OTTAWA —
Canada will be supplying Ukraine with anti-tank weapons systems and upgraded ammunition to be used in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, as federal ministers pledge more help is coming in the face of Vladmir Putin’s “brutal assault on Ukraine.”
With plans to make the delivery as soon as possible, Canada will be sending approximately 100 Carl-Gustaf anti-tank weapons system launchers and 2,000 rockets for the Ukrainian army to use, with the federal government saying that they still have no plans to send Canadian troops into combat in Ukraine.
This latest package of weaponry will be coming from the Canadian Armed Forces’ inventory, and is in addition to previous shipments of lethal and non-lethal equipment. Canada is working with NATO allies to ensure the supplies arrive promptly.
Monday’s announcement comes alongside other countries delivering key support and equipment, Trudeau said during a press conference discussing Canada’s latest response efforts alongside several key ministers.
“Canada will continue to deliver support for Ukraine’s heroic defence against the Russian military,” Trudeau said. “It is increasingly clear that President Putin has made a grave miscalculation… Our message is clear: this unnecessary war must stop now. The costs will only grow steeper and those responsible will be held accountable.”
Since the incursion began, almost daily the Canadian government has been making announcements of next steps in responding to the worsening war, from levelling a series of sanctions on key Russian figures and institutions— including prohibiting Canadian financial institutions from engaging in any transaction with the Russian Central Bank—to working on expediting immigration and consular processes for those looking to leave the region.
“While brave Ukrainian civilians gamely learn how to make Molotov cocktails to defend their homes, one of the world’s most brutal war machines is bombarding them,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday. “Not content to terrorize his own people, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to impose his tyranny on his democratic freedom-loving neighbours.”
In an update to the immigration efforts to-date, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser said Monday that since Jan. 19, Canada has approved 4,000 applications from Ukrainians seeking to come to Canada. Fraser said additional measures are coming soon that will see Canada welcome more of the thousands of Ukrainians who have fled to neighbouring countries, “in the safest and quickest way possible.”
The federal government is also providing Canadian Armed Forces airlift support to NATO and to deliver additional defence equipment like body armour and night-vision tools to Ukraine, while closing off Canadian airspace to Russian planes.
Minister of National Defence Anita Anand said Monday that Canada’s initial $10 million worth of lethal and non-lethal aid made it to the country ahead of the current incursion, and the promised additional equipment and up to 50 personnel accompanying it is arriving in two stages, with one plane leaving for Europe today and the second set to fly out later this week.
“Canada has been there for Ukraine’s military and its people. Over the past few years, our Canadian Armed Forces have trained over 33,000 Ukrainian soldiers, to help them prepare for the very type of attack that they are facing today,” Anand said, noting that Canada’s military stands ready to assist further, should NATO’s posture in the region change.
For now though, Trudeau said “we are not going to be sending troops into Ukraine.”
TARGETING OIL IMPORTS, RUSSIAN TV
Trudeau also announced that the government will be asking the CRTC to review state-owned broadcaster Russia Today’s presence on Canadian airwaves, while some major players have proactively begun to remove RT.
“There is a significant amount of disinformation circulating from Russia, including on social media, and we all need to keep calling it out,” Trudeau said.
And, Canada plans to ban all imports of crude oil from Russia, an industry that is a major source of Russian federal revenues. While Canada has imported limited amounts in recent years, this move is meant as a “powerful message,” the prime minister said.
Trudeau was scheduled to meet with key cabinet Incident Response Group on the situation in Ukraine on Monday, and attend a meeting hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, alongside leaders of other allied nations and NATO, on Putin’s attack.
Speaking from the United Nations Human Rights Council, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told reporters earlier on Monday that “there will be more sanctions coming.”
“Our goal is to put maximum pressure on Russia, and isolate it,” Joly said, applauding those in the cultural, sport and other private sectors who have also gone forward with actions against Russia in recent days.
MPS ALIGN, SUGGEST NEXT STEPS
In the House of Commons—where MPs will be holding a special take-note debate on the pressing situation Monday evening—all parties spoke up in solidarity with Ukraine, pressing the Liberals for more details about Canada’s next steps and offering suggestions.
“The situation in Ukraine is heartbreaking and growing more troubling by the hour. We also know it is constantly evolving and although Conservatives support the government’s actions to date, we do believe there are things that could have been done faster,” said interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen during question period, calling for Canada to expel Russia’s ambassador to Canada and recall Canada’s ambassador from Russia.
Bergen took part this weekend in an anti-war protest outside of the Russian embassy in Ottawa.
The NDP are calling for Canada to drop its visa requirements for Ukrainians, to avoid those seeking refuge from a “bureaucratic nightmare,” as immigration critic and NDP MP Jenny Kwan put it in a statement.
“Canadians are watching in horror, as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians seek refuge from the unprovoked Russian invasion. People in this country expect their government to act swiftly to help those in danger… The government has to move quickly to cut the red tape – Ukrainians’ lives depend on it,” Kwan said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
