The Black Sea grain deal, set up by the EU, UN, and Turkey in July 2020, has enabled the World Food Programme to deliver valuable aid to countries like Ethiopia and Afghanistan and has eased pressure on global food prices. This deal is up for renewal March 19, and both Ukraine and Russia have gripes. Ukraine is pushing for greater access to world markets, while Russia is pushing back against Western sanctions. Ukraine has accused Russia of using food as a weapon and deliberately holding up inspections for ships, while Russia has criticized “hidden” Western sanctions and the lack of access to SWIFT. The amount of grain backlogged in Turkey is enough to feed the world’s estimated 828 million hungry people for more than two weeks. As talks resume this week, the fate of the grain deal hangs in the balance. Follow me on Facebook for updates about the grain deal and the food crisis.
The Black Sea grain deal, set up by the EU, UN, and Turkey in July 2020, has enabled the World Food Programme to deliver valuable aid to countries like Ethiopia and Afghanistan and has eased pressure on global food prices. This deal is up for renewal March 19, and both Ukraine and Russia have gripes. Ukraine is pushing for greater access to world markets, while Russia is pushing back against Western sanctions. Ukraine has accused Russia of using food as a weapon and deliberately holding up inspections for ships, while Russia has criticized “hidden” Western sanctions and the lack of access to SWIFT. The amount of grain backlogged in Turkey is enough to feed the world’s estimated 828 million hungry people for more than two weeks. As talks resume this week, the fate of the grain deal hangs in the balance. Follow me on Facebook for updates about the grain deal and the food crisis.
On Wednesday, tens of thousands of people attended a mass event at Moscow\’s Luzhniki Stadium, timed for Defender of the Fatherland Day. The event was organized by the Kremlin, with attendants signing up via youth organizations, state companies, and educational institutions. President Vladimir Putin took to the stage to chants of \”Russia! Russia!\” and spoke of defending interests, people, and culture. The event also featured pop stars and a group of young children from Mariupol, Ukraine. Other festivities are expected across the country in the coming days, with the Kremlin sending out guidelines to regional authorities. Join the conversation and follow my Facebook group for more information about Russia.
The language of war has infiltrated medicine, with physicians often referred to as \”warriors\” and medical training likened to \”trenches\”. This language can be traced back to the 1600s, when nations\’ armies expanded and medicine\’s contributions to saving soldiers\’ lives was emphasised. Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, believes this language implies doctors are all-powerful gods, while historian Agnes Arnold-Forster argues it normalises a culture of denying basic physical and emotional needs. Trauma expert Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk believes medical schools should teach young doctors how to cope with suffering, and Alan Alda suggests ways to discuss medicine without suggesting we\’re \”killing something\”. Join my Facebook group Ideas53 to explore this topic further.
The language of war has infiltrated medicine, with physicians often referred to as \”warriors\” and medical training likened to \”trenches\”. This language can be traced back to the 1600s, when nations\’ armies expanded and medicine\’s contributions to saving soldiers\’ lives was emphasised. Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, believes this language implies doctors are all-powerful gods, while historian Agnes Arnold-Forster argues it normalises a culture of denying basic physical and emotional needs. Trauma expert Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk believes medical schools should teach young doctors how to cope with suffering, and Alan Alda suggests ways to discuss medicine without suggesting we\’re \”killing something\”. Join my Facebook group Ideas53 to explore this topic further.
The language of war has infiltrated medicine, with physicians often referred to as \”warriors\” and medical training likened to \”trenches\”. This language can be traced back to the 1600s, when nations\’ armies expanded and medicine\’s contributions to saving soldiers\’ lives was emphasised. Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, believes this language implies doctors are all-powerful gods, while historian Agnes Arnold-Forster argues it normalises a culture of denying basic physical and emotional needs. Trauma expert Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk believes medical schools should teach young doctors how to cope with suffering, and Alan Alda suggests ways to discuss medicine without suggesting we\’re \”killing something\”. Join my Facebook group Ideas53 to explore this topic further.
