Swiss Canadians in B.C. are trying to save century-old chalets in the Canadian Rockies
Sun., February 27, 2022, 

One of six chalets in Edelweiss Village in Golden, B.C. The chalets were built to house mountain guides from Switzerland hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway company, and are now on sale at a listed price of $2.3 million. (Saving Swiss Edelweiss Village - image credit)

Johann Roduit fell in love with the century-old wooden houses in Golden, B.C. in September 2019, when he passed by the small community in the Canadian Rockies on his way home to Abbotsford from Calgary, Alta.

So when Roduit, originally from the town of Martigny at the foot of the Swiss Alps, learned from the Golden Museum and Archives last January that the six chalets were now for sale, he felt they must be preserved.

"It's a moral responsibility to preserve this huge heritage — not only for Swiss people, but also for people from Golden, B.C.," Roduit, a board member of the Swiss Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told host Chris Walker on CBC's Daybreak South.

"It's [part of] the history of Canada."

Saving Swiss Edelweiss Village

The chalets, collectively known as Edelweiss Village, was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway between 1910 and 1912 to provide housing to mountain guides from Switzerland, hired to serve Canadian and international mountaineering tourists in the Canadian Rockies, a region the company nicknamed "50 Switzerlands in One" in promotional materials.

In 1959, Walter Feuz, one of the mountain guides, bought all six chalets and the surrounding 50 acres of land after the other guides had moved out. He lived in the village until his death in 1984.

Feuz's descendants inherited the properties, but decided last year that it was time to let them go. The village is now on the market at a listed price of $2.3 million.

Attempts to save Edelweiss Village

Roduit says in 2013, a group of Golden residents initiated a project to preserve the village as a heritage site, in collaboration with Feuz's descendants. The plan didn't work out, however, due to disagreements over how the project should operate.

Over the past year, Roduit has been working with Swiss Canadian historian Ilona Spaar — who wrote a book with the Swiss consulate in Vancouver in 2010, about Swiss mountain guides and Edelweiss Village — to seek support from the Swiss consulate, the Town of Golden, Tourism Golden Association and Alpine clubs across Canada for the preservation of the village.

After accompanying a Swiss public broadcaster to document the Edelweiss Village in late January, the pair decided to launch the Saving Swiss Edelweiss Village initiative.

They say the initiative will move forward in phases, including setting up a foundation and crowdfunding internationally to buy the village.

Submitted by Johann Roduit

Spaar, originally from the resort village of Engelberg in the Swiss Alps, says the goal of the initiative is to transform the village into a cultural hub in Golden to attract Canadian and international tourists.

"We hope to turn it into a very dynamic place, meaning it could become a vacation rental location for all people," she said on Daybreak South.

Spaar says Feuz's descendants also want to preserve the village and support the initiative, but there's the risk that the village would be bought before the foundation is established — so the initiative needs to move forward as swiftly as possible.

"At the end of the day money might talk, but I think for this type of place and the importance of its history ... I'm hoping [something] that is great speaks greater than just cash," she said.

Roduit says he and Spaar will meet with lawyers next week about setting up the foundation.

Saving Swiss Edelweiss Village

TOO MUCH YANKEE KULTURE
What many convoy protesters get wrong about constitutional rights and the Governor General

P. O. G.*

Sun., February 27, 2022

A person holds a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on Parliament Hill during the blockade of Canada's capital city by people protesting against pandemic public health measures. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to drive a wave of Moscow-sponsored online disinformation in the coming weeks and months, constitutional disinformation dominated much of the discussion in Ottawa during the occupation of the downtown core by anti-vaccine mandate protesters.

Many protesters upset with vaccine mandates came to Ottawa with a flawed understanding of the limits of constitutional freedoms and how the Westminster parliamentary system works.

The protesters who blockaded the city waved copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the air while chanting "freedom, freedom" in the faces of police officers and citizens trying to go about their business. They claimed they were free to protest in Ottawa indefinitely, to commandeer the streets to make their point.

Many of those participating and supporting in the blockade signed a memorandum of understanding issued by Canada Unity, one of the groups organizing the convoy. That MOU called on the Governor General and the Senate of Canada to somehow form a new government with the protesters themselves.

When the federal government eventually invoked the Emergencies Act to clear the city, many of those who had been blockading the city claimed that martial law had been imposed and their rights had been violated or erased.

Let's take a look at these claims and compare them with the facts on Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution.

Does the charter protect all freedoms of Canadians without limits?

The Charter of Rights is part of the Constitution. It outlines Canadians' rights and freedoms and limits to those freedoms.

The very first section of the charter "guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

In legal terms, that means that the freedoms and rights laid out in the charter are not absolute. To use the most popular analogy, one person's freedom to swing their arms around ends at the tip of another person's nose.

