EDMONTON, Canada – It is a day of momentous firsts at the Consulate General of Ukraine in Edmonton. The newly opened consulate welcomed Ukrainian citizens living in western Canada for the first time to vote in the presidential elections on March 31.
Edmonton is one of the 101 polling locations opened in foreign constituencies, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. The polling places were set up at embassies and consulates of Ukraine in 72 countries.
The first voters were waiting when the polling station opened its doors at 8 a.m. Anna Makieienko and Volodymyr Krasnikov had arrived from Vancouver just this morning, more than 800 kilometers away, to cast their vote. Their daughter, a teddy bear clutched in her hands, helped her mom to cast the first ballot as members of the electoral commission and Consul General Oleksandr Danyleiko burst into applause.
For Makieienko and Krasnikov there was no question whether to make the long journey to vote.
In Canada, Ukrainian citizens can cast ballots at one of three polling stations: in Edmonton, Ottawa (the Embassy of Ukraine), or in Toronto (the Consulate General of Ukraine). Edmonton was the most convenient option for the family.
“Most of our friends couldn’t come (to Edmonton) to vote,” Makieienko explained. “But the election is a must for every Ukrainian citizen. It’s important to be Ukrainians not just on paper or on Facebook, but actually, be a responsible citizen. And if we come back, we want to make sure we have somewhere to go, that Ukraine exists.”
The family hurried back to the airport to catch a plane back to Vancouver after they cast the vote.
The Edmonton Consulate is the first that Ukraine has opened since the beginning of Russia’s military aggression in the Donbas in 2014. It serves the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon. The consulate, officially opened in September 2018, moved in January to its permanent location in the Ledgeview Building, adjacent to the provincial legislature.
Previously, citizens had to travel across the country to Ottawa or Toronto to vote – a journey of nearly 3,000 kilometers in a country where travel can be prohibitively expensive.
For Marko Tarangul, who has been living in Canada for the last 25 years, an opening of the Consulate of Ukraine in Edmonton, is “a dream come true.”
“It is my first time voting in Canada, I would not go to Toronto for this,” Tarangul, a local entrepreneur, told the Kyiv Post. “It is something I’ve been looking forward this whole time, and it’s very nice to stop at the consulate and exercise your right to vote.”
Oleksiy Terekh, 18, from Regina, Saskatchewan, traveled 780 kilometers to Edmonton the day before the election to be at the consulate on time. For him, it is a journey to remember: It is his first time voting in any election.
“When my dad knew about the consulate’s opening, he told me that we will go to Edmonton to vote,” Terekh explained. “Why I am here? I’m a Ukrainian and this is my responsibility.” Now that the ballots are cast, the family has time to explore the city and buy souvenirs. Upon casting his ballot, electoral commission member Martyn Stusiak gave Terekh a Ukrainian flag as a reminder of his first election.
“Together with Consul Nadiya Kostenko, we decided it will be a good move to mark the first time voters with the Ukrainian flag,” Stusiak explained.
Stusiak found out he was to officially be a part of the electoral commission on March 12, when the Central Election Commission in Kyiv approved all the 11 members of the foreign constituency. Since then, they worked daily helping people to update their voting information by filing a change-of-address request. More than 100 people turned in to the consulate during the last two weeks. Altogether, around 900 ballots have been delivered to the Edmonton Consulate before the Election Day.
By 2 p.m. local time (11 p.m. Kyiv time), around 200 people had voted at the Consulate General. At the Embassy of Ukraine in Ottawa, around 85 people voted by noon local time (7 p.m. Kyiv time), according to the secretary of electoral commission Galyna Kaplan.
“Everything is going smoothly, there are no lines and people arrive all the time to cast the vote,” Kaplan told the Kyiv Post. “Mostly local Ukrainians come to vote but we also expect a bus from Montreal later. Many people arrive in vyshyvankas, they bring their children – there is quite a festive mood here.”
Edmonton is second to the last constituency to vote on Ukraine’s Election Day. Casting ballots here will last until 5 a.m. Kyiv time on Monday, April 1. The last in the world to vote will be Ukrainians living in San Francisco.
