For the sixth consecutive Saturday Montreal’s Ukrainian community has held rallies to raise and maintain awareness of the crimes being committed by the Putin and soldiers of the Russian Federation. The mild and sunny day contributed to the large crowd, which first gathered at Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal, and then marched westward through the historic district to Place D’Armes, a local square in front of the city’s version of Notre-Dame Basilica.
Mykhailo Shwec, president of the Montreal Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and provincial council, said support has been strong from the very beginning. “A few weeks ago members of our city’s Latvian community came out to support Ukraine, last week it was the Vietnamese community!”
“The turnout is absolutely fantastic! We are not the biggest community in the country, but our turnout percentage wise is extraordinary. I’m very very pleased!” he underlined, smiling. When asked a little more about the level of inter-community communications Shwec said, “There is a lot of solidarity and there is a lot of support from many ethnic communities, they tend to come out to our rallies, though unfortunately when there is bad news coming out of Ukraine it varies, depending on the news coming out of Ukraine. When things stabilize we don’t tend to have the same numbers.”
With me having a personal friend who is now a refugee in Romania with her two children, I asked Shwec how the local community was coping, having heard that he had no idea how many refugees would be arriving in Quebec. “It’s a difficult and complex process. The Canadian government have told us that it will take about two weeks to vet the new people in the system and people will start coming in the next days,” he said in response.
Pro-Ukraine protesters with the flag of Ukraine in downtown Montreal (Photo Credit: Vasyl Pawlowsky)
Shwec was asked what steps the community was taking to deal with the influx of refugees. “Our community has mobilized. As you know, these will be primarily mothers with children, as men from 18 to 60 have joined the territorial defence forces, and we’ve mobilized to collect things to make their home a little bit more comfortable, and the things they would need to live basically. We are working very hard with the city and the government to prepare three phases of lodging. The immediate upon arrival, then more mid-term and then a longer term strategy.”
The rally was, as always, accentuated with poignant reminders of what Ukrainians are facing: a period of silence while those gathered would listen to the sound of air-raid sirens. It was during this moment that I noticed a young woman starting to weep and being comforted by a friend sporting a Ukraine national team football scarf.
Pro-Ukraine protesters in front of Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica. (Photo Credit: Vasyl Pawlowsky)
Veronika Lukianchykova arrived in Montreal as a refugee on March 27, 2022, having first fled to just outside of Obukhiv, near Kyiv, where her father currently lives. “Can you imagine as a successful Kyivan family since the beginning of the last century, sleeping in the basement of a home in order to stay safe. We were very fortunate that there were no strategic facilities that the Russians could target in that area so we were really safe,” she told me. She also emphasized, “If adults were shocked by this experience and were at a loss for a couple of days, what about our kids? My son of nine and his cousin are very into video games and have extremely vivid imaginations. He said, ‘Mama, don’t leave us, soldiers are going to come to our apartment and kill us!’” Children will experience PTSD no doubt and at this point and it will have a long-term effect. Just like many who suffered throughout World War II.
Pro-Ukraine protesters holding placards depicting the barbarism inflicted on Ukrainians by Russia’s ongoing war. (Photo Credit: Vasyl Pawlowsky)
Before Veronika fled Ukraine her mother had sewn an information tag into her grandson’s jacket. Readers have to realize that nearly ten million people have been displaced by Putin’s continuing onslaught. One that didn’t quite turn out how he planned.
Remarks made by Eugene Czolij, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Montreal, summed things up in a very positive manner. “On March 29, I heard some good news, that Putin’s initial plan to come to take over the capital of Ukraine was over and he would be withdrawing their troops from around Kyiv and focusing on Donbas. Whether it is true or not, the fact of stating so that his initial plan to come to Ukraine on February 24 with his armies to take over the capital and overthrow Ukrainian authorities and take full control of Ukraine is not going to happen. Putin had lost that battle. Unfortunately for Ukrainian people, being a despot, Putin wants to punish the Ukrainian population and he is doing a horrific job by destroying civilians.”
Canada-based Vasyl Pawlowsky has worked in the aerospace, educational and legal sectors as an information specialist. His articles have been published in The Kyiv Post, Eastern Economist, The Kyiv Weekly, The Ukrainian Weekly, and Maclean’s Magazine.
