Politics

Today in the House of Commons in response to a question from Etobicoke Centre MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion admonished the Russian foreign affairs minister and underscored Canada’s strong and unwavering commitment to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Canadian community. In his forceful response, Foreign Affairs Minister Dion also shared with the House of Commons that he will be travelling to Ukraine in the next few days to visit with Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv to offer Canada’s support and thereby send a strong message to Russia and its leaders that Canada will continue to oppose Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian lands. MP Wrzesnewskyj will be accompanying Foreign Affairs Minister Dion on this...

On January 26, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated at a press conference, “We were surprised by the total lack of any pragmatism in the impulsive actions taken by the previous government, which took the course, as you can understand, of blindly following the demands of rabid representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.” The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), whose President together with several Canadian Parliamentarians have been sanctioned and barred from Russia, reminds Mr. Lavrov that he serves a regime that has invaded Ukraine, illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and continues to wage a war in Eastern Ukraine where Ukrainians are killed by Russian soldiers and their terrorist proxies on a daily basis. His government is...

While respecting the democratic right of the members of the Ukrainian Canadian community to express their political preferences, we have always maintained that support should be given to MPs who are sensitive to the aspirations of Ukrainians both in Canada and in Ukraine, regardless of a given MP’s political affiliation. However, in view of Russia’s threat to international peace, Russian aggression against Ukraine and the hostility of the “Russian world” toward Ukrainians in general, this time around voters will have to decide which future government of Canada will offer the best proactive attention to the following issues: 1) support for Ukraine and 2) Canada’s domestic and external security as well as the security and stability of the free world, which have been so brutally violated by Putin’s Russia. This means that the foreign policy of the next Canadian government will be crucial to the effective safeguarding of Canada’s domestic and external national interests, including economic ones...

James Bezan, Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake and parliamentary secretary for national defence, in Kingston, Ont. on Thursday March 12, 2015. Bezan spoke with Royal Military College cadets about Canada's role in Ukraine. Steph Crosier/Kingston Whig-Standard/QMI Agency The Canadian Forces' logistical role in Ukraine could expand to a training mission with support from the United States, James Bezan, MP and Parliamentary Secretary for National Defence, said in Kingston Thursday. Bezan, MP for Selkirk-Interlake in Manitoba, was in town to speak to Royal Military College cadets about Canada's ongoing efforts in Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine, though, in its second ceasefire, is not close to being over, Bezan said...

Where is Turkey on Ukraine/Russia? A delegation for Turkey appeared before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in Parliament today, of which Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East, is a member. He noted that the question for Turkey should be, ‘Where is Turkey on Ukraine versus Russia?’ Russia has invaded Ukraine and has occupied Crimea. Both actions upset the international balance and are against international law. Hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars live in fear of their occupiers. This community retains strong ties to the Tatar community of Turkey, which, following the deportation of 1944, still call Crimea ‘home’. With upwards of 500 000 Crimean Tatars in Turkey, four times the size of that in Ukraine, the Crimean crisis of 2014 was widely experienced and must disturb Turkey. Turkey has historic ties to Ukraine and claims to be...

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced the launch of the Senate Ukraine Caucus. The goal of the Caucus will be to strengthen the political, military, economic, and cultural relationship between the United States and Ukraine. The caucus will immediately focus on the need for a sustained U.S. commitment to Ukraine in the face of a Russian-backed separatist offensive. Portman and Durbin recently led a bipartisan group of 15 senators calling for President Obama and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to rapidly increase military assistance to Ukraine to defend its sovereign borders. Portman also...

Citing international documents, conventions, treaties when dealing with Russia is an exercise in futility. A more meaningful task would be locating a single international convention or treaty that Russia and/or its predecessor the USSR have not violated in large part or ignored entirely. Conventions and treaties nonetheless remain international norms of a civilized international community that must be taken into consideration when dealing with Russia. Russia' failure to comply, often arrogantly, should be perceived as an unwillingness on the part of Russia to be a part of that civilized international community with...

President Vladimir Putin’s September 4th interview with Russian state broadcaster Channel One and the Associated Press cast a bright light on the incompetence of his public relations office and on his own antediluvian notions aboutUkraine. Whoever translated the official Kremlin transcript showed a striking ignorance of the English language—the translation is wooden—and of elementary political-historical terminology. Several sentences stand out, both because the translation is shockingly bad and because, when dissected, they reveal a great deal about Putin’s mind-set...

After a lengthy silence, Viktor Yanukovych has spoken to the public once again. In an August 30 interview for several nationwide television channels he criticizedRussia’s stance onUkraine’s Association Agreement with the EU and said that European integration isUkraine’s priority even if cooperation withRussiais not ruled out. On September 3, he spoke to legislators regarding the need to pass European integration bills, noting that “we must aim for success at the Vilnius Summit”...

The Ukrainian World Congress strongly believes that the integration of Ukraine into Europe is of great strategic importance to Europe, Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, whose interests are represented by the Ukrainian World Congress. As stated in its Resolution of 25 November 2010 on Ukraine, the European Parliament also: 2. Stresses that Ukraine has a European perspective and strong historical, cultural and economic links to the European Union and that it is one of the Union's key partners in its Eastern neighbourhood, exerting a significant influence on the security, stability and prosperity of the whole continent. Therefore, the Ukrainian World Congress urges the European Union (EU) leadership to move their existing timetables forward in order to expedite the signature of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement – even by 25 February 2013 – at the EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels. EU-Ukraine Association Agreement The decision...