The language of war has infiltrated medicine, with physicians often referred to as \”warriors\” and medical training likened to \”trenches\”. This language can be traced back to the 1600s, when nations\’ armies expanded and medicine\’s contributions to saving soldiers\’ lives was emphasised. Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, believes this language implies doctors are all-powerful gods, while historian Agnes Arnold-Forster argues it normalises a culture of denying basic physical and emotional needs. Trauma expert Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk believes medical schools should teach young doctors how to cope with suffering, and Alan Alda suggests ways to discuss medicine without suggesting we\’re \”killing something\”. Join my Facebook group Ideas53 to explore this topic further.
A new book has been revealed by the Vernon and District Family History Society that sheds light on a dark chapter in Vernon, B.C.\’s history. During World War I, an internment camp was set up in the area to detain those with connections to enemy countries. Over a thousand people were interned and the camp held a jail, mental asylum and a house for transients. The book features stories of the internees, pictures from all over the world of the camp, and details about other work camps in the area. It will be available for purchase and copies will be given to museums and schools across the North Okanagan. This book is an important part of history and will help to educate younger generations. Follow the Vernon and District Family History Society on Facebook to learn more.
Yuliia Kleban remembers waking up to a message from her manager on Feb. 24, 2022, telling her Russia had started invading her country.
A few minutes later, Kleban heard air-raid sirens go off in Lviv, the Ukrainian city where she used to live.
“It was a hard day,” she said in a recent interview. “I started packing an emergency backpack. I started checking whether I can go in a walking distance to some shelter.”
Kleban is among the more than 150,000 Ukrainians who made their way to Canada under a special program announced after the conflict began.
As the war enters a second year, many of those newcomers are assessing whether they should focus on establishing a life in Canada, hope to return to Ukraine one day, or move to another country entirely.
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For Kleban, Canada holds the most appeal right now.
“For my future and for my family … for my future kids, it is better to be in a safer country,” she said. “Because in Ukraine we will always end up having a neighbour to the east that wants Ukrainians not to exist in this world.”
The 37-year-old said she decided to apply to come to Canada to stay with extended family in Barrie, Ont., when Ottawa announced its special visa program for Ukrainians last March.
Yuliia Kleban, from Ukraine, poses for a photograph near her work in Toronto on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. Kleban along with other Ukrainian refugees are living in Canada as the first anniversary of the Russian war nears.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
She spent about two months in the Czech Republic and four months in the United kingdom waiting for her Canadian visa before arriving in September. Her 40-year-old husband couldn’t accompany her because of Ukraine’s general mobilization law that bars men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country.
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Kleban, who was the director of an IT and business analytics program at the Ukrainian Catholic University, said she moved to Toronto about two months ago to work as project manager for a program that helps Ukrainian newcomers find jobs.
While she feels safe in Canada, she worries about loved ones in Ukraine.
“Everybody is very supportive and tries to use empathy as much as they can to understand the circumstances for Ukrainians now, the war that is continuing still.”
Ihor Michalchyshyn, the executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress _ a non-profit umbrella organization of Ukrainian Canadian organizations _ said Ukrainian newcomers are trying to figure out what path might work best for them in the future.
“People are looking to understand their options,” he said.
“As people fled a year ago, they thought they would be able to go back in a couple of weeks and then it turned into a couple of months and now it’s a year, right? And so I think none of us know.”
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Ukrainian Railways proves unstoppable during Russia’s war
Michalchyshyn said Ukrainians in Canada will be gathering for vigils, marches and demonstrations on Friday evening to mark the first anniversary of the war.
The war has had a huge effect on the Ukrainian Canadian community as many of its members, including those who have been in Canada for decades, still have family in Ukraine, he said.
“Most of us have some family connections, direct family connections or have been to Ukraine and understand it, been there, seen it, touched it,” Michalchyshyn said. “It’s shocking to see … the tremendous violence by Russian invading forces on civilians.”
Almost 1.4 million people, or four per cent of Canada’s population, said at least one of their ethnic origins is Ukrainian in the 2016 census.
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Ukrainian Canadians have donated more than $50 million to help people in Ukraine, Michalchyshyn said, and have also worked hard to help settle Ukrainian newcomers who have fled the war.
“We’re seeing more and more people who are arriving. They don’t know anybody, they don’t know anything about Canada,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to find child care in Canada for everybody. It’s very difficult to find affordable housing for everybody in Canada, so they are facing those same challenges as well.”
