Manitoba stands with Ukraine

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This article was published 26/02/2022 (1328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thousands of people stood with Ukraine on the grounds of Manitoba’s legislature Saturday, waving the country’s blue-and-yellow flag as the province officially did the same.

Manitoba has raised the Ukrainian flag in front of the legislative building in a show of support against Russia’s attacks, and Premier Heather Stefanson told the crowd Manitoba will take in Ukrainians via the provincial nominee program.

“I’ve informed the federal government that we will do our part to take in Ukrainian refugees,” Stefanson said, to loud cheers from the crowd.

The rally against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was one of several happening across Canada through the Canadian Ukrainian Congress, and in Winnipeg, the war hits horrifically close to home.

“It feels like I left a part of my heart at home, and that heart is really hurting today,” said Halyna Shtoyko, one of the rally’s organizers. She moved from Ukraine to Winnipeg as a teenager in 2000. “But there are people here that haven’t been born in Ukraine, and they’re hurting just as much, in a different way. I think we’re all in a lot of pain and we all want to do whatever we can.”

Many in the crowd, draped in flags and hoisting anti-war placards, proudly proclaimed their heritage, from first-generation to fourth-generation Ukrainian. They chanted “Glory to Ukraine,” and “Glory to the heroes” — a nationalist call-and-response that has taken on new significance since Russia invaded the sovereign country on Feb. 24.

“It’s emotional, watching what’s unfolding on TV. I can hardly sit there (watching) without crying,” said Gail Oleksuk, whose Ukrainian grandfather, Fred Andrunski, arrived in Winnipeg at 17 years old with 10 cents in his pocket. That’s why she’s here with her family, wearing a sign that urges the Ukrainian people to “never give up.”

Connected through Ukrainian dance, Samantha Luczenczyn (first-generation Ukrainian), Bryana Nicolas (fourth generation) and Stefan Kinasevych (third generation) said it meant a lot to them to gather in support of Ukraine — a freedom they don’t take for granted.

“When I get up on a dancing stage and hear the music, I can feel my grandparents on my shoulders,” Nicolas said. “And when this news came in, it just hits your very core, because it’s attacking everything that we are.”

Kinasevych said if not for a spinal injury, he would want to go back to Ukraine to fight.

“I would stand for my country. Even though I was born in Canada, this is my language, this is my culture,” said Kinasevych, whose first language is Ukrainian.

“I hold my culture dear. And not just on a personal level, on a global level. When have we seen an unhinged dictator start working his way into Europe overnight, threatening war?”

Politicians from all parties and all levels of government attended the rally, including Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and MP Dan Vandal. They pledged their support for Ukraine in front of a crowd that prayed for peace and called for action. Many held signs calling for Canada to do whatever it can, including closing airspace to Russia and supplying Ukraine with humanitarian and financial aid.

“The world needs to look at that war and say, the cost of human life is so great that no sanction is too strict,” Shtoyko said. “What everybody can do today — and it has to be now because people are dying — what everybody can do is address our politicians. Say that it is important to us. Because these are our values that are being trampled on.”

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com