44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
- Mar/21/22 7:18:09 p.m.
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Your Excellency, President Zelenskyy, Prime Minister, Speaker Furey, party leaders, honourable parliamentarians, distinguished guests, mesdames et messieurs, welcome to this extraordinary event, a joint address to Parliament by His Excellency Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine.
I thank all those who have made it possible for us to hear from President Zelenskyy today, whether here in the chamber or by video link.
I now invite the Prime Minister to address us.
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- Mar/21/22 7:40:46 p.m.
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Good morning, President Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Trudeau, Chief Justice Wagner, Speaker Rota, fellow parliamentarians, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. President, it is a great honour and privilege for me to thank you for your very powerful and inspiring words.
On behalf of all senators, members of the House of Commons and indeed on behalf of all Canadians, please know, Mr. President, that Canadians stand with you. We know what is at stake. You are battling for your people, for your country and for all of us who believe in peace and democracy, in truth and justice. You are battling for all of us who stand against tyranny, lies and the horrific war crimes that have been committed against the Ukrainian people.
There is a word in the Bible, one word, that expresses so much of the courage that you, Mr. President, and your fellow Ukrainians are showing the world. In the original Hebrew, the word is “hineni”. Literally, it means “here I stand”. It was said by the great Old Testament leaders when called upon to lead their people. It is a statement of stepping up to leadership in the face of overwhelming odds. It is clearly what you are saying, Mr. President, by your actions, and it is what all Ukrainians are saying in this terrible time of crisis. The world is witnessing a Ukraine united more than ever in common cause to secure its place among the family of nations. As Prime Minister Trudeau has made clear by his words and actions, Canada stands with you.
I know I speak on behalf of all Canadians when I express our admiration for the leadership and courage you have demonstrated as the Ukrainian people struggle to repel a brutal and illegal invasion. You have shown the world that Ukraine will not cower, will not falter and will not be defeated. The heart and soul of Ukraine are strong. Canada recognizes your fortitude, your resilience and your strength of purpose. Canada stands with Ukraine and her many allies in the pursuit of a swift and peaceful resolution to this conflict. This resolve rests upon our shared commitment to democracy, to human rights and to the sovereign equality of all nations.
For Canadians, Ukraine is permanently woven into the fabric of our culture. Ukraine, simply put, is family. Mr. President, to you and the people of Ukraine, please be assured of our solidarity in the days and weeks ahead.
Thank you, Mr. President, for your great strength and courage.
We thank you once again for your courage and determination in the face of this horrific onslaught and for your inspiring words to Canada and indeed to the world today.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Mar/21/22 7:47:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by first and foremost stating on behalf of my Conservative caucus our complete admiration and respect for the people and the nation of Ukraine.
To President Zelenskyy, let me express to you how much I admire your courage and your sacrificial leadership at this critical time in Ukraine's history. The kind of leadership that you are showing, sir, is very rare, and it serves as an inspiration to all of us who are elected. You are the leader of Ukraine for such a time as this, and we remain indebted to you.
President Zelenskyy, I thank you for your leadership in this war against your country and for defending democracy. The official opposition stands with Ukraine. It is our duty. We will also be there when this conflict is over to help you rebuild Ukraine. Your courage inspires us.
The images that we are seeing from Ukraine, as you described them, President, are heartbreaking and painful. We see families huddled in bomb shelters, the ruins of a children's hospital and a maternity ward, the elderly who are trying to find their way to safety, but there is also inspiration as we watch ordinary people, men and women of all ages, defending their homeland.
We are witnesses to the strength and the defiance of Ukrainians standing up for their freedom, their independence and their sovereignty. Ukrainians are not just fighting to defend themselves; let us be very clear. They are defending all of Europe because Putin's brutal attack on Ukraine is an attack on all of us. That is the lesson history has taught us and one we cannot ignore.
It is why we must help the people of Ukraine in every way possible. Canada has the largest number of people of Ukrainian descent outside of Ukraine and Russia. For a century, they have enriched our communities and our culture, especially in the Canadian Prairies, which is where I am from. Canada and Manitoba, in particular, share ties with Ukraine that cannot be broken. Now, almost 1.4 million Ukrainian Canadians are watching what is happening. Their hearts and their souls are reaching out, hoping, praying for the nation and the people of their forebears.
