441-00633 (Foreign affairs)

The Government of Canada condemns President Putin’s unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. The war he has started is in blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, and it threatens global peace and security. This war of choice is a war on freedom, on democracy, and on the rights of Ukrainians, and all people, to determine their own future.

The Government of Canada is steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Canada is deeply concerned for all those affected, and horrified by the Russian Forces’ attacks on innocent civilians. Canada is committed to holding Russia to account, and strongly supports the investigations into these actions. Canada has also been resolute in condemning Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine and its people, and has been working in bilateral and multilateral forums, including at the United Nations (UN), on options to support Ukraine and promote international peace and security.

Canada and its like-minded partners have been united in ensuring that President Putin and his enablers answer for their actions. Countries have been coordinating closely on responsive measures to enhance support for the people and government of Ukraine and to impose costs on the Russian leadership.

Canada is unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine, including by building on the over $4 billion total in financial, humanitarian, development,military, and diplomatic support provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014. After Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Government of Canada has provided multifaceted assistance to support Ukraine’s security and defence, having committed or delivered $626 million in military aid. This amount includes the complete allocation of $500 million in military support announced in Budget 2022. Donations include: M-777 artillery guns, on which Canadian troops are training Ukrainian forces; 155 mm ammunition; 39 armoured combat support vehicles; small arms; Carl Gustav anti-tank weapons; anti-tank rocket launchers; drone cameras; Roshel smart armoured vehicles; de-mining equipment; and satellite imagery. Canada’s Operation UNIFIER trained nearly 35,000 members of the Ukrainian military and security forces since its establishment in 2015. Canada will deploy up to 225 troops under Operation UNIFIER to the UK to continue its training of members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Canada is committed to providing Ukraine additional resources to help support its defence.

Through Global Affairs Canada’s Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs), Canada is supporting Ukraine with more than $15 million per year in peace and security programming, including: support to the country’s defence and broader security sector; advancing the women, peace and security agenda; and building resilience to disinformation. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion specifically, PSOPs has approved more than $10 million in new stabilization programming with partners to support Ukrainian resistance and resilience. This programming focuses on supporting Ukrainian civil society and human rights organizations, countering disinformation, scaling up mine action efforts, and monitoring and documenting human rights violations. In June 2022, the Prime Minister announced an additional $15 million to support mine action efforts and $9.7 million to improve accountability for human rights violations in Ukraine, with a particular emphasis on cases of sexual and gender-based violence.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister announced $13.4 million over five years to support the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) to counter diverse and evolving foreign threats to democracy, including disinformation. In the context of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the G7 RRM is monitoring the evolving information environment, sharing assessments, and identifying areas for international collaboration. The G7 RRM is also ramping up collective engagement with civil society and social media platforms to counter disinformation with greater coherence. This includes supporting a collaborative pilot initiative with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to establish a multi-stakeholder crisis network comprised of G7 governments, social media platforms and civil society to support the integrity of the Ukrainian information environment and tackle Russia’s unprecedented information war.

Canada is also taking steps to remove Russian propaganda and false narratives from Canadian airwaves. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decided that RT (formerly known as Russia Today) can no longer be distributed by Canadian television service providers, as its programming is not in the public interest and is not consistent with Canada’s broadcasting standards.

The Government of Canada is also acting to hold President Putin and the Russian regime accountable for the invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities being committed there.

Since February 2022, Canada has announced several rounds of severe and hard-hitting sanctions against over 1200 individuals and entities under the Special Economic Measures Act. This includes senior members of the Russian government, military, and oligarchs, and includes President Putin himself, his daughters, and his inner circle.

We have also imposed sanctions on senior officials of the Belarusian regime, and Belarusian military entities and specific industries, as well as Ukrainian individuals responsible for facilitating and enabling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

These measures are being implemented in close coordination with Canada’s trusted partners including the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and others. Collective action has been key to putting effective and impactful economic measures in place.

Canada has also severely restricted Russia’s access to the global financial system, including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank and major Russian financial institutions, and supporting efforts to remove key Russian banks from the SWIFT financial system. Canada also revoked Russia’s and Belarus’s Most Favoured Nation status, applying a 35% tariff on all imports from Russia and Belarus.

