with many states gaining full independence. Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down from workplace on Christmas Day 1991.

The west Toronto stroll is 9 kilometres — the identical distance from Lithuania’s TV tower, the place the liberty defenders have been killed, to Lithuania’s Antakalnis Cemetery, the place they're buried, Puodziunas defined.

The 2016 Census reported practically 60,000 individuals of Lithuanian origin in Canada. The overwhelming majority, 59 per cent, stay in Ontario, however vital populations stay in British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta.