Dear friends,
For nearly 50 years, millions of Canadians of Central and Eastern European heritage fought for the freedom of their families and friends who were imprisoned and enslaved by Soviet Russian occupation.
The trauma of those Soviet crimes, that were enabled by the August 1939 friendship pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, has been passed along through generations- including the families of millions of Canadians who fled Soviet and Nazi terror after World War Two.
As refugees in Canada, the Soviet Russian embassy and its agents tried to dehumanize us.
They accused us of being enemies of Canada.
They denied the occupation of our nations.
They mocked the mass atrocities they committed against us.
Friends: How little things have changed.
Today, the Russian embassy and its agents continue to spread lies and hate towards us.
They and their friends on the far-left and far-right, have intensified their campaign of anti-Ukrainian and anti-Baltic hate and it’s a threat we all feel.
Community businesses have been vandalized. Ukrainian students have been harassed. Car tires have been slashed and windows smashed. The Estonian community has been threatened with the spread of anthrax if we continue to support our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
Now friends, we’re thankful that the Canadian government and all parliamentarians have stood up for Ukraine.
But they need to do more to protect our communities in Canada and stop this rising hate towards us.
Today, there are nearly 80 Russian diplomats in Canada.
Friends, I ask you: what are these Russian agents doing in our country?
Why are these 80 Russian agents still allowed to freely recruit Canadians on the far-left and far-right to spin up and spread their lies?
Do you know what we should be doing with them?
Do you know where they should go?
Back to Moscow. Send them home.
Cause I’ll tell you what these Russian agents are doing here in Canada.
They’re whitewashing Vladimir Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine.
They say that Bucha was fake. They say that Ukraine is run by Nazis.
They’re undermining NATO – and they say that countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania don’t deserve to be free.
Friends, worst of all – They’re trying to turn Canadians against Ukrainian and Baltic Canadians by promoting hate towards us. They try to dehumanize us. They try to intimidate us. They try to silence us.
But it won’t work.
It won’t work because we’ll continue to stand together. United. Against Russia’s barbaric assault on Ukraine and the civilized world.
But we need our elected officials and government to stand with us. To say no, and to treat these Russian agents as the hate mongerers, terrorists and criminals that they are.
And the first step is to send those Russian agents back to their master in Russia.
We need to insist that they expel them. NOW, to end the threat to our communities.
Friends, on behalf of the 4.5 million Canadians of Central and Eastern European heritage, I want to assure you that we stand with you. We share your pain. And we will not stop until Vladimir Putin is defeated.
Slava Ukraini!