When rights are limited, they must be "prescribed by law" — to extend the analogy, you can't prevent someone from swinging their arms around by cutting them off. Limits to freedom must be precise so that they can be measured up against a legal standard.

Evan Mitsui/CBC

The Oakes test is used to determine if limiting a charter right is reasonable and can be justified under the law. The Oakes test says that the goal of limiting a right must be urgent and significant and that the way a right is limited must be proportional.

The Oakes test also requires a rational connection between the objective a government is trying to achieve and the right it is limiting. The right can be limited only enough to reach the objective and the harm caused by limiting a freedom must be balanced by the objective.

Martha Jackman, a constitutional law expert at the University of Ottawa, said that "the government has to meet all of" the conditions of the Oakes test.

"So if something is irrational, that's sufficient for the government to lose the ability to justify something, if it's irrational or if it's disproportionate," she said.

Canada's courts have been working out the Oakes test case by case since the charter first came into force.

Were the protesters exercising their legal right to peaceful assembly?

Section two of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines the "freedom of peaceful assembly" — but leaves it up to the courts to decide what "peaceful" means.

Court rulings going back to 1982 define the right to peaceful assembly as including the right to hold a protest on public streets, to camp in a public park as a part of that protest, and the right to wear masks during a protest.

While court rulings guarantee these rights of public assembly, they're not absolute. Like all rights in the charter, they are subject to "reasonable limits prescribed by law."

Patrick Doyle/Reuters

According to Canadian case law, assemblies cease to be peaceful when people begin rioting or when gatherings seriously disturb the peace. The right to assembly also does not include the right to physically impede or blockade lawful activities.

Jackman said that a protester's belief that a protest is peaceful does not exempt it from limitation under the law. A peaceful, non-violent protest that prevents patients from accessing a hospital, for example, could be limited under the law.

"A peaceful assembly that is violating municipal, provincial and federal law, it may well be peaceful within the contours of the peaceful assembly guarantee but that doesn't mean that it isn't subject to reasonable limits," Jackman said.

Is the Emergencies Act martial law?

Martial law is most commonly defined as the suspension of a country's laws, including civil liberties, and can involve replacing a democratically elected government with a police or military authority.

"Martial law isn't really a defined legal concept in Canada," Jackman said.

"The Emergencies Act is really our most powerful legislation in Canada to deal with national emergencies but it's not martial law."

The Emergencies Act does not suspend laws or put the military in charge of the Canadian government. In fact, the Emergencies Act stipulates that any actions taken by government while the act is in force are subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The act also states that a government cannot rule by cabinet while the act is in force and all orders and regulations issued while the Emergencies Act is in force must be reviewed by Parliament. The act also explains how Canadians affected by government actions during an emergency should be compensated by the state.

Can citizens or the Governor General force the dissolution of government?

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon's office received so many phone calls and emails from people asking her to dissolve the federal government during the blockade that she had to issue a statement explaining that she does not have that power.

Under Canada's Westminster form of parliamentary democracy, the Governor General acts as a proxy for the Queen and dissolves Parliament upon the request of the prime minister. When Parliament is dissolved, a new election is called.

The Governor General has the constitutional discretion to refuse a prime minister's request to dissolve Parliament, but it's generally understood that would happen only if an election had occurred recently and there was another party capable of forming government.

In 1926, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King asked Gov. Gen. Lord Julian Byng to dissolve the minority Parliament and call new elections. Byng refused. King stepped down and, a few months later, led the Liberals to a majority victory.

Evan Mitsui/CBC

Ever since, no governor general has refused a prime minister's request to dissolve Parliament. Nor has a governor general ever dismissed a prime minister and a government outright.

Citizens can only register their "non-confidence" in a government by voting in an election — by granting another party or combination of parties enough seats in the House of Commons to form a government.

Apart from a direct request from the prime minister, the only other way to dissolve Parliament is through time limits set out in law. The Constitution limits the length of each Parliament to five years.

Section 56.1 of the Canada Elections Act, which was updated in 2007, restricts the duration of a Parliament to four years. Elections can still be called by the Governor General before the four-year time period expires, but only on the advice of the prime minister.

Governments are only replaced when the prime minister resigns or is dismissed by the Governor General. The Governor General's discretion to dismiss the prime minister is extremely narrow and limited by constitutional convention.

Philippe Lagassé, an associate professor at Carleton university with expertise in parliamentary executive power, said the massive number of emails and phone calls the Governor General received from convoy protesters is more evidence of a recent trend in protest movements.

"It has become routine in Canadian politics to write a letter to the Queen, Governor General, or a Lieutenant Governor asking them to exercise their powers in some way, contrary to constitutional conventions," he said. "This is political theater, no more."

