Canada will be contributing $33 million to a partnership with several allies to send air defence missiles to Ukraine, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced Sunday.
Blair made the announcement while in the United Kingdom on a visit with Canadian soldiers helping train Ukrainian recruits at an army base in southeast England.
The money will come from the $500-million fund Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced for military assistance in Ukraine while in Kyiv in June 2023 .
The partnership among allies was established that same month. The U.K., Denmark, Netherlands and the United States joined together to deliver hundreds of short and medium-range air defence missiles to Ukraine to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.
Canada has committed over $1.8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since February 2022. More than twice that amount has been sent in financial assistance.
“We understand our responsibility to provide support to the Ukraine. We’re listening very closely… about what they need in order to be successful in defending their country and to end this illegal invasion and occupation in their country,” Blair said in his announcement.
“And this part of the collaborative approach, I think, is the right approach for Canada.”
Minister Blair held a town hall with Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members during his visit in England and observed several Canadian-led training activities for Ukrainian recruits. He says there will be more announcements in the coming weeks.
CAF personnel have been running training courses at the U.K. training base for a little more than a year. About 2,600 Ukrainian recruits are getting training in weapons handling, battlefield first aid, field craft and patrol tactics.
The CAF has trained over 37,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel since the start of the operation.
There are currently over 300 CAF members deployed under Operation UNIFIER training and support roles. Five training missions are underway in the U.K, Poland and Latvia.
Blair says the training program has helped the Ukrainian military be more effective in their response to Russian aggression.
“The training that’s being provided here, I believe, and the evidence that Ukraine has provided us, is actually saving lives,” he said.A number of Ukrainian soldiers were present at the U.K. base where Blair made his announcement Sunday. One recruit called “Gryzley”, who has been in the military for only a few months, says the first time he held a weapon was while at the CAF-led training.
“I really, really enjoyed being here, especially the Canadian instructors. They’re tough, but still I do enjoy working and training with them,” said the recruit, whose real identity cannot be shared for protection.
He says Canadian instructors have been able to provide him and his team with the knowledge and experience needed to “push the enemy from our land.”
A CAF infanteer who goes by “Stu” for security purposes says the experience of training Ukrainian recruits has been humbling.
“These recruits are eager. They’re hungry to learn. A lot of them have experience, some of them don’t,” he said from the U.K. base.
“These soldiers that come through here are fighting for their freedom, their homeland, their families and their future from an unlawful invasion. And it is an absolute privilege to be a part of that process and help them to do that,” he said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
