CDN-Ukrainians Join

From the G & M:
"Bypassing official channels, Canada's Ukrainian diaspora finances and fights a war against Russia"

They're doing everything from raising private funds to providing supplies to troops – and even taking up arms on the front lines. As Mark MacKinnon reports, Ukrainian-Canadians aren't content leaving the defence of their homeland up to Ottawa.  The fight for Ukraine is associated, naturally enough, with the blue-and-yellow hues of the country’s flag. But in the struggle to hold back Russian-backed rebels in the east, a second pair of colours is increasingly seen: the red and white of the Canadian flag. In the Kiev headquarters of Army SOS, a volunteer organization that aids Ukraine’s warriors in the field, the Maple Leaf hangs in both the warehouse on the first floor and the drone factory upstairs. Until recently, Canadian flags were often included with supplies delivered by Army SOS to the front – which likely explains why Canada’s colours have been seen flying on the front lines outside of the rebel capital of Donetsk. And the flag is echoed in the red Roots sweatshirt worn by Lenna Koszarny, head of the Kiev arm of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, as she presents official Canadian aid to troops. The gesture is one illustration of how Canada’s powerful Ukrainian diaspora is not content to leave the defence of the homeland up to Ottawa. “Is the diaspora at war with Russia? Absolutely,” says Ms. Koszarny, 45. “The diaspora is helping Ukraine defend itself. How do we do that? In any which way we can.” Welcome to Canada’s unofficial war. It’s being fought on several fronts. In Canada, the Ukrainian lobby, led by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, pressures Ottawa to aid the government of President Petro Poroshenko. But the community also raises funds for its own improvised stream of aid, via organizations such as Army SOS. At the individual level, people have taken up tasks ranging from providing front-line technical help to playing key roles in Ukraine’s propaganda campaign. And some – a handful – have taken up arms. While Canadians who have gone to join the fight in Syria have had their passports revoked, at least one Ukrainian-Canadian who joined a pro-government militia and fought in the Lugansk region has returned to Canada to help raise money for Army SOS. He hopes to recruit other Canadians to the front line. This uncharted territory is not without risks. Most obviously, the fundraising campaign is going where no country, including Canada, is willing to go – supplying sometimes-lethal equipment to Ukrainian fighters, including irregulars. By circumventing official channels in both Canada and Ukraine, activists risk playing into the agendas of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian militias whose patriotism is tainted by extremism.

^ This was a rather long article (but a good one) so as always check out the link below for the whole thing. I have written many times about how the Ukrainian people are doing whatever they can to fight a war with an even bigger country and it's good to see ethnic Ukrainians outside of the Ukraine are helping out to save the independence of their ancestral homeland. While world government do little but make sanctions the ordinary people are trying their best to bring back peace in the Ukraine and to stop the ethnic Russian terrorists in the eastern part as well as to bring the Crimea back to the Ukraine. ^

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ukraine-canadas-unofficial-war/article23208129/