* PEACE, ORDER AND GOOD GOVERNMENT

THE BOURGEOIS MOTTO OF PARLIAMENT

ROFLMAO

Rep. Lauren Boebert Says Canada

And U.S. 'Need To Be Liberated' 

Like Ukraine

Josephine Harvey

Sun., February 27, 2022, 

As everyday Ukrainian people take up arms against Russian invaders in a desperate bid to hang onto their democracy, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on Sunday compared their situation to protesting truckers in Canada who didn’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I pray for Ukraine and I wish them the best. They have a great president right now who has really said clearly, ‘Live free or die.’ He said, ‘I don’t need a ride, give me ammunition. The fight is right here,’” Boebert said in an interview with Fox News personalities Kayleigh McEnany and Pete Hegseth at the Conservative Political Action Conference that aired on the Fox Nation streaming service.

“But we also have neighbors to the north who need freedom and need to be liberated and we need that right here at home as well.”

The gun-obsessed, extremist lawmaker had been referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s refusal of a U.S. offer to be evacuated from Kyiv, as Russian troops continued to press into the capital in an unprovoked attack that has shocked the world.

Zelenskyy has vowed to defend the country with its citizens, saying, “We are not putting down arms.”

The city’s residents have sheltered in underground bunkers and subway stations and accepted weapons from the government to join the fight in the streets as Russian airstrikes rain down on the capital and other cities.

Boebert made the outrageous comments after Hegseth brought up Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and called him an “autocrat” because he quashed anti-vaccine protests that had paralyzed international supply chains for weeks.

The demonstrators were against vaccine mandates and an assortment of other measures intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Boebert claimed President Joe Biden is “jealous” of the control that “tyrant Trudeau” has, adding that the Ukraine crisis is “all because of weakness in America.”

She did not mention the actual cause of the Ukraine crisis, Russia’s authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin.

Boebert is notorious for making hateful, bigoted and false statements with potentially dangerous repercussions. On Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol to try and overturn a democratic election, she tweeted, “Today is 1776.”

.Watch Ukraine's war hero president Volodymyr Zelensky win his country's version of Dancing With The Stars

Footage of Ukraine’s heroic president winning his country’s version of Strictly Come Dancing has gone viral on social media as the battle for Kharkiv raged, James Crisp writes.

Volodymyr Zelensky triumphed in the first series of Tantsi z zirkamy, or Dancing with the Stars, in 2006 when he was a television celebrity.

Highlights of the comedian turned war hero’s victory have been viewed more than two million times since being posted online on Sunday morning. At the same time, there was intense fighting in Ukraine's second city.

A snake-hipped Mr Zelensky is seen waltzing, performing the paso doble, quickstep and an emotionally charged blindfolded dance as he cuts the rug with professional partner Olena Shoptenko.

Watch the video below.

There's a flood of disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Here's who's sorting it out

Sun., February 27, 2022

A man walks past a damaged building in Kyiv following a rocket attack on Friday. Online sleuths have been using publicly available data to verify the images coming out of Ukraine and matching them to reports of damage from Russian attacks to help create a record of what's happening on the ground. 

(Emilio Morenatti/The Associated Press - image credit)

A man lying on the ground, clutching what appears to be a severed leg, screams in agony. The pro-Russia account that posted the video days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine claimed the man was a victim of a Ukrainian attack. But skeptics were quick to point out the leg was a prosthetic.

While an unsophisticated fake, it's one of the thousands of images flooding social media around the invasion of Ukraine, keeping fact-checkers such as Giancarlo Fiorella with the organization Bellingcat very busy.

Bellingcat, which takes its name from an old fable about mice conspiring to neutralize the threat of a cat by putting a bell on it, is a collective of researchers, analysts and journalists who sleuth online using publicly available data — or open-source intelligence — to hunt down the origin of images, videos and information.

"We're all hands on deck on this at the moment," said Fiorella, speaking from Amsterdam.

Open-source intelligence investigators use a wide variety of tools to verify the images they are seeing, including the metadata embedded in pictures and videos, as well as geolocation tools, which help pinpoint the time and place an image was captured.

"The real challenge when it comes to Russian disinformation — at least what we've seen for the invasion of Ukraine now — is the volume of it. Just the sheer quantity of events that they're flooding social media with," Fiorella said. "There's so much of it."

Submitted by Giancarlo Fiorella

Several Western governments, including Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Commission, are also vowing to fight Russian disinformation amid the ongoing invasion.

In a joint statement issued Saturday announcing fresh sanctions on Russia, including blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT global banking system, the allies committed to co-ordinating their efforts against disinformation and "other forms of hybrid warfare."

Investigators focused on Ukraine images

Bellingcat, which has documented numerous incidents of Russian aggression over the years, tends to focus on humanitarian concerns. Right now, though, they are using that focus to triage the steady stream of information bombarding social media and verifying images of destruction and potential war crimes.

