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.
NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
WINNIPEG – A backbencher with Manitoba’s NDP government has been removed from caucus over his link to convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.
Caucus chair Mike Moyes says it learned early Monday that a business partner of Mark Wasyliw is acting as Nygard’s criminal defence lawyer.
Moyes says Wasyliw was notified of the decision.
“Wasyliw’s failure to demonstrate good judgment does not align with our caucus principles of mutual respect and trust,” Moyes said in a statement.
“As such MLA Wasyliw can no longer continue his role in our caucus.”
Nygard, who founded a fashion empire in Winnipeg, was sentenced earlier this month to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting four women at his company’s headquarters in Toronto.
The 83-year-old continues to face charges in Manitoba, Quebec and the United States.
Moyes declined to say whether Wasyliw would be sitting as an Independent.
The legislature member for Fort Garry was first elected in 2019. Before the NDP formed government in 2023, Wasyliw served as the party’s finance critic.
He previously came under fire from the Opposition Progressive Conservatives for continuing to work as a lawyer while serving in the legislature.
At the time, Wasyliw told the Winnipeg Free Press that he was disappointed he wasn’t named to cabinet and planned to continue working as a defence lawyer.
Premier Wab Kinew objected to Wasyliw’s decision, saying elected officials should focus on serving the public.
There were possible signs of tension between Wasyliw and Kinew last fall. Wasyliw didn’t shake hands with the new premier after being sworn into office. Other caucus members shook Kinew’s hand, hugged or offered a fist bump.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
