Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Government of Canada has not ruled out airlifting Ukrainian people to Canada should they want to go.
“We know how important it is to be there to support the people fleeing. The connection between Ukraine and Canada is deep goes back decades, over a century. Canadians want to be there for Ukrainians and we will be there for them.”
The Prime Minister topped off his European trip Friday by announcing new sanctions, these imposed on Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich who has ties to Evraz. Abramovich is invested in Evraz which has an approximate 2,200 employees at their facilities across Canada including several hundred in Regina. Trudeau says the sanctions should not negatively impact Canadian employees of Evraz.
“I believe Abramovich owns shares that are worth a little less than 30 per cent of Evraz and we are obviously going to watch carefully but we are confident this will not impact hard working Canadians doing good work in companies across the country including that one.”
Justin Trudeau says regardless of Putin’s state of mind or motivation they must demonstrate the democracies of the world will not accept the violation of principles of international law, and the atrocities being committed will not be tolerated.
“The clear message is to Putin is that he unable to win this war in the long run. That yes he is committing terrible violence, daily, on the Ukrainian people but that is not a path to victory, that is a path to destruction of Russia, economically.”
While in Poland, the Prime Minister announced additional measures and investments to continue supporting Ukraine including tripling how much it will match in donations to the Red Cross for Ukraine, from the previous $10 million to now $30 million.
As well, $50 million will be allocated from Canada’s $100 million contribution for humanitarian aid in the region, to: the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, HelpAge, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages, and others.
Canada is also investing an additional $117 million to implement Canada’s new immigration measures to welcome those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