In one recent example from Ukraine, Bellingcat investigators were able to use geolocation data to verify some images and match them to reports of damage to some apartment buildings from a Russian attack near the city of Chuhuiv. This created a trusted visual record of damage on the ground.

"We're trying to focus on incidents that show damage to civilian infrastructures, like buildings, or civilian casualties," Fiorella said. "It's been heartbreaking to see the videos and the images of residential areas in Ukraine being targeted indiscriminately by Russian shelling."

Most of the images the group has encountered have come through Telegram, a messaging app created by two Russian tech entrepreneurs that is widely used in eastern Europe.

Fiorella says Bellingcat's work in the short term is to provide people with an accurate account of what is happening in real time. But in the longer term, it's about establishing a record, which it posts on its website and social media.

The evidence they gather, he said, will "hopefully make its way to a courtroom at some point in the future."

Russia's narrative

Disinformation disguised as news about the conflict has proliferated via Telegram accounts.

On Thursday, one Russian-language Telegram account, SCEPTIK, claimed that 82 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Russia at Snake Island — a remote, rocky island that sits in the Black Sea — and were signing papers, stating their refusal to continue participating in military action.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there were 13 border patrol officers at the outpost, and that they died after refusing to surrender. All 13 have since been posthumously awarded the title "hero of Ukraine."

Telegram/Google Earth

"From the moment when Russia invaded … Russia was trying to portray the Ukrainian military as weak," said Valentyna Shapovalova, who researches Russian propaganda at the University of Copenhagen.

"I've seen several stories in the Russian media talking about how Ukrainian military personnel has either been giving up or has been trying to join the Russian side."

Shapovalova said while the fact-checking that open-source investigators are doing is important, it may not have an immediate enough effect to sway the Russian narrative.

"Once people consume certain narratives, certain stories, it is very difficult to then revert the messages that they already got," she said.

"So it's still important to go out and ... stamp something as disinformation or propaganda or pure lies, if they are so. But whether it has an immediate effect is very difficult to say, unfortunately."

Submitted by Valentyna Shapovalova

Shapovalova believes the stream of disinformation may get worse as the conflict continues.

"I think what we will be seeing is a continuation of this play into grand narratives to foster support for the Russian actions," she said. "So I think we will see even more stories talking about Russia as a peaceful nation, merely trying to preserve peace in their neighbouring country."

The audience for propaganda

The use of propaganda is a well-worn Russian playbook — and the Russians have a specific audience in mind, according to Wesley Wark, a security and intelligence expert and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo.

"The idea is, in part, to see if there's some part of the population that [you] can win over to your cause," he said. "And of course, the Russians are hoping that Russian speakers in the eastern part of Ukraine might be convinced by some of this propaganda campaign."

Wark said the other goal of seeding false narratives and images is to destabilize, confuse and strike fear in the Ukrainians.

"And then there's an international audience for these kinds of propaganda disinformation campaigns — and the idea is there to win as many friends and supporters as you can," he said.

Ukrainians have seen this before. Many have grown up with a steady stream of disinformation from their powerful neighbour over television and social media and have become savvy enough to sift through it.

CBC

"With the sheer amount of Russian propaganda, we've learned how to trust the good sources and distrust the bad sources," said Illia Maslyanskyy, who moved to Canada from Ukraine in 2013.

"I would say that for most university-educated young people, who use social media, who are tech savvy, it shouldn't be too difficult to spot fakes."

Maslyanskyy worries more about older generations who rely on television and may not be as sophisticated when it comes to information that changes very quickly.

"We live by the half hour, everything changes on the ground so quickly," he said. "We rely on what we hear from our relatives, from our friends who are unfortunately stuck there and are very much hostages of the situation."

He says it's not just the war on the ground they're fighting. "We're also talking about informational warfare. We are at war against a professional propaganda machine."

And according to Maslyanskyy, "the propaganda has become very, very clever."

"Disinformation kills. Russian propaganda kills. It must be stopped, everybody needs to take a stance."

JUST SAY NO TO CENSORSHIP
Rogers, Bell to pull Russian state-controlled channel RT over invasion of Ukraine

Sun., February 27, 2022

A placard against Russian broadcaster RT is displayed at a protest rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Toronto on Sunday. (Chris Helgren/Reuters - image credit)

Rogers and Bell said Sunday they will no longer be carrying Russian state-controlled network RT in their TV channel lineups in the latest action against Russian entities following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bell confirmed it is no longer carrying RT as of Sunday, while Rogers said it will pull TV network on Monday. It was not immediately known if the moves are permanent.

RT is a multi-language 24-hour news channel launched in 2005 — when it was known as Russia Today — and is now broadcast in more than 100 countries, according to its website. Funded by the Russian government, the channel has long been described by critics as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin.

On Sunday, Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez applauded the decisions by the Canadian telecoms, calling RT the "propaganda arm" of Russian President Vladimir Putin "that spreads disinformation."

