The LCBO has pulled Stalinskaya Silver Vodka from its shelves. Here's why
Ontario's provincially owned liquor retailer says it’s removing a vodka brand off its shelves following complaints that the product’s name resembled that of the Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) sold Stalinskaya Silver Vodka, made in Romania, in store and online, but removed it after complaints surfaced from the Ukrainian community.
“Following feedback from a number of our customers, the LCBO further reviewed Stalinskaya Silver Vodka,” a spokesperson told CTV News Toronto on Thursday. “[We] found it does not meet the LCBO’s name and labelling standards and is no longer available for sale through the LCBO.”
The vodka company, which started selling in Ontario stores in May, writes on its Facebook page that, “Stalinskaya means strength and is inspired by the Russian word stal, meaning steel.”
In response to CTV News Toronto, the company said it’s working on a statement about the issue, which will be available Friday morning.
As the brand hit the shelves, the Ukrainian community began sending letters to the LCBO to stop the sales, saying the name stirs up dreaded memories associated with the Soviet Union and Stalin.
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1927 until 1952, and he has been infamously known for the Gulag forced labour system established during his long reign. His regime is widely criticized for wide-scale executions, deadly famines and ethnic cleansing.
Ukrainian Canada and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, groups representing the diaspora, wrote a number of posts on social media over the month of June to bring awareness about the issue.
“Stalin deported and annihilated whole ethnic communities of Chechens, Ingushes, Tatars; organized a man-made genocide Holodomor killing millions of Ukrainians; built a regime that has been mass-murdering people with contrarian opinions and beliefs,” Ukrainian Canada said in a post.
Ukrainian community member Nick Krawetz said, like others, he contacted the LCBO immediately after learning the product was sold in its stores.
“Like millions of Ukrainian families, relatives from my family and my wife's tragically lost their lives due to Stalin's tyrannical and murderous policies,” Krawetz told CTV news Toronto on Thursday. “I chose to speak out to honour their eternal memory.”
The diaspora groups welcomed the LCBO’s decision, saying that the crown corporation responded swiftly to the request.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.