OTTAWA — When Paul Hughes crossed into Ukraine to help fight the Russians early last month, he expected he would be armed and taken to the front lines. But he couldn’t get a weapon or ammunition.
The 57-year-old Calgary native who served in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry from 1983 to 1987 during the Cold War said he was disappointed.
“I think you’d have to come up with a different word than disorganized,” Hughes said in an interview from Lviv, describing the so-called International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
“I don’t think they were ready for that call to action.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called out in February for people around the world to help his country fight the Russians by joining an “international brigade,” and Kyiv said about 20,000 foreigners answered.
But some Canadians who want to pick up arms for Ukraine said they have faced unexpected hurdles, with some such as Hughes finding a lack of organization even as others have been turned away before they can get out the door.
A group of Ukrainian legislators visiting Ottawa last week stood by the need for more foreign volunteers. Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said “freedom fighters” are not only welcome, but an “inspiration and encouragement.”
She also qualified the invitation, saying Ukraine wants “everybody who knows how to fight, or who knows how to render medical aid” such as paramedics.
Bryson Woolsey, a 33-year-old cook from Powell River, B.C., said he was turned away because of a lack of combat experience. He was disappointed, especially since he talked publicly about his desire to help.
“I felt like I had let people down,” Woolsey said in Facebook text messages.
“I guess in a way I felt disingenuous as well. Like I said, I was doing this thing and then I couldn’t. That was tough.”
Former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj is part of a group of volunteers who offered to help the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa contact and vet Canadians wanting to answer Zelenskyy’s call to arms.
Despite the “tremendous” response, Wrzesnewskyj says his group’s work is in a “holding pattern” as Ukrainian officials struggle with the sheer volume of applications.
“It’s important that those who volunteer have military combat experience,” he said. “Those are the types of individuals that are being called for.”
Retired Canadian major-general Denis Thompson said a lot has changed in Ukraine since February, with Ukrainian forces having since blunted Russia’s offensive in many areas and starting to push back.
“The call probably went out in those first few days when people erroneously thought that the Russians were really going to overrun the country,” Thompson said.
He said military training and the ability to communicate on the battlefield are critical to ensure volunteers are actually assets rather than liabilities.
It is not clear how many Canadians have actually gone to Ukraine to fight or who they are, but Wrzesnewskyj said none of those who were working with his group have been accepted.
“Having said that, it looks like a lot of Canadians are heading over without any vetting,” he said. “They’re doing it on their own.”
The Ukrainian Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Those like Hughes who got to Ukraine have reported challenges, starting with a lack of weapons.
“What were we expected to do?” he said. “Hand-to-hand trench combat with the Russians? That ain’t happening.”
Thompson wondered whether such issues are related to poor logistics, and how much is because the Ukrainian government has had second thoughts or wants to more thoroughly vet volunteers first.
“For all we know, whoever shows up on your doorstep could just be a psychopath,” he said. “Or it could be a little romantic who really does think that he’s doing the right thing, but frankly, is not going to be able to contribute.”
Hughes said he was told that he would need to sign a contract stating he couldn’t leave until the war was over, though he could get out if he “really wanted.”
He decided not to join.
While Wrzesnewskyj said others have also raised concerns about contracts, Thompson said such agreements are not unusual, noting Canadians who volunteered in the Second World War did so for the duration.
Contracts formalize the volunteers’ standing in the Ukrainian military, Thompson said, establishing a legal framework for their participation in a conflict increasingly defined by alleged human rights violations and war crimes.
He pointed to the French Foreign Legion, which requires an initial contract for five years, as an example. This is a military force made up of foreign volunteers between the ages of 17 and 40 of any nationality.
“The famous French Foreign Legion is full of expats, but they’re all sworn in correctly,” Thompson said. “And they’re all considered to be soldiers of France when they take to the field, so that they’re protected.”
Wrzesnewskyj encouraged Canadians to help Ukraine through humanitarian assistance and donations, which is what Hughes and Woolsey have done.
Woolsey said he’s used his media spotlight to collect donations.
Hughes said he started an organization called Helping Ukraine Grassroots Support that offers medical and food supplies across the country.
He’s disappointed he isn’t fighting, but said he’s thrilled to be making a real difference on the ground. He’s fallen in love with the place and plans to stay as long as Ukraine will have him.
“Just this weird, twisted, freaking world I’m in right now,” Hughes said. “I’ve never, not even in dreams, thought I’d experience this. I’ve been here a month, and I feel like I’ve been here for five years. Or a lifetime.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2022.
MONCTON, N.B. – New Brunswick RCMP say two youths have been arrested after an emergency alert was issued Monday evening about someone carrying a gun in the province’s southeast.
Caledonia Region Mounties say they were first called out to Main Street in the community of Salisbury around 7 p.m. on reports of a shooting.
A 48-year-old man was found at the scene suffering from gunshot wounds and he was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say in the interest of public safety, they issued an Alert Ready message at 8:15 p.m. for someone driving a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck and reportedly carrying a firearm with dangerous intent in the Salisbury and Moncton area.
Two youths were arrested without incident later in the evening in Salisbury, and the alert was cancelled just after midnight Tuesday.