In addition, Canada has imposed broader sanctions, including prohibitions against the purchase of specific Russian petroleum products, closing its airspace to Russian and Belarusian airplanes, and banning Russian ships from docking in Canada or passing through Canadian waters. Furthermore, Canada halted the issuance of all new permits for the export and brokering of controlled goods and technology to Russia and cancelled existing permits to export controlled military, strategic and dual-use items to Russia. Canada has also prohibited the export to Russia and Belarus of a broad range of items related to electronics, computers, telecommunications, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics, marine, aerospace, and transportation.

Canada also banned the export of targeted luxury goods to Russia, as well as banned the importation of targeted luxury goods from Russia. Together, these categories represented $75.7 million worth of goods in 2021. Canada also prohibited the import of targeted gold products from Russia in coordination with allies and partners, shutting the commodity out of formal international markets and further isolating Russia from the international financial system.

Most recently, Canada sanctioned additional individuals and entities in the defence sectors that were directly or indirectly supporting the Russian regime. These include Russian military officials involved in Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, including the Bucha massacre.

In coordination with allies and partners, Canada will continue to escalate sanctions and close loopholes to maximize pressure against the Russian regime until President Putin stops his war and turns to good-faith diplomacy. These measures are designed to hit at the heart of Russia’s economy and limit its ability to fund the war.

In partnership with our allies, Canada has formed the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Taskforce, and committed to take all available legal steps to find, restrain, freeze, and, where appropriate, confiscate or forfeit the assets of individuals and entities that have been sanctioned in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To that end, legislative amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (JVCFOA) came into force on June 23, 2022, allowing for the seizure, forfeiture, disposal and redistribution of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities.

On the humanitarian assistance front, since January 2022, the Government of Canada has committed $320 million in humanitarian assistance to support the humanitarian response in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. This support is provided through UN, Red Cross, and NGO partners. This includes support for the World Food Programme in Ukraine to address food security needs, as well as a $30 million matching fund with the Canadian Red Cross, which has raised over $148.7 million in addition to the funds committed by the Government of Canada. Canada also sent 20 cargo flights with more than 377,000 essential relief items and financed the deployment of humanitarian exports to support the UN and Red Cross responses in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

On April 9, 2022, the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, cohosted the “Stand Up for Ukraine” pledging event to rally a broad base of support, which raised over $12.4 billion in pledges. The funds will help to provide emergency health services, protection, and other urgent needs including food, water and shelter.

Canada’s humanitarian assistance is complemented by an increase of $35 million in development assistance that is addressing emerging priorities, including supporting the resilience of Ukraine's government institutions and civil society organizations so they are better able to meet the needs of Ukrainians, in particular women and vulnerable groups. In addition, Canada recently allocated $7 million in development assistance to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to support those impacted by sexual and gender-based violence, as well as $2 million for the completion of a dairy plant in western Ukraine, to support food security efforts. Canada has also provided fast flexibility to development partners to allow them to rapidly shift project activities to address immediate needs, protect previous development gains, and mitigate the impact of the invasion on vulnerable populations.

On June 28, 2022 the Prime Minister announced an additional $52 million in response to Ukraine’s urgent need to increase grain storage capacity. This comprises $50 million for grain storage and $2 million for agro-lab equipment.  The funds will go to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Grain Storage Support Strategy to increase grain and oil seed storage for Ukrainian farmers, and boost Ukraine’s capacity to test and monitor animal products. With Canada’s support, the FAO expects to provide supplemental storage for an additional 2.4 million tonnes of grain from 2022-2023.

Canada has provided $1.95 billion in financial assistance to the Government of Ukraine to enhance Ukraine’s economic resilience in the midst of Russian aggression, help the Government meet its urgent balance of payments needs, and support macro-economic stability in Ukraine. This includes $500 million in bilateral loans, as well as $1.45 billion in additional loan resources through a new Administered Account for Ukraine at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), so that the government can continue to operate. Canada worked with the Government of Ukraine, the IMF, and other IMF member countries to develop this facility and encourage allies and partners to participate.

