Another Rally in Front of Russian Consulate

On August 28, 2014, Euromaidan Canada organized a last-minute picket in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine that occurred the day before.
The protest outside the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Toronto managed to bring together about 100 people and several speakers including Chrystia Freeland, the newly elected Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre. She spoke about the need for Canada to stay united in its support of Ukraine and how we must call the Russian invasion exactly what it is: an invasion of a foreign power upon an independent, Ukrainian state.
A Ukrainian national Iryna spoke to the crowd as a representative of her family who are still in Donetsk. She reminded everyone that Donetsk is Ukraine and the people there support the Ukrainian state: “We cannot forget them and we must help free them from the Russian occupiers.” Larysa Zariczniak from the New Pathway also spoke about what Ukrainians in the Diaspora can do to help the Ukrainian military fighting in the front lines. It was a plea to everyone to donate their time by spreading the truth of the situation on the ground and donating to special causes like “Patriot Defence” which work tirelessly in Ukraine.
The last speaker was Olya Grod as the representative of UCC Toronto who said that they never thought they would still be organizing these rallies and demonstrations even after so many months. She called upon everyone there to keep coming out for the Euromaidan Canada rallies as there will surely be more of them in the near future. She also stressed that everyone should thank their MP’s for all the work that they have done but we should also continue to stress that Ukraine needs additional support. The UCC Toronto representative also said that because of the centralized system of support here in Canada through Euromaidan Canada, the Diaspora community can be assured that things get done in Ukraine since they all the money raised goes to good initiatives like “Patriot Defence”. The rally ended with the singing of both national anthems.

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