"It has no place here," Rodriguez said on Twitter.

Putin, high-ranking Russian officials and banks have been slapped with sanctions by Canada and other countries in recent days after his decision to invade neighbouring Ukraine.

The Canadian government on Sunday announced it will send at least $25 million in additional non-lethal military aid to Ukraine as that country fights against a Russian invasion.

On Friday, several Canadian phone providers — including Rogers and Bell — said they were waiving long-distance and text charges for customers looking to connect with people in Ukraine.

Ukrainian students, teachers at Etobicoke school find support as assault on homeland continues

Sat., February 26, 2022

Dniel Slavatynskyy, a Grade 8 student at St. Demetrius Catholic School in Etobicoke, Ont., and his mother Luba Slavatynska. (Dalia Ashry/CBC - image credit)

The principal of a school in Etobicoke, Ont., — where more than 90 per cent of students are of Ukrainian origin — says teachers there are equipped to provide emotional support to the kids, as Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine.

Lily Hordienko says children at the St. Demetrius Catholic School are between four to 14 years old.

"Our children are very aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now," Hordienko told CBC News.

"Many of [the students] are coming with a lot of questions, fears, anxieties, so we wanted to be here ready for them."

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation on Ukraine before dawn on Thursday, ignoring Western warnings and saying the "neo-Nazis" ruling Ukraine threatened Russia's security.

According to Hordienko, half of the staff members also have family members in Ukraine, so they are turning to each other for support.

"It's very disheartening. It's a very emotional time," she said. "We're turning to one another."

Dalia Ashry/CBC

Canadians continue to show support for Ukraine and its fierce and urgent battle against a Russian invasion that has tossed life there into sudden chaos.

Saturday marked the third day of Russia's wide-ranging invasion of Ukraine — a move that has prompted condemnation by many world leaders and triggered a raft of sanctions.

'Words of encouragement and support'

Hordienko said the school's staff held a staff meeting on Thursday morning, the day Russia initiated attacks on Ukraine.

"We had some prayers, a little bit of words of encouragement and support," she said.

Hordienko said she also talked with the teachers about what to look for with the students.

Dniel Slavatynskyy, a Grade 8 student at the school says he feels hurt when he sees what's happening in Ukraine.

Slavatynskyy's family returned to Ukraine shortly after his birth in Canada. The family moved back to Canada when he was four years old.

"Ukraine is my home country, it's like part of my family, we talk about it every day," he told CBC News.

"We talk Ukrainian every day in our home, we talk Ukrainian at school, it's like [we're in] Ukraine but in a different country, you know.

"I feel bad. I see, like, people live streaming the sirens … people afraid because there are sirens everywhere. I feel bad, I feel kind of scared, you know," Slavatynskyy added.

Dalia Ashry/CBC

TCDSB will provide whatever is needed

Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Markus de Domenico says Ukrainian families are going through "tremendous distress" right now.

He said that as soon as the assault started, he reached out to the principals and staff in his ward to let them know that the board is there to support the emotional and mental health of the students and staff.

"It's almost unimaginable to think of what they must be feeling with their friends and family back home in Ukraine and the Russian aggression against the civilian population in many cases," de Domenico told CBC News.

"The board is very willing to provide any guidance, counselling, whatever is needed."

Russia's assault is the biggest on a European state since the Second World War and threatens to upend the continent's post-Cold War order.

The crisis has galvanized the NATO military alliance, which has announced a series of moves to reinforce its eastern flank. While NATO has said it will not deploy troops to Ukraine, a string of member countries are sending military aid.

Two weeks before the assault commenced, Hordienko said St. Demetrius Catholic School organized a day in support of Ukraine.

"Students came dressed in blue and yellow and we took pictures and we made a poster and we sent it to the Ukraine-Canadian Congress and we tweeted it, we shared it with the Ukrainian citizens as well," she said.

Hordienko said members of the Ukrainian community in Canada "feel helpless," but "we're trying to do what we can, we're sending prayers, we're sending what we can but it's more difficult to not be able to do anything more than that."

"I'm getting strength from Ukraine, I'm getting strength from the citizens of Ukraine as they are unbelievably determined, unbelievably driven to fight this fight and to take it to the end," Hordienko said.

 Saskatchewan

Members of Regina language school worry about families in Ukraine

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'I feel really sad because of the war,' says student of Ukrainian language school

Theresa Kliem · CBC News · Posted: Feb 27, 2022 

Ridna Shkola in Regina is a Ukrainian Saturday school for children to practice the Ukrainian language and learn about the country's culture. (Noemie Rondeau/Radio-Canada)

It was a tough decision for the organizers of the Ridna Shkola Ukrainian Saturday School to open the doors yesterday and run their classes.

Many students of the heritage language school are children of newcomer families from Ukraine who have been settling in Regina within the last ten years, according to Olena Shyian, president of the Regina branch of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada — the organization operating Ridna Shkola.