Police are still looking for the silver pickup truck, covered in mud, with possible Nova Scotia licence plate HDC 958. They now confirm the truck was stolen from Central Blissville.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Golf Canada has set an impressive stretch goal of having 30 professional golfers at the highest levels of the sport by 2032.
The World Junior Girls Golf Championship is a huge part of that target.
Credit Valley Golf and Country Club will host the international tournament from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, with 24 teams representing 23 nations — Canada gets two squads — competing. Lindsay McGrath, a 17-year-old golfer from Oakville, Ont., said she’s excited to be representing Canada and continue to develop her game.
“I’m really grateful to be here,” said McGrath on Monday after a news conference in Credit Valley’s clubhouse in Mississauga, Ont. “It’s just such an awesome feeling being here and representing our country, wearing all the logos and being on Team Canada.
“I’ve always wanted to play in this tournament, so it’s really special to me.”
McGrath will be joined by Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont., and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., on Team Canada 2. All three earned their places through a qualifying tournament last month.
“I love my teammates so much,” said McGrath. “I know Nobelle and Eileen very well. I’m just so excited to be with them. We have such a great relationship.”
Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng and Clairey Lin make up Team Canada 2. Liu earned her exemption following her win at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship while Deng earned her exemption as being the low eligible Canadian on the world amateur golf ranking as of Aug. 7.
Deng was No. 175 at the time, she has since improved to No. 171 and is Canada’s lowest-ranked player.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity,” said Liu. “We don’t really get that many opportunities to play with people from across the world, so it’s really great to meet new people and play with them.
“It’s great to see maybe how they play and take parts from their game that we might also implement our own games.”
Golf Canada founded the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in 2014 to fill a void in women’s international competition and help grow its own homegrown talent. The hosts won for the first time last year when Vancouver’s Anna Huang, Toronto’s Vanessa Borovilos and Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang won team gold and Huang earned individual silver.
Medallists who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural tournament. She was on Canada’s bronze-medal team in 2014 with Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., and Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee.
Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include Angel Yin and Megan Khang of the United States, as well as Yuka Saso of the Philippines, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.
“It’s not if, it’s when they’re going to be on the LPGA Tour,” said Garrett Ball, Golf Canada’s chief operating officer, of how Canada’s golfers in the World Junior Girls Championship can be part of the organization’s goal to have 30 pros in the LPGA and PGA Tours by 2032.
“Events like this, like the She Plays Golf festival that we launched two years ago, and then the CPKC Women’s Open exemptions that we utilize to bring in our national team athletes and get the experience has been important in that pathway.”
The individual winner of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship will earn a berth in next year’s CPKC Women’s Open at nearby Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.
Both clubs, as well as former RBC Canadian Open host site Glen Abbey Golf Club, were devastated by heavy rains through June and July as the Greater Toronto Area had its wettest summer in recorded history.
Jason Hanna, the chief operating officer of Credit Valley Golf and Country Club, said that he has seen the Credit River flood so badly that it affected the course’s playability a handful of times over his nearly two decades with the club.
Staff and members alike came together to clean up the course after the flooding was over, with hundreds of people coming together to make the club playable again.
“You had to show up, bring your own rake, bring your own shovel, bring your own gloves, and then we’d take them down to the golf course, assign them to areas where they would work, and then we would do a big barbecue down at the halfway house,” said Hanna. “We got guys, like, 80 years old, putting in eight-hour days down there, working away.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fenway Park has the Ted Williams seat. And now Citi Field has the Grimace seat.
The kid-friendly McDonald’s character made another appearance at the ballpark Monday, when the New York Mets unveiled a commemorative purple seat in section 302 to honor “his special connection to Mets fans.”
Wearing his pear-shaped purple costume and a baseball glove on backwards, Grimace threw out a funny-looking first pitch — as best he could with those furry fingers and short arms — before New York beat the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on June 12.
That victory began a seven-game winning streak, and Grimace the Mets’ good-luck charm soon went viral, taking on a life of its own online.
New York is 53-31 since June 12, the best record in the majors during that span. The Mets were tied with rival Atlanta for the last National League playoff spot as they opened their final homestand of the season Monday night against Washington.
The new Grimace seat in the second deck in right field — located in row 6, seat 12 to signify 6/12 on the calendar — was brought into the Shannon Forde press conference room Monday afternoon. The character posed next to the chair and with fans who strolled into the room.
The seat is available for purchase for each of the Mets’ remaining home games.
“It’s been great to see how our fanbase created the Grimace phenomenon following his first pitch in June and in the months since,” Mets senior vice president of partnerships Brenden Mallette said in a news release. “As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way.”
Up in Boston, the famous Ted Williams seat is painted bright red among rows of green chairs deep in the right-field stands at Fenway Park to mark where a reported 502-foot homer hit by the Hall of Fame slugger landed in June 1946.
So, does this catapult Grimace into Splendid Splinter territory?
“I don’t know if we put him on the same level,” Mets executive vice president and chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg said with a grin.
“It’s just been a fun year, and at the same time, we’ve been playing great ball. Ever since the end of May, we have been crushing it,” he explained. “So I think that added to the mystique.”
