There will be no fundamental change in Canada’s policy towards Ukraine and Russia, Canadian Liberal member of parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj told the Kyiv Post during a Canadian delegation visit on Feb. 1.
Hailing from the Etobicoke district of Toronto where many ethnic Ukrainians live, Wrzesnewskyj said Reuters had misinterpreted Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion’s comment on Jan. 28 when he
told the nation’s legislature that the government wanted to “engage” with Russia. The comment sparked discussion that the country was betraying its longstanding relationship with Ukraine. The previous Conservative Canadian government had severed almost all high-level cooperation with the Kremlin.
“Reuter’s picked up a lot of those comments without doing fact-checking. There is no change in Canadian policy towards Ukraine. In fact we’re looking for additional ways engage to help Ukraine…during this economic crisis,” said Wrzesnewskyj. “It’s the way we conduct ourselves (that’s changed).”
But Wrzesnewskyj, a 55-year-old third-generation Ukrainian-Canadian, said that this government believes in the importance of “diplomacy and talking” with the Kremlin, just as Americans and
others do.
That means telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that “we do not accept any of your premises when it comes to Ukraine and we do not accept your continuing aggressions,” according to Wrzesnewskyj.
On Russia and Canada’s competition for resources in the Arctic Circle, a factor which some say may have influenced the new government’s decision to open up for talks with Russia, he said that the government was “dealing will all these issues separately.”
Also the owner of a bakery and dairy, Wrzesnewskyj said that with Russia building several very large Arctic military bases, it “has shown it will take a separate path but we are strong believers in talking to people and trying to negotiate diplomatic solutions.”
Politicians of Ukrainian descent are likely to be involved in future high-level talks with Russia, according to Wrzesnewskyj: “In parliament, there are many people of Ukrainian-Canadian background. It would seem that most likely there could well be people of Ukrainian-Canadian background on those delegations.”
According to Wrzesnewskyj, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went out of his way to misrepresent Canada’s position at a press conference on Jan. 26, calling
his comments “Russian propaganda.” Lavrov told journalists that Putin and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on the sidelines of the G2O meeting in November in Turkey and that they “both expressed desire to normalize relations.”
“Mr. Lavrov, Canada will decide what our politics and policies are,” said Wrzesnewskyj.
Wrzesnewskyj further said that Russia’s top diplomat denigrated the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, who number more than 1.2 million, when he described them as “right-wing.” The lawmaker found it difficult to see how Russia expects to reset relations by threatening “one of the most respected” immigrant populations in Canada.
“Our support for Ukraine is steadfast,” Wrzesnewskyj added, “Ukraine is a priority for the Canadian government”.
He said there will be no change in the level of assistance and non-lethal aid that Canada provides to Ukraine. Canada is not considering lethal aid to Ukraine at this time.
Canadian Foreign Minister Dion met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Feb. 1 in Kyiv when the pair agreed that the
free trade area agreement between Ukraine and Canada should be signed and ratified this year.
Dion said at the meeting that Ottawa intends to increase its support of Ukraine and will demand the release of Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who was kidnapped in Luhansk Oblast and taken to Russia in July 2014. The Ukrainian lawmaker is being tried on trumped-up charges of involvement in the killings of two Russian journalists in Russia, charges that she has denied.
Kyiv Post staff writer Isobel Koshiw can be reached at [email protected]