Volunteer group helping Ukrainian refugees makes plea for host families
The federal government has offered a temporary visa for Ukrainians fleeing the war and a three-year work permit, along with one-time payment of $3,000 per adult and $1,500 per child and a two-week hotel stay for those who need it.
Immigration Department spokesman Stuart Isherwood said Ottawa is working closely with provinces, territories and municipalities to support Ukrainian newcomers.
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Ukrainians arriving under the temporary visa, as well as Ukrainian temporary residents who were in Canada when the war broke out, have access to settlement services typically only available to permanent residents, Isherwood said. Ottawa also launched an online portal for Canadian businesses to offer high-priority goods and services to support Ukrainians and organizations providing aid in Canada, he said.
“We will also continue working with settlement organizations and (non-governmental organizations) across the country to support Ukrainians and their family members before, during and after their arrival in Canada,” he said.
“(The Immigration Department) is continuing to assess how our immigration programs can best support Ukrainian nationals now and in the future, including potential new pathways to permanent residence.”
Kate McKenna starts her days much like the other parents on her street. She drives her kids to school and returns to her bungalow on a cul-de-sac south of Vancouver.
But once she sits at her kitchen counter, pours coffee and opens her laptop, she becomes a global weapons supplier, helping the Ukrainian military fight off the Russian invasion.
A volunteer with United24, a non-profit organization established by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, McKenna is one of many supporters around the world helping arm Ukraine.
She has tracked down armoured vehicles, missile defence systems and drones – whatever Ukraine needs to repel President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Kate McKenna, a volunteer with Ukrainian support charity United 24, at her home in B.C.
Stewart Bell/Global News
“Kate is doing an incredible job for Ukraine,” said an advisor to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. Global News is not naming the advisor, who was not authorized to speak.
“She is an ambassador, helper, supporter and contributor.”
Her neighbours have no idea.
“It is very weird,” McKenna said in an interview at her home in North Delta, B.C. “I’m a suburban mom, and I’m planning Russian death. I do have moments like that.”
Since Russia launched its invasion one year ago this week, a global network has come together to make sure Ukraine is properly outfitted for victory.
They are not all like McKenna. Many are veterans with military expertise and contacts. But as civilians, they have proven able to get things done, and fast.
Aerorozvidka members test Ukrainian armed forces drones near Kyiv, Jan. 25, 2023.
Stewart Bell/Global News
While Western governments have walked a fine line, supporting Ukraine’s armed forces without becoming directly involved, volunteers have no such constraints.
Arming Ukraine Through Donations and Bargain Hunting
A former drone-company employee, McKenna focuses on filling the gaps governments aren’t, like finding the parts to develop the drones that have become a central weapon in the war.
McKenna was born in Zimbabwe and came to Canada in 2008 after working as a banking executive in Tokyo and Singapore.
She was employed at a Vancouver-area drone firm, and raising two children, when Russian troops launched their full-scale invasion.
“I was born in Africa during civil war so I really understand what it’s like to lose your home and to live, as a child, scared,” McKenna told Global News.
“So it really resonated with me.”
Wooden ‘bombs’ used to test Ukrainian attack drones, near Kyiv, Jan. 25, 2023.
Stewart Bell/Global News
She started out by helping Ukraine with commercial drones, something she knew well. Easy to use, they require little training and have become invaluable observation tools and weapons for Ukrainian forces.
She also looks for mothballed military equipment. One of her successes was locating hundreds of armoured vehicles that were sitting unused in an Alabama warehouse after they proved ineffective for their intended mission in Alaska.
Another challenge was finding drones that could work in the Black Sea, where the Russian navy launches its ship-based missiles at Ukraine. The solution was to fit a jet ski engine onto a kayak, she said.
The result was a fleet of makeshift marine surface drones that can target Russian ships. McKenna called it “a beautiful Ukraine story,” and typical of the way the country is defending itself.
“A lot of what we do is a lot of duct tape and putting things together and finding unique ways to achieve the mission,” she said.
“They’re fighting a war against Russia by donation and bargain-basement hunting. It’s ridiculous, but they’re succeeding.”
