Canada pulls out diplomats’ families
Ottawa followed its allies Tuesday by ordering the children and family members of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave the country.
The decision came after Britain said it would pull some of its diplomats out of its Ukraine embassy, and after the U.S. State Department decided to order the families of its embassy per- sonnel to leave.
“The safety and security of Canadians, our personnel and their families at our missions abroad is our top priority,” Global Affairs Canada said.
On Monday, Global Affairs up- dated its travel advisory warning against non-essential travel to Ukraine, which has been in effect since last week. The advisory now suggests Canadians who are in Ukraine consider leaving.
The news came as Ottawa was criticized that its handling of the Ukraine-Russia crisis was soft and superficial with Cana- da rendered missing in action with its allies.
Prime Minister Justin Tru- deau’s government also faces pressure from Ukrainians of Canadian descent who are am- plifying the requests by Ukrai- nian leadership in Kyiv for sev- eral key asks that he and For- eign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly have repeatedly deflected.
Those asks are to provide weapons to the Ukraine mil- itary, impose further sanctions on Russia and extend Canada’s military training mission of its forces beyond its expiry date at the end of March.
“For a country which profess- es to be one of Ukraine’s closest allies the soft, tentative lan- guage being used by Canadian officials such as Foreign Affairs Minister Joly is a real head- scratcher,” said Michael Boci- urkiw, a Canadian who served as the spokesman for the Orga- nization for Security and Co- operation in Europe during the height of tensions following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
That is unfortunate because Canada is well-positioned to provide a concrete response — including providing weapons — due to the expertise it has built up by deploying Canadian Forces personnel, RCMP offi- cers and various diplomatic and development experts to Ukraine, said Bociurkiw, now a senior fellow with the Washing- ton-based Atlantic Council.
The Conservatives are ques- tioning why Trudeau was left out of a meeting that U.S. Presi- dent Joe Biden hosted on Mon- day from the White House situ- ation room with several key Eu- ropean leaders.