Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 1, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA4 TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022 C M Y K PAGE A4 NEWS I WAR IN UKRAINE FAITH-related relief groups in Man- itoba are appealing for donations and prayers to help people affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mennonite Central Committee is ac- cepting donations for programs that support displaced and vulnerable peo- ple. This includes emergency housing, food, blankets and other supplies, as well as trauma healing. “We are working with our partners and assessing the situation as it un- folds,” said Scott Campbell, MCC direc- tor of development. Response to the appeal has been “su- per encouraging” so far, he said, noting MCC began more than 100 years ago in Ukraine when North American Menno- nites responded to a food crisis in the eastern European country. “Our supporters recognize our his- torical connection to Ukraine,” he said. (To make a donation, visit www.mcc. org or call 1-877-684-1181.) Canadian Lutheran World Relief is inviting donations for food, necessities and trauma care for people impacted by the invasion. “The numbers of displaced people are staggering,” said David Turner, who di- rects communications and marketing, adding the agency is in contact with its partners in Europe about the most ef- fective ways to distribute the aid. One partner in Hungary has already shipped 28 tonnes of food for refugees, he said. The response to the appeal, which launched Feb. 25, has been positive, with about $100,000 already donated. (To donate, visit www.clwr.org or call 1-800-661-2597.) Roman Catholics are invited to re- spond to needs in Ukraine through De- velopment and Peace-Caritas Canada, which is working with its partners in the region to provide food, shelter, med- ical care and transportation to safe lo- cations for people in that country. “As the conflict goes on, much more funding will be required to meet Ukrai- nians’ needs,” the agency said, asking Canadians to “give generously.” (Dona- tions can be made at www.devp.org or by calling 1-888-664-3387.) The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has launched an appeal to help the 200,000 members of the Ukrainian Jewish community. “The entire country faces chaos, scarcity and political violence, and members of Ukraine’s Jewish commu- nity are especially vulnerable,” said Elaine Goldstine, chief executive offi- cer of the federation. Many members of the local Jewish community trace their roots to Ukraine, Goldstine said, including herself — her father was born in that country. “We want to show the Ukrainian com- munity in Winnipeg we stand with them at this time of crisis,” she said. “What is happening in Ukraine is so sad.” Within minutes of posting the appeal on social media donations started to come in, Goldstine said, adding funds raised through the federation will be forwarded to Jewish agencies working on the ground in Ukraine. (Donations can be made by visiting jewishwinni- peg.org/ukraine or by calling 204-477- 7400.) Canadian Foodgrains Bank is work- ing through its members to respond to the crisis. A list of its member agencies that have launched appeals for Ukraine can be found on its website. faith@freepress.mb.ca Local faith groups gather aid for Ukraine JOHN LONGHURST O TTAWA — The Trudeau govern-ment says it’s making it easier for Ukrainians to reach Canada, but refugee advocates want the federal gov- ernment to do much more to prepare for a humanitarian airlift. “We have to learn a little bit from what happened in Afghanistan,” said Lloyd Axworthy, who chairs the World Refugee and Migration Council. “I’m disappointed that there isn’t a bit more pick-up.” Manitoba’s Ukrainian community says it’s not aware of many people who want to leave Europe, but Axworthy argues it’s clear Russia will target poli- ticians, journalists and civil-society ac- tivists if it takes over Kyiv. “We need to establish a lifeline for those people fairly quickly,” he said. Axworthy said he fears a repeat of last fall, when Canada set up a chaotic, last-minute program to airlift Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover of Kabul, a program advocates had called for months earlier. “It’s the kind thing that really calls for very proactive and energetic ac- tion.” Axworthy was Jean Chrétien’s immi- gration and foreign-affairs minister in the late 1990s. In 2019, he oversaw Can- ada’s election-observation delegation in Ukraine during its presidential vote. The United Nations High Commis- sioner for Refugees said Monday that more than 500,000 refugees have been forced to flee Ukraine. Manitoba has the largest percentage of Canadians who claim Ukrainian roots, and Axworthy’s group wants Ot- tawa to tap into those communities for a fast-tracked, private-sponsorship pro- gram, for Ukrainians who either could be targeted by