‘We want it to stop’: Montrealers vow to keep protesting Russian invasion of Ukraine until war is over
Posted April 23, 2022 6:10 pm.
Last Updated April 23, 2022 6:15 pm.
Ukrainians, Russians and Montrealers of all backgrounds came together Saturday for yet another weekend rally opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the war entered its 59th day.
“We want to show that the Ukrainian community here is in solidarity with Ukraine,” said protest organizer Adelia Shwec.
READ: Ukraine: Russians try to storm Mariupol plant, 5 killed in Odesa strike
Protesters called on the Canadian government to take more action.
“The Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian people have shown tremendous resolve and they’re willing to fight,” said Michael Shwec, president of the Montreal chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). “We call on the whole western world, the free world including our government, to provide Ukraine with the necessary arms that they need to repel the enemy. They’ll do the work, they just need the arms.”
That message was echoed by some of the protesters.
“Canada has to keep sending weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible, as much as possible,” said Dr. Anna Fichman, a Russian Montrealer protester. “And from our side, we need to help the refugees as much as we can, like airlifting them.”
The UCC has organized dozens of demonstrations at Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.
“We are devastated about what’s happening in Ukraine. We’ll be here every weekend for as long as it takes,” said protester Alana Mota. “We’re there for our fellow Ukrainians.”
Montreal’s Ukraine connection:
- Montrealer’s Ukrainian mother seeking cancer treatment in Quebec met with bureaucratic barriers
- Montrealer’s mission to ensure truth about war in Ukraine isn’t silenced
- Russian-Montrealer painting for Ukrainian aid
- ‘Ukraine is in my heart’: Montreal keeps protesting to denounce Russian invasion
Most Ukrainians would normally be celebrating Christian orthodox Easter this weekend. Instead, the song heard across the nation is not one of prayer, but one of war sirens.
“Trauma, heartbreak, everyone in the Ukrainian community is somehow connected to Ukraine – whether it’s family there, whether it’s friends, whether it’s just their identity is housed there,” said Adelia Shwec. “As a community we’re really living a collective trauma.”
“Stop the genocide in Mariupol,” added Michael Shwec. “We know from the city mayor of Mariupol there’s somewhere in the number of 20,000 corpses lying in the streets. The Russian federation is bringing in portable crematoriums to get rid of the evidence. Everybody saw the atrocities in Bucha. It’s estimated that the atrocities in Mariupol are significantly higher.”
One Russian Montrealer has been coming every weekend with her boys to stand with the Ukrainians in their fight.
She says she’s sickened by what she and her husband’s home country has been doing to its neighbours.
“February 24, we lost everything that was good about our childhood and our youth,” said Fichman. “And every day more generations are being added to the list of lost generations. We want it to stop.”
