Federal and Provincial officials paid tribute to victims of Communist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany on Black Ribbon Day, the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism and Nazism in Europe. Established through a unanimous resolution of the House of Commons in 2009, Black Ribbon Day is commemorated annually on Aug. 23, the anniversary of the 1939 signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union. According to the European Observatory of Memories, the pact divided Eastern European countries into German and Soviet spheres of influence and, soon after the pact was signed, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union jointly invaded Poland, starting World War II. As a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, “Millions of Europeans were robbed of their basic rights, subjected to violence or murdered, and countless others were forced to flee to new lands,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement on the …