This war of naked aggression has revealed Vladimir Putin for what he really is: a warmonger and a violent predator with no regard for human life and suffering. He has crossed lines that after two world wars we thought would never be crossed, and he has shaken the rules-based order that has kept millions safe since 1945. Every day he tells the world lies and then he proceeds to kill innocent and vulnerable Ukrainians, including women and children. While on his rampage he continues to threaten the world, saying if he does not get his way he will use the worst extremes possible. It is sickening to watch.
Putin must be brought to justice. He must be held to account for his crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court at the Hague. This is not just a war against Ukraine. It is a war against the free democratic world. We must stand with Ukraine. It is not a choice; it is a moral duty.
Canada was the first country to recognize Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. Now it is time to honour that legacy. We must do more together with our allies to secure Ukraine's airspace. We need to protect, at a minimum, the airspace over the humanitarian corridors so that Ukrainians can seek safe passage away from the war zones and humanitarian relief is allowed to reach those areas under siege.
Canada must do whatever it can to cut through any red tape and welcome Ukrainians who are fleeing, although we all know that what Ukrainians want most is to be able to live in their home nation, free, sovereign and peaceful.
President Zelenskyy, I want to reassure you that Canada will be a safe haven for Ukrainian citizens who choose to come here until the battle is over. While they are in Canada, we will cherish them, care for them, provide for them purpose and hope, and when it is time, they will return to their beloved Ukraine and their families. This is our pledge to you.
To the people of Ukraine, let me conclude by saying simply that Canadians support you today as you face Putin and his reckless empire building. Conservatives stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we will continue to support you when this terrible conflict finally ends and you rebuild your homes and communities. Your courage, your faith and your fortitude in the face of adversity are an inspiration to all of us.
Slava Ukraini. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. Keep fighting. Keep believing. Keep hoping.
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- Mar/21/22 8:00:49 p.m.
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I want to thank President Zelenskyy. We heard his words today. We want to thank him for his courage, his inspiration and his resilience. We want to thank the people of Ukraine for their courage and resilience.
He asked us to imagine what it is like to wake up at four in the morning to bombing. He asked us to imagine what it is like to explain to children what is going on. Why are we being bombed? Why are we being attacked?
He asked us to imagine what it would be like to lose 97 children to a war. He asked us to imagine what it would be like in our major cities and places in our country, such as Montreal, our capital city of Ottawa, or Toronto or or Vancouver if tanks rolled into these cities. He asked us to imagine what it would be like to see bombs fall on our homes, on our cities, our communities, our schools, our hospitals. He asked us to imagine that, and frankly, we cannot imagine that in a city in Canada. It is unimaginable.
But we have seen the horrors unfolding in Ukraine. We have heard the words of President Zelenskyy. We have spoken with Ukrainian Canadians who share with us the pain that they are experiencing right now, not knowing if their loved ones are going to survive the night. We have heard from families that call constantly, asking if people are okay and still alive. It is unimaginable for us. He asked us to imagine what it is like, and to please help. He asked for more help. He acknowledged that so far Canada has been a strong ally, but he asked for more help, and we must answer that call. Canadians stand with Ukraine and will answer that call to provide as much help as possible in this time.
Canadians want to do more. We heard from President Zelenskyy that sanctions are important, and we want to increase those. We know that is one of the most important things we can do. We know that President Putin does not care about the people and he does not care about his country, but he does care about his wealth. We know the way to attack Putin. The way to make sure that he feels the pressure of the sanctions is to target him where it counts, and that is to target the wealth that is held by his allies and oligarchs. We are on that path and we need to continue to apply the most severe of sanctions possible to specifically target President Putin and his wealth.
We know that we can provide humanitarian help. Canada has done its part and needs to continue to do that. We need to welcome Ukrainians who are fleeing this crisis and seeking refuge. We need to provide humanitarian help on the ground and continue to provide that support.
President Zelenskyy asked us to imagine the horrors of this war. He asked us to imagine this war happening here, in Canada. That is unimaginable. He also asked us to increase assistance to Ukraine, and we must make that happen. We must increase sanctions. We must answer the call from Ukrainians. We will do so.
I think about the words that we have heard from President Zelenskyy and the speeches that he has given, and I think about the moments of courage that we have seen reported from everyday Ukrainians standing up to this violence, standing up to this flagrant aggression by President Putin, which is something that we clearly and firmly denounce. We see in those moments incredible courage, and I struggle to find the words to describe it.
