Canada calls on Russia to cancel its ban on activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Francois-Philippe Champagne has said, adding that his country will always stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“Canada stands with the Crimean Tatar people in honoring the memory of those killed and all who suffered. Canada continues to be concerned by the ongoing human rights violations committed against Crimean Tatars in the Crimean Peninsula under Russian occupation, including the banning of the Mejlis – the self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars. We call on Russia to reverse this decision. Canada will always stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said in a statement, which was posted on the website of the Canadian government on May 18.
The minister recalled that this year marks the 76th anniversary of the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities in 1944.
“Canada does not forget this tragedy and the suffering endured by the hundreds of thousands of children, women and men forcibly deported from their ancestral homeland,” he said.
