Trudeau’s support for Ukrainians is genuine

Prime minister understands Ukraine’s aspirations, Alexandra Chyczij writes.

As a Canadian whose parents suffered under Nazi and Soviet tyranny in Ukraine, I am among the grateful for the asylum and second chance this country has offered. Privileged by having been included as a member of the official delegation accompanying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Ukraine this month I was struck by how much the prime minister understands about what the land of my ancestors endured and what Ukraine hopes to become one day.

Everywhere he went, the prime minister solemnly remembered Ukraine’s past. He laid a wreath at the memorial complex recalling the many millions of victims of the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor. He recalled the millions of Ukrainians who fought and died for their country during the Second World War, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And he paid his respects to the victims of the Nazis at Babyn Yar.

Fittingly, Trudeau also directed attention to today’s Ukraine. The Canada Ukraine Free Trade Agreement was signed by minister of International Trade, Chrystia Freeland, confirming our country’s growing economic ties with Ukraine. And he visited with our soldiers who are engaged in training of Ukraine’s soldiers through Operation Unifier. Canadian soldiers are enhancing Ukraine’s abilities to defend itself even as additional troops deploy to Latvia to reassure our NATO allies of Canada’s reliability.

But what was more remarkable was how Trudeau engaged with Ukraine’s future. At his initiative, a meeting was arranged in Kyiv on July 11 that brought together some of the most dynamic and courageous leaders of change in Ukraine.

I witnessed how these young Ukrainians, all of them English-speaking, and including police chiefs, physicians, investigative reporters, parliamentarians, anti-corruption warriors and LGBTQ activists, spoke with the prime minister. They made it clear they all share one basic goal, to see Ukraine resume its rightful place in Europe. Collectively, these women and men are examples of what Ukraine’s next generation advocates for: human rights, freedom of speech and association, the rule of law and democracy.

The prime minister spoke with Khatia Dekanoidze, chief of the Ukrainian National Police, a woman intent on reforming a once-notoriously corrupt force. She is being ably assisted by Canada’s own Natalia Shuster, an inspector with the Montreal police, in Ukraine under the Canadian Policing Agreement.

Then there was Svitlana Zalishchuk, a journalist and Ukrainian parliamentarian, a determined campaigner against censorship and a strong advocate for political reform. Another woman present was Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the AntiCorruption Action Centre, an expert in stolen asset recovery and anti-money laundering.

Not all of those speaking with Trudeau were, of course, Ukrainian by birth or nationality. Ukraine is today an increasingly inclusive society, where citizenship is based not on one’s ethnic, religious, or racial heritage, but on engagement in the building of a liberal-democratic community. Not surprisingly, one of the most prominent Ukrainian citizens today is Mustafa Nayyem, born in Kabul, a journalist and member of the Verkhovna Rada. It was Mustafa’s now-famous Facebook post that mobilized his fellow Ukrainians in defiance of the Viktor Yanukovych regime, precipitating the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity.

Frankly, it was hard to not get emotional watching Trudeau engage with this next generation of Ukraine’s leaders, particularly when he saluted the remarkable progress Ukraine has made in moving forward since 1991, despite the lingering and debilitating legacy of its Soviet past and the current hardships imposed by the Russian war against Ukraine.

Even more tellingly, even as the prime minister promised Canada’s ongoing support for Ukraine, he suggested that this, his first state visit to Ukraine, would not be his last. What I realized at that very moment was that Trudeau gets it, that he knows Ukrainians are today fighting and dying for the very same values that Canadians have always defended. Alexandra Chyczij, a Toronto lawyer, travelled to Ukraine with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s delegation as a representative of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.