As Donald Trump rolls out the red carpet for indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the local Ukrainian community is planning a big celebration to mark its upcoming Independence Day. Today, the Vancouver branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress announced that it will unspool a 550-metre Ukrainian flag ribbon along the Burrard Bridge on August 24.
The fun begins at 1 p.m. that day with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress’s annual family picnic at Sunset Beach. It will include Ukrainian music and dance performances as well as cultural vendors. There will also be a flag ceremony offering a tribute to Ukraine’s Armed Forces and those who have given their lives in defence of freedom.
The annual Independence Day Bridge Rally will take place at 6 p.m. on August 24. The Vancouver branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian Canadian Advocacy Group invite Ukrainians and supporters of Ukrainian independence to bring their Ukrainian flags, wear blue and yellow, and line up along the Burrard Bridge sidewalk.
On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian Parliament declared that Ukraine is a sovereign, indivisible, democratic nation. The upcoming Independence Day will be the fourth since Putin launched his war of aggression—the supreme war crime, according to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg—on February 24, 2022. The International Criminal Court has named Putin as a defendent on charges of committing another war crime for his role in the unlawful deportation of a population of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
At the time, Trump described Putin’s invasion of a sovereign nation as “genius” and “savvy”.
Ukrainian Canadians face online abuse for opposing a war criminal
The Russian Federation, along with 138 other nations, is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court. However, Russia has not ratified the treaty, so the court’s jurisdiction does not extend to that country. Nor does it extend to the United States. America is also a signatory but has also refused to ratify the treaty.
The media relations director of the Vancouver branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is well-known podcaster and film journalist Sabrina Rani Furminger. In a September 2024 article in Pancouver, she wrote about the online abuse that she has received for drawing attention to Putin’s war of aggression. Vox Ukraine has previously documented the efforts of a Russian troll factory that advances Putin’s objectives in online spaces. The British government has cited research in arguing that this trolling is designed to support Putin’s war efforts.
Furminger also noted that she has met hundreds of displaced Ukrainians in the community who are grateful to Canada for providing a haven.
“I’m not blind to other wars, genocides, and natural and human-caused disasters,” Furminger stated. “There’s a lot to care about at any given moment, and we should put energy into everything. If there is one thing I’ve learned in the last 2.5 years, it’s that it’s possible to hold space for more than one tragedy at any given time. In fact, it’s the only way we’ll make it through with our humanity intact.
“And if, after holding this space, you find yourself falling to your knees, take a steadying breath, hold tight to your humanity, rise to your feet, and keep going.”
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