Russia or have medical issues that won’t get adequately treated during a war. “We should be taking the lead, not just on our efforts but in trying to get in- ternational efforts mobilized,” said the Winnipegger, who argued that Ukrai- nians would likely return home from various countries once it’s safe to do so. His group called Saturday on Ottawa to take six steps to make sure people liv- ing in Ukraine can seek asylum, from organizing flights from Europe to Can- ada, to deploying visa officers to border zones. Instead, Ottawa dropped visa pro- cessing fees for Ukrainians on Monday, and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told reporters he had “beefed up” con- sul staffing in the capitals of countries that neighbour Ukraine. “We’re working with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to develop the best path forward and working with differ- ent provincial counterparts as well to understand the opportunities to do this the right way,” he said. The federal Conservatives have called on Canada to drop its visa requirement entirely, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed open to pursuing. “We have several concrete measures that have accelerated the processing of applications… but we are also looking at all the different tools that we could use to best help those who want to come to Canada,” Trudeau said. Manitoba has, so far, contributed $150,000 to the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress for humanitarian aid to dis- placed families and refugees, a state- ment from Premier Heather Stefanson said Monday. The province will take in Ukrainian refugees “looking for a safe haven,” and will expedite Ukrainian immigra- tion applications through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, the state- ment said. It’s too soon to expect a flood of refu- gees from Ukraine but Canada needs a plan, said Winnipeg’s Ostap Skrypnyk, vice-president of the Canada Ukraine Foundation and former Ukrainian Ca- nadian Congress executive director. “We’re preparing for that eventuali- ty and trying to work with the federal government to see what could be done in that regard,” said Skrypnyk. “Right now, these people are fairly comfortable” staying in Europe, he said. If the situation worsens and refugees from Ukraine begin arriving in Cana- da, there are Manitobans who want to help, he said. Some have been contacting the Ukrainian Canadian Congress nation- ally and here in the province about of- fering to take people from Ukraine into their homes, said Skrypnyk. “I got an email last night about a woman in Beausejour that says she’s willing to give her spare room for a ref- ugee family, ” he said. “Right now there is no big influx of people on the imme- diate horizon.” Axworthy’s group has also called on Canada to make sure that neighbouring countries continue allowing people liv- ing in Ukraine to claim asylum, amid reports of Ukrainians and other for- eigners being denied entry to countries like Poland. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said she’s been bringing up that concern with Eastern European countries, and would do so again in a visit to Poland today. “Should they see massive flow of peo- ple at their borders, (I told leaders) that Canada could help,” she told the Free Press during a news conference from Geneva. “Canada will play its part. And of course, we will make sure that Ukrainians seeking refuge will have a place to stay in Canada.” dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Readying for refugees DYLAN ROBERTSON AND CAROL SANDERS Axworthy says ‘proactive and energetic action’ necessary for Ukraine to avoid repeat of Afghanistan OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is headed to the Poland- Ukraine border on Tuesday to ensure that Canada’s latest supply of military aid flows into the war-ravaged country. Her visit comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an- nounced Monday that Canada was sending anti-tank weapons and upgraded am- munition to Ukraine, which amounted to a significant enhance- ment in lethal mil- itary aid. Canada will be providing 125 port- able anti-tank weapons and 2,000 rock- ets from the arsenal of the Canadian Forces, said Defence Minister Anita Anand. Canada was also bolstering its pres- ence in the region so it can fast-track immigration applications for Ukrain- ians who want to come to Canada, Tru- deau added. Joly said she will also be meeting with her Polish counterparts in Warsaw to discuss the refugee crisis spawned by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “My role in this is to make sure that this aid gets in the arms of Ukrainian soldiers that are fighting for their life and fighting for their motherland,” Joly told reporters from Geneva on Monday. Joly will be overseeing the delivery of previous Canadian military contribu- tions, not the new anti-tank weaponry announced Monday. Joly