“It was 81 years ago today that Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia formed one of the most evil alliances in human history with the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. As per this agreement, Germany and Russia carved up and assumed control of the sovereign nations of central and eastern Europe, giving way to decades of oppression and untold human suffering.
“On Black Ribbon Day, we remember the victims of the Soviet and Nazi regimes. Although they were informed by different ideologies, they made use of the same brutal tactics and strategies to commit murder on industrial scales and to enforce a system of oppression and tyranny on previously free peoples.
“As Albertans and Canadians, we must never forget the countless victims of these totalitarian regimes, we must take to heart the horrific and tragic lessons of that time, and we must honour those who fought so bravely and sacrificed so much to defeat these terrible forces.”