April 11, 2023 – Toronto, Canada. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland met with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) delegation led by its President Alexandra Chyczij and accompanied by Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Paul Grod.
The Prime Minister thanked the UCC for ensuring strong support for Ukraine from Canada and the UWC for shoring up the coalition in support of Ukraine around the world. He outlined the priorities of his visit, namely immediate military support, economic assistance, and the reconstruction of Ukraine. The reconstruction priorities were rebuilding Ukraine’s decimated energy infrastructure, demining, rebuilding destroyed residential buildings, reconstruction of civilian infrastructure, and job creation especially in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. Ukraine’s current unemployment rate is a shocking 30%. PM Shmyhal called on Canada’s SME sector that, unlike large corporations, can quickly respond by immediately creating jobs in Ukraine.
UCC President thanked Prime Minister Shmyhal and the Ukrainian people for so bravely defending Ukraine against Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s goals for the EU and NATO accession were also discussed at the meeting.
“Our goal is unchanged. It is to defeat the aggressor and rebuild a strong, democratic Ukraine that is part of the EU and NATO. Our country needs the solidarity of every Ukrainian in the world. I know we can always count on it,” – Denys Shmyhal wrote on his social media.
“The meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal was productive and insightful,” said UWC President Paul Grod. “We presented Ukrainian Canadian and global diaspora’s support for Ukraine, #UniteWithUkraine’s assistance to Ukrainian defenders on the frontlines, #EnergizeUkraine rebuilding efforts, and UWC’s advocacy efforts. United we will win the war and build Ukraine back better!”
The meeting participants agreed that there is a need to continue to be strong-voiced to advocate for Ukraine; a need to be aware of and counter Russia’s information warfare. The road ahead will continue to bring challenges, however the world has seen that Ukrainians are resilient and we will continue to fight until we win.
