OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has weighed in on growing calls to declare Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide, saying it is “absolutely right” that the term is being used given rampant allegations of war crimes and other human rights violations.
Trudeau made the comments during a news conference in Laval, Que., on Wednesday, after U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters the previous day that Russia’s conduct in Ukraine appeared to his eyes to be a genocide.
While both North American leaders said it will be up to lawyers to determine whether Russia’s actions meet the international standard for genocide, they were nonetheless united in welcoming use of the term.
“As President Biden highlighted, there are official processes around determinations of genocide,” Trudeau said. “But I think it’s absolutely right that more and more people be talking and using the word ‘genocide’ in terms of what Russia is doing.”
The prime minister went on to list a series of war crimes and human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by Russian forces under the direction of President Vladimir Putin, including deliberate attacks on civilians and the use of sexual violence.
“They’re attacking Ukrainian identity and culture,” Trudeau said. “These are all things that are war crimes that Putin is responsible for. These are all things that are crimes against humanity.”
He went on to say that Canada has dispatched RCMP investigators to help the International Criminal Court collect evidence to ultimately hold Putin and other Russian leaders to account.
Biden last week had stopped short of saying Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, but reversed course in a speech on Tuesday.
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force 1 to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
The U.S. president said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but added, “it sure seems that way to me.”
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.
A United Nations treaty, to which Canada and the U.S. are parties, defines genocide as actions taken with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Canadian experts were united Wednesday in their belief that Russia’s actions do qualify as genocide given public comments from Putin and other Russian leaders denying the existence of a Ukrainian culture and identity.
Yet world leaders have often dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation that requires countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified.
In 1994, that obligation was seen as blocking former U.S. president Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis as a genocide.
Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, said there remains a debate around whether a formal legal finding of genocide is required for intervention or not.
“Some legal scholars will want to say: ‘It has to go through a legal process,’” Matthews said. “Others will say: ‘No, actually, if there are certain things that we’re seeing … then we can consider it as possible genocide and we must take action to at least halt that.”
Even then, the exact action remains undefined.
University of Ottawa professor Errol Mendes, who previously served as a lawyer at the International Criminal Court, suggested talk of genocide could be used to justify further actions to punish and isolate Russia and additional support to Ukraine.
That includes further bans on the purchase of Russian oil and gas, particularly in places like Germany, Mendes said, and the provision of additional heavy weapons to the Ukrainian military.
“There’s a lot of questions that should be asked now by the leaders who are willing to use the word genocide,” he said. “And you can’t just say ‘genocide’ without doing anything further.”
The U.S. last year formally accused the Chinese government of genocide in its treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, which has led to a series of American sanctions against Beijing.
While Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from a House of Commons motion along the same lines in February 2021, Matthews noted the abstentions coincided with efforts to free two Canadians who had been detained by China. They were later freed.
Biden’s allegations that Russia’s actions in Ukraine appear to constitute genocide have drawn praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for U.S. assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
French President Emmanuel Macron declined to take his rhetoric that far in comments Wednesday.
“I am prudent with terms today,” Macron said. “Genocide has a meaning. … I look at the facts, and I want to continue to try the utmost to be able to stop the war and restore peace. I’m not sure if the escalation of words serves our cause.”
Macron added that it’s been established the Russian army has committed war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia, meanwhile, announced new sanctions Wednesday against 87 Canadian senators, banning them from being able to enter the country, in an apparent tit-for-tat retaliation after Canada took aim at Russian senators last month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2022.
— with files from The Associated Press
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – RCMP say the body of a second person has been found inside their vehicle after a road washed away amid pouring rain on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Police say two vehicles went into the Sarita River when Bamfield Road washed out on Saturday as an atmospheric river hammered southern B.C.
The body of the other driver was found Sunday.
More coming.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The B.C. Greens say Sonia Furstenau will be staying on as party leader, despite losing her seat in the legislature in Saturday’s provincial election.
The party says in a statement that its two newly elected MLAs, Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell, support Furstenau’s leadership as they “navigate the prospect of having the balance of power in the legislature.”
Neither the NDP led by Premier David Eby nor the B.C. Conservatives led by John Rustad secured a majority in the election, with two recounts set to take place from Oct. 26 to 28.
Eby says in a news conference that while the election outcome is uncertain, it’s “very likely” that the NDP would need the support of others to pass legislation.
He says he reached out to Furstenau on election night to congratulate her on the Greens’ showing.
But he says the Green party has told the NDP they are “not ready yet” for a conversation about a minority government deal.
The Conservatives went from taking less than two per cent of the vote in 2020 to being elected or leading in 45 ridings, two short of a majority and only one behind the NDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio is making a difference, 4,175 kilometres away from home.
The 32-year-old Canadian international midfielder, whose parents hail from Colombia, has been working with the Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization, a charity whose goal is to help disadvantaged youth in the South American country.
Osorio has worked behind the scenes, with no fanfare.
Until now, with his benevolence resulting in becoming Toronto FC’s nominee for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award, which honours an MLS player “who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community” during the 2024 season.”
Other nominees include Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter and CF Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
The winner will be announced in late November.
The Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization (CCCO) is run entirely by volunteers like Monica Figueredo and Claudia Soler. Founded in 1991, it received charitable status in 2005.
The charity currently has four projects on the go: two in Medellin and one each in Armenia and Barranquilla.
They include a school, a home for young girls whose parents are addicted to drugs, after-school and weekend programs for children in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, and nutrition and education help for underprivileged youth.
The organization heard about Osorio and was put in contact with him via an intermediary, which led to a lunch meeting. Osorio did his due diligence and soon got back to the charity with his decision.
“It was something that I wanted to be a part of right away,” said Osorio, whose lone regret is that he didn’t get involved sooner.
“I’m fortunate now that to help more now that I could have back then,” he added. “The timing actually worked out for everybody. For the last three years I have donated to their cause and we’ve built a couple of (football) fields in different cities over there in the schools.”
His father visited one of the sites in Armenia close to his hometown.
“He said it was amazing, the kids, how grateful they are to be able to play on any pitch, really,” said Osorio. “But to be playing on a new pitch, they’re just so grateful and so humble.
“It really makes it worth it being part of this organization.”
The collaboration has also made Osorio take stock.
“We’re very fortunate here in Canada, I think, for the most part. Kids get to go to school and have a roof over their head and things like that. In Colombia, it’s not really the same case. My father and his family grew up in tough conditions, so giving back is like giving back to my father.”
Osorio’s help has been a godsend to the charity.
“We were so surprised with how willing he was,” said Soler.
The TFC skipper has helped pay for a football field in Armenia as well as an ambitious sports complex under construction in Barranquilla.
“It’s been great for them,” Figueredo said of the pitch in Armenia. “Because when they go to school, now they have a proper place to train.”
Osorio has also sent videos encouraging the kids to stay active — as well as shipping soccer balls and signed jerseys their way.
“They know more about Jonathan than the other players in Colombia,” Figueredo said. “That’s the funny part. Even though he’s far away, they’ve connected with him.”
“They feel that they have a future, that they can do more,” she added. “Seeing that was really, really great.”
The kids also followed Osorio through the 2022 World Cup and this summer’s Copa America.
Back home, Osorio has also attended the charity’s annual golf tournament, helping raise funds.
A Toronto native, he has long donated four tickets for every TFC home game to the Hospital for Sick Children.
Vancouver’s Berhalter was nominated for his involvement in the Whitecaps’ partnership with B.C. Children’s Hospital while Montreal’s Sirois was chosen for his work with the Montreal Impact Foundation.
—
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
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