OTTAWA – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the House of Commons for the second time on Friday, praising Canada’s longstanding support for his country, while Justin Trudeau announced a $650 million aid package for Ukraine.
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“Thank you, Canada,” Mr. Zelensky said in French to loud applause.
Dressed in his usual khaki outfit, he began his speech by recalling that it was in Canada, in Edmonton, that the world’s first monument was erected in honor of the victims of the Holodomor, the annihilation of Ukrainians by the famine caused by Stalin in the 1930s.
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That was in 1983, when Ukraine itself did not have such a monument because it was still under Moscow’s control. Forty years later, Russia is still committing genocide against Ukrainians, Mr. Zelensky emphasized.
“This is not an ordinary conflict, it is about saving millions of people,” he stressed, pointing out that it is necessary to bring about a complete defeat without territorial compromises to ensure that Russia no longer commits genocide against its people .
Meanwhile, Ukrainians gathered outside parliament to show their support by singing and waving yellow and blue flags. A comprehensive security system had been set up on Parliament Hill.
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“Our government will stand with you for as long as it takes,” reiterated Prime Minister Trudeau, who announced $650 million in aid to Ukraine over three years. The sum is in addition to the $8.9 billion that Canada has committed to paying since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
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The aid will finance the purchase of military equipment, in particular fifty armored vehicles to be built in London, Ontario, as well as the training of Ukrainian pilots who will soon fly aboard F-16s.
The Canadian Armed Forces have trained more than 37,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel.
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“It is a tradition: Canada trains those who defend the world, thousands and thousands of pilots during World War II and thousands of Ukrainian pilots now,” welcomed Mr. Zelensky, for whom “Canada has always been on the right side of history. “
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, recalled that very few people like the Ukrainian President had addressed this chamber more than once.
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Among them was South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, but also Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister who came to rally support for Canada during the Second World War in 1941. For Mr. Rota, the Ukrainian president is in the lineage of these two key figures in history.
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As he discussed the future construction of monuments here and elsewhere to celebrate Ukraine and Canada’s shared victory against evil, he concluded by adopting an Inuktitut word that Governor General Mary Simon had just taught him: ajuinata, which means “stay strong in the face of” means misfortune.”