Global unity is key to peace
On October 24, 2024, Riga, the Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform was held in Riga, the capital of Latvia, gathering over 70 delegations, including 36 heads of parliaments, both in-person and online.
The summit participants discussed current challenges related to the occupation of Crimea, human rights violations in the occupied territories, and the international response to Russia’s actions.
ZMINA publishes Greg Fergus’s speech, delivered as Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada at the Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform.
Dear friends and colleagues, fellow speakers, and parliamentarians.
Thank you to my friends, Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and Speaker Daiga Mieriņa, for the opportunity to send my greetings to you via video message.
It is a great honour to address this third parliamentary summit on the International Crimea Platform, and I truly regret that I am not able to be with you today in person.
Let me begin by expressing, on behalf of Canada’s Parliament and its people, the deep kinship we feel with the parliamentarians and people of Ukraine.
The Canadian people stand with you – including more than 1.3 million Canadians of Ukrainian origin – as we commit to helping restore peace in Ukraine and strengthen international security for years to come. This gathering of European and international friends and allies highlights that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine carries geopolitical effects far beyond Ukraine.
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Russia’s aggression reminds us that we can never take our democracies and our multilateral cooperation for granted, and that we must remain united.
It is important that we continue to strengthen the bonds between us so that we can restore and maintain international peace and order. It means respecting multilateral agreements and commitments.
It means protecting and reinforcing the international institutions that serve as pillars of regional and international security. This means doing everything possible to support and protect the people of Ukraine and to hold Russia accountable.
We know that critical infrastructure, schools, and hospitals have been demolished, and Ukrainians nationwide have seen their communities and their livelihoods destroyed.
During my recent visit to Kyiv, I witnessed some of the destruction firsthand. I observed the efforts to rebuild the children’s hospital. I saw the extraordinary resilience and determination of the Ukrainian people.
As this third winter approaches, we must support Ukraine as it struggles to ensure its citizens have heat and electricity. Tragically, Russian forces have injured or killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including women and children, and forcibly taken tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from their families.
Canadians stand in solidarity with Ukrainians as they defend their country against this aggression.
As Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada says, the Ukrainian DNA is buried deep in Canada. Canada would not be as strong today without the many Ukrainian immigrants who helped build our country. And just as Ukraine has been there to help build Canada, I promise that Canada will be there to rebuild Ukraine.
We are together in the fight. We will be with Ukraine in victory, and we will be with Ukraine in rebuilding.
Canada will be with Ukraine. Always. Because Ukraine’s fight is our fight.
It is a fight for our democratic way of life. In the words of the great Ukrainian musician and poet Serhii Zhadan, we will withstand this wind without losing each other in the shadows.
Слава України.
Merci.