Canada profoundly condemns the appalling atrocities by Russian armed forces in Bucha and other Ukrainian towns. The attacks on civilian infrastructure and murders of civilians and non-combatants constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

Canada referred the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in concert with other ICC member states as a result of numerous allegations of serious international crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The investigation by the ICC Prosecutor into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide is ongoing. Canada will not spare any effort to ensure that violations of international law in Ukraine are investigated, evidence is gathered, and perpetrators are held to account. To support the ICC investigations, Canada deployed an additional seven RCMP officers to the ICC and announced $1 million in funding to augment the court’s ability to investigate and prosecute conflict-related sexual violence and crimes against children. Canada is also supporting the deployment of two experts from the UN Women roster to support the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry (COI) on issues of sexual violence and gender.

Canada coordinated a joint statement, issued on May 20, 2022 with 43 signatories, expressing support for Ukraine’s application against Russia at the International Court of Justice. On July 13, 2022, Canada announced our intention to intervene in these proceedings in a joint statement issued with 44 signatories. Ukraine’s application seeks to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide. Canada also welcomed the Court’s provisional measures order ordering Russia to cease its military operations in Ukraine, and demanded that President Putin withdraw his forces immediately.

Further, Canada, and 44 other participating States, invoked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Moscow Mechanism to establish a fact-finding mission and a subsequent follow-up mission to Ukraine to report on the human rights and humanitarian impacts of Russia’s illegal invasion. Canada is also supportive of the ongoing work of the independent investigation commission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The Government of Canada is engaging in intense diplomacy within NATO and the G7, the UN, and with the EU and the broader international community to build support and solidarity for Ukraine. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and International Development have all heavily engaged in these efforts.

Canada co-sponsored and strongly advocated for three UN General Assembly resolutions to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, to censure the resulting humanitarian consequences, and most recently, to suspend Russia from the HRC. These historic resolutions demonstrated the international community’s strong commitment to defending the UN Charter and the rules-based international system. The April 7 vote on the “Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council (HRC)” passed with the necessary two-thirds majority, excluding abstentions and non-votes. Russia’s HRC membership term, which was set to expire in 2023, was therefore suspended. This sent a strong message that the international community will hold Russia accountable for its human rights violations and abuses in Ukraine. As a result, Russia announced its withdrawal from the HRC.

Canada also voted in favour of resolutions in support of Ukraine at the Organization of American States, the HRC, UNESCO, the International Labour Organization and l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Canada was actively engaged in outreach for the Special Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization on April 8, during which a decision was adopted condemning Russian aggression and its consequences for global food security.

Canada continues to explore all available options to hold Russia accountable, including censuring and isolating Russia in international forums in coordination with like-minded partners. Canada will continue to assess and prioritize where and how to act against Russia.

Canada is coordinating efforts with allies and partners to support Ukraine and to pressure Russia to end its war on Ukraine. Canada prioritizes an immediate ceasefire and calls on Russia to stop its attacks on Ukrainian civilians and turn to good-faith diplomacy. Canada supports ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Canada continues to work at the UN on options to support Ukraine and promote international peace and security.

To assist Ukrainians fleeing the war and to help ease the burden on Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, the Government of Canada announced two new immigration streams: the temporary Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, launched on March 17, 2022, and a special permanent residence stream for family reunification (permanent, and in development).

On March 11, 2022, the Prime Minister announced that Canada was investing an additional $117 million to implement new immigration measures to expedite application processing and to provide support to newcomers once they arrive in Canada. As of July 16, almost 49,000 Ukrainian citizens and returning Canadian permanent residents of Ukrainian origin have arrived in Canada. Temporary federal support to help Ukrainians settle in their new communities will include language training, services to help access the labour market, as well as information about and orientation to life in Canada. On April 9, 2022, the Prime Minister announced an additional series of measures to make coming to Canada easier, including targeted charter flights for Ukrainians, short-term income support to ensure basic needs are met, and temporary hotel accommodation for up to two weeks. Three charter flights from Poland arrived in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Halifax in May and June.

All options for future action remain on the table. Together with the international community and working with the Government of Ukraine, Canada will continue to call on President Putin to end his war, withdraw his troops and military assets from Ukraine, and choose diplomacy.

Canada is unwavering in its commitment to Ukraine and will continue to support its government and people as they defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Together with our allies, we will ensure Russia’s actions do not go unpunished.