Aerorozvidka member tests drone near Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 25, 2023.
Stewart Bell/Global News
In August, she left her job and began to devote her full attention to the cause.
Recently, she learned that Canada had a cache of counter-rocket, artillery and mortar systems, known as C-RAMs, that had been put in storage during a naval refit, and she began trying to get them to Ukraine.
Since she has no military background, she relies on a network of veterans for their advice. They talk on messaging applications like Signal. Working with contacts in Ukraine, she tries to locate the parts and gear they need, reaching out to manufacturers.
Now that Russia has begun launching swarms of Iranian-made Shahid attack drones at Kyiv, she has shifted to finding equipment that can detect them and shoot them down.
“Right now we’re focused on counter-UAVs,” she said, referring to technology that allows Ukrainians to destroy Russia’s unmanned aerial vehicles.
Team testing drones that have been pivotal in Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion.
Stewart Bell/Global News
The advantage of the non-profit sector is that it can move more speedily than the bureaucracy, said Ruslana Velychko, who works with the Ukrainian Veteran Fund and Come Back Alive, which equips the country’s armed forces.
“We can work faster than government and we are more dynamic,” she said. As an example, she said her group had imported armoured vehicles that Ukraine’s ministry of defence had been unable to buy.
While immediately following the invasion volunteers were searching for helmets and body armour, now they are in pursuit of drones, radio gear and de-mining equipment, Velychko said in an interview.
“We need to be creative all the time.”
“Our creativeness gives us results and impact.”
On a farm northeast of Kyiv, a white van followed frozen ruts before coming to a stop in a pasture. Three men got out and unloaded hard black cases like the kind roadies haul around when bands tour.
A member of Aerorozvidka tests an armed forces drone near Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 25, 2023.
Stewart Bell/Global News
The patches on their uniforms said they were with Aerorozvidka, a non-profit developing attack drones for the Ukrainian armed forces, and one of the groups that McKenna works with from Canada.
They had come to the remote spot to test the “night hunter,” an eight-rotor octocopter they have been building at a nearby workshop, using money and parts provided by foreign supporters.
After attaching three wooden dummies that looked like bombs to a drone, they flew it up above their mock target. The operator sat in their van, staring at a screen. “Let’s go,” he said. He flipped a switch and the bombs plunged into the brown grass.
The AR18 drones they were testing will allow the Ukrainian armed forces to attack Russian tanks and armoured vehicles — a relatively low-tech method of self-defence.
“They are very important in this war,” said Oleh, who is in charge of drone testing. Global News is not publishing his full name for security reasons.
“The person who dominates in the air is winning the war.”
Oleh, a member of Aerorozvidka, testing military drones near Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 25, 2023.
Stewart Bell/Global News
Before the war, Oleh was a sales manager at a car-parts company. Now he is one of a team of civilians working on the AR18 drone, modifying it “on a constant basis” amid the urgency of Russia’s invasion.
Each kit costs about $45,000, and they get shot down so have to be replaced, he said. But Oleh believes Ukraine is winning the drone war, thanks partly to money and parts coming from abroad.
McKenna’s said she got to know Aerorozvidka when the non-profit was looking for drones. Working through United24, she helped them find parts and “test all the new technologies,” she said.
“Generally, once a drone, antenna or electronic warfare gun is delivered to United 24 in Kyiv, it’s sent to them to test. If it’s complex, I set up a group chat on Signal,” she explained.
“They share any issues with the manufacturer’s engineering team, and I monitor the conversations to make sure each team is understanding the other.”
Drones fitted with bombs are used to attack Russian tanks and armoured vehicles in Ukraine.
Stewart Bell/Global News
When the military jargon goes over her head, McKenna consults her network, which includes a retired U.S. general, she said. “He explains a lot of things.”
She is confident Ukraine will win, and when the war is over, she hopes to help the country rebuild. Until then, she is approaching companies and asking if they have anything to offer.
In May, she will give a presentation at a conference in Washington, D.C. on counter-drone technology. In the audience will be senior members of the military and industry.
McKenna’s speech begins: “Hi, I’m a Canadian mom with internet access.”