"A lot of families are affected [by the war]," she said.

"But then we were thinking that these kids need to get out of their houses.… They need to be gathered together here and they need to talk to each other."

While some of the students were working on arts and crafts activities on Saturday, they had the opportunity to shareabout what was happening with their families in Ukraine.

Student scared for her family

Standing between the Canadian and Ukrainian flags, the students aged three to 12, as well as their teachers and parents, sang the national anthem of Ukraine, paying tribute to those in the war zone.

Some of the children present on Saturday said they are worried about their family members who live in Ukraine.

One of them is Ivanna Shyian, who was born in Canada, but whose grandparents and cousins ​​are still in Ukraine.

"I am scared for my family," she said. "They're all hiding, waiting for, like, the smallest thing to happen."

Ivanna Shyian is also concerned about all the children living in Ukraine, especially those in orphanages.

• Experts with Prairie roots surprised by speed of attack on Ukraine, but not by resistance to it

• There's a flood of disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Here's who's sorting it out

Fellow Ridna Shkola student Edgar Okhrymenko also wants the war to end.

"I feel really sad because of the war," he said. "I don't want the people to be killed."

Okhrymenko asks everyone around the world to pray for the people in Ukraine.

Edgar Okhrymenko is a student at the Ridna Shkola, a Saturday school in Regina, teaching Ukrainian language and culture. (Radio-Canada)

Ukraine needs help: Regina father

Petro Nakutnyyn is a father involved in the Ridna Shkola in Regina.

He is concerned for the safety of his parents, other family members and friends who live in Ukraine.

"They are safe at the moment, but the fighting is 80 kilometres from my hometown," he said.

"I have a group chat with my [former] classmates, and they're in bunkers. It's very sad. It's not something we ever, ever imagined, you know, going to school."

Like Olena Shyian, Nakutnyyn believes in the importance of talking about the situation with his children.

"It's very important that we keep that memory," he said. "That [our kids] know what's happening," he said.

The Regina father hopes the world can step up more to support his home country.

"We do need help," he said. "Ukraine has been, for the most part, left alone to fight."

Advice for school counselors

Olena Shyian hopes schools and their counselors will look out for students who are affected by the Russian invasion, for example because they have families in Ukraine.

She says like children from other countries that are affected by war, Ukrainian kids in Canada now also need support.

"Just talk to them, just hear them, just give them an opportunity to discuss what's happening," she said.

• Canadians show solidarity with Ukraine through rallies, calls for support on Saturday

• Sask. Ukrainians say relatives need more support to leave Ukraine, Canada can expect refugees

With her own pain over the crisis, Olena Shyian herself is struggling.

"I don't know how I can go back to work on Monday," she said.

"All I'm doing is checking [the] news and staying connected with my family. My mind is not at work and my mind is not there right now."

With files from Radio-Canada

GO PROTEST AT THE OLIGARCHS HOMES
Ukrainians living in London protesting the Russian invasion of their home country fear it's all they can do

Taiyler Simone Mitchell,Henry Dyer
Sat., February 26, 2022

I AM SCARED FOR MY FAMILY

Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


Russia invaded Ukraine early Thursday prompting global protests.


Insider spoke to two Ukrainian demonstrators living in London.


"All of Ukraine is strong if they work together," a protestor told Insider.

"Today, I came here, I took my flag, I took my everything, just to support my country," 19-year-old Yurii told Insider Friday at a protest in London against the Russian attack on Ukraine. "It's the only thing I can do."

Yurii moved from Ukraine with his parents to the United Kingdom six years ago and currently works in construction management. He was one of the many protesters taking part in global demonstrations condemning Russia's further invasion of Ukraine.

"Sometimes, these meetings won't actually help," Yuri added, but "it feels right to do, because I'm Ukrainian, and Ukrainian soul, even though I've lived here for a long time. I have to come."

Protesters gathered in London to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Friday

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

They largely called for more government action.

Though Yurii said that the UK has made a substantial effort to assist Ukraine, he said more manpower from Western countries would help their defense.

"At least to be million percent sure, because we are sure that Russia will not do much harm. But we need more protection. We need air protection," said Yurii.

Yurii told Insider that his grandparents still live in Ukraine and that they have decided to stay in the country

Henry Dyer/Insider

His grandparents told him that they are scared, but over the phone, they've had one consistent message: "I'm happy that my grandkids, my kids, are actually out of the country. Youngsters are out. We are old, we are already 60s."

A Ukrainian demonstrator told Insider that 'Ukraine is strong if they work together.'

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Anton, who moved to the UK 20 years ago, told Insider that he would have participated in fighting against Russian forces if he could.

"It's my duty, to protect my country," he said. "And anything I need to do or they need to do to save, we will do it. Because we are Ukrainians."

