Commentary

Canada will continue “to stand with Ukraine against Russian interference and aggression,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, as an international conference on the Eastern European country’s future began in Toronto. The two leaders shook hands in front of Canadian and Ukrainian flags and, speaking in English, Mr. Zelensky thanked Mr. Trudeau for the welcome. Mr. Zelensky is making his North American debut at the Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto more than a month before he is to visit the United States and Ukraine’s envoy says that’s no mistake...

Ten representatives of the organized Ukrainian Canadian community came together under the auspices of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Toronto on July 2, 2019. As President of the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) I attended the meeting and had the opportunity to ask the first questions of the new President: The Institute of National Remembrance is considered to be the leading state institution for the further development of Ukraine as a political nation. The director of the institute is Volodymyr Vyatrovych. Do you support the work of the Institute and its leader? Also, a follow-up question arose: What is your position on Ukrainian as the single state language, and on legislation adopted to strengthen...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to travel to Canada in July to take part in a major donor conference and hold talks with top Canadian officials. The Ukrainian presidential office said in a statement that during his July 1 to July 3 visit, Zelenskiy will hold meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, members of parliament, and business representatives. Zelenskiy with also attend the Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto, which is due to run from July 2 to July 4. Co-hosted by Canada and Ukraine, the gathering will bring together more than 300 people, including foreign ministers, heads of international institutions, and civil society activists to discuss and support Ukraine's reform process...

On June 19, 2019 Michael Levitt, M.P., Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, tabled the Motion to recognize the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin as a genocide, which passed unanimously in the Foreign Affairs Committee on June 13, 2019. “I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 31st report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, entitled ‘Human Rights Situation in Russia’. Following the testimony of Mr. Mustafa Dzhemilev, the committee supports recognizing the Crimean Tatar deportation of 1944 as a genocide and designating May 18 a day of remembrance for the Crimean Tatar deportation,” stated Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael Levitt, M.P. Etobicoke Centre M.P. Borys Wrzesnewskyj tabled the “Notice of Motion” in the Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, June 10 following the testimony provided to the Committee by iconic Crimean Tatar leader and Soviet Gulag survivor Mustafa Dzhemilev and twice poisoned journalist and Russian democratic opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza...

A trilingual educational plaque and commemorative statue were unveiled and consecrated Saturday, June 22, 2019, to the civilian internees held in Yoho National Park’s internment camp during the First World War. More than 125 people from Calgary and the surrounding community in the British Columbia Interior attended the unveiling, near the Natural Bridge in the Park. The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), in co-operation with Parks Canada, as well as with the support of the Ukrainian community of Calgary and the region, unveiled a trilingual (English, French, Ukrainian) plaque and on the site where, from 1915 and 1916, some 200 men, mostly East and Central Europeans and mostly Ukrainians, were unjustly interned as enemy aliens under the War Measures Act. At the same time, the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (CFWWIRF) unveiled a statue by sculptor John Boxtel, of an internee titled “Last Man Standing”...

Following the restoration of the rights of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Ukrainain Canadian Congress National President Alexandra Chyczij issued the following statement: Yesterday, under cover of night, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in a vote of 118-62, voted to restore the Russian delegation's voting rights, allowing members of the Russian delegation to once again lead committees and to participate in PACE's governing bodies. The Russian delegation's rights at PACE were suspended in 2014 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's occupation of Crimea continues, Russia's war against Ukraine has cost over 13,000 lives, over 100 Ukrainian citizens are jailed illegally by Russia, and the Russian regime has not faced consequences for shooting down Flight MH 17. None of the resolutions passed by PACE have been adhered to by Russia...

Ukraine's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has walked out in protest and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has voiced his "disappointment" over Russia having its voting rights reinstalled at the body after a three-year hiatus. German and French delegates largely backed Russia's return, arguing it was better to have Russia inside the body than out, and also because the human rights court gave Russians a destination of "last hope". In a June 25 statement on his Facebook page, Zelenskiy said he tried to convince French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in separate meetings to not allow Russia back into Europe's main human rights body until it meets PACE's demands on adherence to principles of rule of law and human rights...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has replaced the Deputy Justice Minister Serhiy Petukhov as head of an official delegation after the latter publicly insisted that the man chosen to head the President’s Administration is prohibited by law from holding public office. The decree (№400/2019) on the President’s site gives no explanation as to why Petukhov has been replaced as head of Ukraine’s delegation to the 22nd Diplomatic Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law less than a month after being appointed. There may, of course, be some other reason, however it is Petukhov, admittedly in his capacity as Deputy Justice Minister on Issues of European Integration, who has very publicly rejected attempts by the Zelensky team to deny that Andriy Bohdan falls under the scope of the Law on Lustration and initiated a ‘lustration check’...

On the same day that Russia challenged the jurisdiction of a second UN tribunal whose orders it is flouting, the Council of Europe’s Rules Committee adopted a draft resolution which could open the door to removing the sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. The resolution has yet to be voted on by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and it is a ‘compromise’ which may still not satisfy Russia, however the message sent by any such compromise is disastrous. If you are a big country, and can blackmail with lost revenue to PACE, and potential withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights, measures will be found to waive or at least weaken entirely warranted sanctions...

The U.S. special envoy on Ukraine has called Russian activity in eastern Ukraine an "occupation" and has called on Moscow to start implementing its obligations under the 2015 Minsk accords -- the international agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists. U.S. State Department Special Representative Kurt Volker made the remarks on May 28 while speaking to journalists about the prospects for Ukraine's future under newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "Russia has a lot that it needs to do to implement the Minsk agreements," Volker told journalists via a video link from Washington. "Ukraine also has its responsibilities."...