I think about something my mom always taught me, a phrase in Punjabi, which is chardi kala. I always misunderstood what it meant. She said that it means “rising spirits in the face of difficult odds”, and I cannot think of a more fitting phrase to describe the courage of Ukrainians and the courage of President Zelenskyy. I cannot think of a more fitting moment to describe chardi kala, rising spirits, as it defines optimism. In the face of one of the largest armies in the world, Ukrainians are saying, “We will not back down. We will not give up.”
We are so incredibly inspired by them for their fight for democracy, for their fight for freedom, and we stand in full solidarity. We wish for their chardi kala, their rising spirits and their defining optimism to continue, and we will be with you every step of the way.
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- Mar/21/22 8:06:16 p.m.
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Thank you, President Zelenskyy. I am honoured to rise and speak to this extraordinary and historic moment. I also want all my esteemed colleagues here in the House to know that we stand united.
The Green Party of Canada is part of a big Green family spread out around the world, in 80 countries. A few days ago I received the following letter from the president of the Green Party of Ukraine, Vitaliy Kononov:
He writes, “Dear Green Friends! We are writing to you from bomb shelters, from our home Ukraine, which is mercilessly attacked and bombarded by Russian forces since the fateful day—February 24, 2022. Ukrainians are indiscriminately hit, collateral damage amounts to total destruction of cities, many civil and social infrastructures that have no relevance to the military are destroyed, thousands of civilians dead and injured. Millions are fleeing their homes. Ukrainian army and civil defense volunteers have taken up arms and are fighting for the survival of Ukraine. And they are successful to a great extent. But, missile and bomb attacks by air are causing greatest damage. We are helpless. We have no weapons to counter air attacks. We appeal to you for support. Please urge your governments to help protect our sky by having a no-fly zone. For the sake of world peace and security, for democracy and resolution of conflicts through peaceful means and for a rule based world order, please help Ukraine!”
It broke my heart to write our dear colleague in Ukraine that all elected Greens around the world have come to the same conclusion, that a no-fly zone would risk a wider war and even a nuclear war. We know these reasons are solid, even though they ring hollow, but we must use every tool and I fear the tools we have in front of us are inadequate to the task. President Zelenskyy, we do not want to let you down. We fear that we may inevitably let you down, but we will find every tool we can find, and where there are not adequate tools, by God, let us invent them.
In 1956, during the Suez crisis, not yet prime minister, Lester B. Pearson, a Canadian, invented UN peacekeepers. We love ourselves here in Canada and although we are an insignificant country in the massive geopolitics of superpowers we sometimes get good ideas. We need to invent something now that is effective to stop the war, to stop Putin, to save Ukraine. We have to use every single idea, every single sinew, every muscle. We must not relent for one single second.
We have seen illegal wars. I have lived long enough to see many illegal wars based on lies, in Vietnam, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, with too many innocent lives lost, and now, never again, not one more Ukrainian child. Please, God, stop the bombs. Please let us have a ceasefire. Please leave a pathway for Vladimir Putin to make it to a negotiating table and find a peace.
How do we stop lies? We stop them with the truth, and the truth is the courage of the Ukrainian people. The truth is the courage and the unexpected reality of you, President Zelenskyy, an honest-to-god democrat, a human being, a mensch, a man of such moral courage that the world is inspired.
We must not let you down because God knows you will not let us down. We must do more. We know this. You are, as our Prime Minister just said, a champion of democracy. May we be worthy to stand by you. May we find the ways that make it meaningful that we stand with you.
Not one more lost life, please, God. Not one more mother in Russia who weeps for a lost son in an immoral and illegal war. I thank the brave Russians who have faced jail just to go out on the streets and say, “Stop the bombing. No more war.”
I close with this. President Zelenskyy, what I want and what I pray for, and I pray for you constantly and for Ukraine, is that you come here in person, that we invite you and we see you here as the president of a country at peace, of a free, democratic and victorious Ukraine.
Please come here so that we can hope that, in your eyes, we remain worthy to be called your friend.
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- Mar/21/22 8:11:59 p.m.
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Thank you, Ms. May.
Again, I thank His Excellency President Zelenskyy for addressing us today. I know that we will not soon forget this exceptional man.
I would also like to thank all parliamentarians and all our distinguished guests for having attended either in person or by video link. This historic joint address to Parliament will continue to be that, a historic event.
Thank you. Dyakuyu.
[Applause]
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