Yurii agreed, saying that defending the country was the right thing to do.

"If I was there, I will take my shotgun from my shelf in Ukraine and go. But I am here because my parents took me here six years ago," said Yurii.

"I'm just true Ukrainian," Anton added. "All of Ukraine is strong if they work together."

Protestors planted signs urging leaders to cut off Russia on the fence outside of a UK government building, Whitehall.

Henry Dyer/Insider

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and announced he would send troops to those regions.

'No Putin, No War,' one sign read.

Henry Dyer/Insider

Early on Thursday morning, Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine in a televised speech that coincided with a special UN Security Council meeting. Shortly after the speech, the Russian attack began and explosions were heard in cities throughout the country.

After speaking with Insider, Yurii and Anton departed saying 'Slava Ukraini!' which can be translated to 'Glory to Ukraine!

BUY UKRAINIAN VODKA & BEER

UNB professor says pulling Russian products from shelves is largely symbolic



Sat., February 26, 2022

Alcool NB Liquor is pulling three variations of Russian Standard vodka. 

(anbl.com - image credit)

A University of New Brunswick professor says removing Russian liquor products from store shelves is symbolic, but won't have any significant economic impact in pressuring Russia President Vladimir Putin to back off the invasion of Ukraine.

Alcool NB Liquor has announced it will pull Russian-made vodka off its shelves. It sells three variations of the brand Russian Standard.

"That's certainly important symbolically for those of Ukrainian descent who are 1.5 million in Canada right now," said Henryk Sterniczuk.

Sterniczuk immigrated from Poland and spent multiple years working in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan working on democratic reforms related to economics and education.

"But … from the economic perspective, it is not very meaningful."

He said only a tiny fraction of hard liquor imported into Canada comes from Russia.

"From a symbolic political dimension, it is a very important gesture that whatever we can do, we should do to send a message to Russian leadership that we disagree with what they are doing.... But financially, this is not a sanction, which would be terribly painful."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday it would impose sanctions on Putin and his inner circle.

Sterniczuk said there is also meaning for the consumers in signaling that the products are being pulled. But he notes that those products have already been paid for by the time they reach stores.

However, he said there may be longer-term impacts, such as the future of contracts.

Likely the move would more directly hit the profits of those who own brands, such as Russian businessman Roustam Tariko, who owns Russian Standard.

What would happen, might be a snowball effect where factories in Russia reduce output of alcohol due to lower demand.

Sterniczuk said Canada should consider action like stopping the import of oil and gas from Russia to truly apply effective pressure.

"Sanctions are important, but they must be in an important area, not on the margins. They are on the margins at the moment.

"And so they will not change the policy, they simply give the Western leaders a sense of accomplishment."

From the consumer perspective

Fredericton resident Tim Thompson said it was important to reach out to Alcool NB Liquor to ask that products from Russia be pulled.

"I think it signals that Canada as a whole and on the international stage, that we're [in] solidarity with the Ukrainians, and with them fighting for their freedoms.

"It's important for us to ensure that there's no conflict and stay out of war as much as possible across the entire globe.... So whatever we can do peacefully and diplomatically, in order to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, is extremely important."

Political implications

Opher Baron, a professor of operations management at the University of Toronto, said seeing provincially run liquor boards make this decision is interesting from a political perspective.

"It is one thing if me, as an end consumer, decides to no longer purchase Russian imported drinks or in general, things that are imported from Russia," said Baron. "And it is another thing to say that a liquor board, which in some provinces are public companies, [is] doing that. So this becomes a political decision."

Patrick Doyle/Reuters

The liquor boards of all the Maritime provinces, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia are not selling products from Russia due to the situation in Ukraine.

The Société des alcools du Québec also announced it would be doing so. Initially, the board stated that it would not be removing products as it did not want to make a political statement.

Baron said other financial ties between the countries should be explored at the federal level.

"I'm more into trying to support Ukrainian products than trying to boycott Russian ones, especially because typically those boycotts will impact the people, not the leaders."

Ultimately, Baron said Canada should prepare a strong refugee policy to help those fleeing from Ukraine.

"I think that may have a bigger impact on the quality of life for more people."

SURPRISE! EVEN IN BELARUS THERE ARE PROTESTS AGAINST THE WAR

Watch: Anti-war march takes place in Moscow

Police officers detain a man during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine

 in central Moscow on February 27, 2022. - Photo by Alexander NEMENOV/ AFP

Police detain more than 900 people at anti-war protests across Russia

Police detained more than 900 people at anti-war protests that occurred in 44 Russian cities on Sunday, raising the total since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 to over 4,000, independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info said.

Sunday's protests coincided with the seventh anniversary of the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. Some of Sunday's arrests took place at an improvised memorial just outside the Kremlin at the site where Nemtsov was shot, a witness said.