earlier told a United Nations panel that Russia lied to the world in the run-up to its invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is the only one to blame for this crisis. It chose to resort to lies and violence and fabricate all the pieces of a crisis to try and undermine the rule of law and violate the rights of people,” Joly told the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva. “Worse, they’re trying to justify their war by spreading a false rhetoric and attempting to manipulate the principles of human rights to support their illegal and illegitimate violence.” Joly was in Geneva after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for talks earlier in the day in an attempt to de- fuse the biggest land conflict on the continent since the Second World War. Outmatched Ukrainian forces were holding off the onslaught of a land, air and sea attack by Russia as President Vladimir Putin raised the stakes fur- ther by placing his country’s nuclear forces on alert. Asked on a media video conference what she thought about the threat, Joly said it was “madness.” Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, offered a harsher assessment in an interview from New York. “We can’t be buffaloed or bullied by that kind of a tactic,” Rae said. “He knows if he has any practical bone in his body, he knows what the con- sequences will be … for him and for his government and for his people.” Rae spoke after denouncing the inva- sion in a speech before the UN General Assembly, telling Russia it had a re- sponsibility to play by the international rules that it helped write when it helped create the UN after the Second World War. “We’re not asking any nation state, any member state to do us a favour. We’re asking them to follow the rules and to follow the law,” Rae said, wav- ing a well-worn blue booklet of the UN’s founding charter. “It means that there are no second-class states in this organ- ization.” In the interview, Rae said he wanted to use his speech to call Russia out as a “bully” and an “abuser,” and he also de- rided the lies that he said Putin and his supporters were now telling the world, including Putin’s justification that he is saving Ukraine from the clutches of Nazis. “This attempt to smear all Ukrain- ians and the Ukrainian government or anyone who’s proud of being Ukrainian … to smear everyone as a Nazi is a ter- rible lie. It’s a horrendous lie,” said Rae. Asked what he thought of myriad pre-invasion assurances by Putin and his diplomats that they had no intention of attacking Ukraine, Rae said: “This government under President Putin is profoundly cynical, and a government that’s drowning in lies and propaganda. “You know, you can take the boy out of the KGB, but you can’t take the KGB out of the boy.” Joly also condemned the arrests of Russian citizens who have protested the war in demonstrations across their country. “We call on Russia to respect the hu- man rights not only of Ukrainians, but also of its own citizens, who by thou- sands have taken to the streets in pro- test of this unjust war.” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday an immediate ban on all Canadian financial institutions from conducting transactions with the Russian central bank. In addition to that prohibition, Canada is imposing an asset freeze and a deal- ings prohibition on Russian sovereign wealth funds. “These measures will cut Russia off financially from the Western world. They will render useless much of the war chest that Vladimir Putin has amassed in his central bank,” Freeland said. Freeland said she warned Russia’s central bank governor 12 days ago that if the country attacked Ukraine it would be a costly mistake. “The West’s economic sanctions, I warned, would be swift, co-ordinated, sustained and crushing. They are and they will continue to be. Dictators, very much including the Kremlin’s tyrant, often fail to understand democracies.” — The Canadian Press Foreign minister headed to Poland to ensure aid’s arrival MIKE BLANCHFIELD Mélanie Joly Métis federation donates to Ukraine THE Manitoba Métis Federation has donated $100,000 of its business revenues to the Canadian Red Cross for humanitarian relief in Eastern Europe. “We must do what we can to support the millions who have been and will continue to be displaced by Russian aggression,” wrote federation President David Chartrand, who urged people to also contribute before Ot- tawa stops matching donations. He said the federation will also dis- play Ukrainian flags on buildings and digital billboards, in recognition of the cultural ties that country’s diaspora has forged with the Red River Métis. VISAR KRYZIU / ASSOCIATED PRESS Refugee children flee the conflict in Ukraine at the Medyka border crossing in Poland, Monday. The UN has estimated the conflict could produce as many as four million refugees. A_04_Mar-01-22_FP_01.indd 4 2022-02-28 10:07 PM ;