Ukraine's flag is now flying at Burnaby City Hall in solidarity as Russia continues its unprovoked invasion of the country.
In a tweet, City of Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley posted video of him raising the Ukranian flag outside city hall, with the caption "To show solidarity and support for the people of Ukraine and all Ukrainian Canadians, we are flying the Ukraine flag at Burnaby City Hall."
The City of Burnaby also posted on its Instagram account that the BC Parkway near Metrotown will be lit blue and yellow until March 4 "as a show of support and solidarity for the people of Ukraine and all Ukrainian Canadians in our community."
B.C. rally condemns Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine
More than 100 people gathered at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Vernon Saturday (Feb. 26) to decry the unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Russian troops launched an all out assault on the democratic nation, on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
The attack has been denounced by most of the world and rallies like the one in Vernon are popping up around the globe.
“It's a very scary time in our world I think when someone like Putin, who is a murderer, can go into a country and literally start killing innocent civilians,” said Andrea Malysh, rally organizer.
“People are dying, civilians are dying. That's called genocide. This is unacceptable.”
Malysh said the war in Ukraine has been ongoing for the past eight years and more than 13,000 people have died, but with the full on Russian offensive, many more will surely perish before it is over.
Malysh said there was some comfort in watching the world rally around the besieged nation.
“I am overwhelmed by the support not only locally, but across our country, across the world,” said Malysh. “But we need to do more to help them out...we need boots on the ground.”
Invasion of Ukraine prompts Russia's Vancouver counsul to quit
Russia’s honorary consul general for British Columbia has suddenly resigned on Feb. 25.
Venture capital and mining executive Erin Campbell said Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was the reason.
Campbell declined an interview request, but said by email: “This is a very sad day for those who tried to bridge the divide.”
Campbell is the CEO and founding partner of ECMB Capital, mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring partner with Raiven Capital and vice-chair and co-founder of Kanata Clean, a First Nations-led natural gas-powered electricity plant in Alberta.
She is also well known in B.C. politics, as a strategist on several federal Conservative, BC Liberal and Vancouver Non-Partisan Association election campaigns.
In December 2016, Russia’s Ambassador to Canada, Alexander Darchiev, introduced Campbell to Lt. Gov. Judith Guichon and told a Vancouver Club ceremony that her “extensive business background both in Russia and Canada would contribute to enhancing bilateral trade and investment, as well as regional and people-to-people contacts, especially between British Columbia and Russian Far East.
“This will surely benefit Russian Canadians as a vibrant and important community in multicultural Canada,” Darchiev said.
At the time, Campbell was president of Rare Capital Corp., chair of Global Energy Metals Corp. and director of Khot Infrastructure.
Oleg Stepanov, the current ambassador to Canada, assumed his position last September. Nobody from the embassy responded for comment.
The honorary consul of Ukraine in B.C. is lawyer Lubomyr Huculak.
Trudeau condemns Russian attack
"Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s egregious attack on Ukraine," Trudeau said in a statement last week.
"These unprovoked actions are a clear further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. They are also in violation of Russia’s obligations under international law and the Charter of the United Nations."
Trudeau said Friday (Feb. 25) Canada would sanction Putin, along with his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and other top Kremlin figures, holding them responsible for the "brutal, needless attack" on Ukraine.
Trudeau also said Canada would support the removal of Russia from SWIFT, the digital payment and messaging network that connects thousands of banks worldwide, which he said would make it even harder for Putin to "finance his brutalities."
Ukrainian lawmakers exhorted Canada and its allies on Friday to impose a no-fly zone against Russian airstrikes and be prepared to fight on the ground to defend their common freedom. The MPs made the appeal over Zoom — some from their homes, at least one from a bunker and one from a car parked on a darkened Kyiv street.
Canada announced it will also match up to $10 million of donations to the Canadian Red Cross to aid relief efforts in Ukraine, which is seeing the most intense ground fighting in Europe since the Second World War after Russian strikes against Kyiv and other cities began Thursday.
The head of Save the Children Canada also urged Canadians to donate funds as part a US$19-million global appeal to help the humanitarian efforts on the ground as the fighting continued across Ukraine.
- with files from Darren Handschuh, Castanet, Bob Mackin, Glacier Media and The Canadian Press