The OVD-Info monitor has documented crackdowns on Russia's opposition for years.

A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine - ANTON VAGANOV/REUTERS

Experts with Prairie roots surprised by speed of attack on Ukraine, but not by resistance to it

Sat., February 26, 2022

Ukrainian service members collect unexploded shells after a fighting with a Russian raiding group in Kyiv in the morning of Feb. 26, 2022, according to Ukrainian service personnel at the scene. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images - image credit)

While not surprised about the war in Ukraine, Marnie Howlett says she didn't expect the Russian invasion to happen as fast or to the extent as it did.

The researcher from Saskatoon works at the University of Oxford, U.K., as a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations.

Howlett said people might have expected tensions to rise in Eastern Ukraine, particularly Donetsk and Luhansk, but not an invasion across the country.

"We didn't expect Putin to escalate as quickly at this time," she said. "The tactics being used, I think, are what is most surprising."

Personal connections with Ukraine

As an academic with a focus on Ukraine and a woman of Ukrainian heritage, the war in her ancestors' home country has affected her on several levels.

Since Thursday morning she hasn't heard from one of her closest friends who lives in Ukraine. Howlett assumes he has joined the fight.

"It's very heartbreaking," she said.

"I feel like my life has been turned upside down since I woke up on Thursday morning, not only personally but academically. I mean, the place that I study is no longer and it will no longer be the place that I have been to."

While not born in Ukraine, the researcher calls the country her second home and her friends there family, she said.

After finishing her master's degree in Political Science in 2017 at the University of Saskatchewan, Howlett moved to England to work on her doctoral research, studying grassroot sentiments, nationalism, how borders have been drawn historically and how people feel about them.

"While this [research] can … highlight separatism, it also can highlight people's attachment to their territory," she said.

"We also see people's attachment to the state of Ukraine and their territory and their willingness to defend those borders…. We see Ukrainians willing to die for their country."

It's important to remember that Ukraine has been an independent country since 1991, said Howlett, however, Ukraine has not been treated as such by Russia.

Resistance 'very difficult' for Putin: former diplomat

Both Howlett and Colin Robertson believe Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't expect the efforts of the Ukrainian people to fight back while the Russian invasion continues.

"It has not been as quick as I think Vladimir Putin would have liked," said the former Canadian diplomat from Winnipeg, who is also vice president at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and executive fellow at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy.

"President Putin has swallowed a porcupine, and the Ukrainian people certainly seem to be demonstrating the resistance that their leadership was hoping to see. And that makes life for Mr. Putin very difficult."

The chances of diplomatic talk between Russia and Ukraine ending the war are pretty slim, according to Robertson.

"I think Vladimir Putin is determined," he said. "He has rolled the dice. He won't stop until he has seized the country."

In addition to Ukrainians fighting back, some protesters in Russia are also showing disapproval with their president's attack on the neighbouring state.

In 2014, however, there were demonstrations in Russia in support of Putin's actions when the country annexed Crimea, said Robertson.

This time, Russians went to the streets in 54 Russian cities to decry the invasion of Ukraine

"That's gotta trouble [him]," said Robertson.

"The challenge for Putin now will be maintaining support within his immediate entourage, who are now all being sanctioned and finding that their pocketbooks and their passports aren't going to be much use, as well as with the Russian people."

Howlett says it is hard to predict Putin's next actions.

However, she agrees with Robertson that the Russian president might have been surprised by the response of the Russian people.

While the protests alone might not be enough to stop Putin, it shows that people are willing to push back against their own government, according to Howlett.

Option to ban Russia from SWIFT

Several nations have been discussing the potential ban of Moscow from SWIFT, the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which is used by thousands of financial institutions worldwide.

On Saturday several western nations, including Canada, said they were cutting off a number of Russian banks from the financial payments system.

This would not only affect Russia but also other countries such as Germany or Italy which depend on Russian gas imports.

SWIFT has only been shut off for one country once, according to Robertson. That was in 2012 when Iran was denied access to the system due to its nuclear program.

Many nations — including Canada — are condemning the attack on Ukraine.

The choices for NATO members to support the invaded country are limited, according Robertson.

The two only options are to apply military force or economic sanctions.

With Ukraine not being a member of NATO, it doesn't look like the Western nations will send any soldiers to fight in the war right now, said Robertson.

"If they were a member, it'd be a different story," he said.

"Then we would be at war with Russia today…. One of the things President Putin has threatened is that he would use tactical nuclear weapons, which would be catastrophic."

Howlett hopes Western countries such as Canada will open their borders for Ukrainians fleeing the war and having nowhere else to go.

As a Ukrainian-Canadian whose family came to Canada during the First and Second World Wars, she feels responsible to help the next generation of Ukrainians arriving now.

"We need to recognize that Ukraine will not be the same place," she said. "This situation will not be going away anytime soon."