Canada's NDP

Skip to main content

August 3rd, 2022

Liberals abandon Canadian government employees in Ukraine

NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Heather McPherson made the following statement:

“Canadians are devastated by the violence and ongoing war in Ukraine. They expect their government to do everything possible to protect them and help Ukrainians, but during a devastating crisis, the Liberals turned their backs on local people who worked for the Canadian government.

According to reports, the Liberals abandoned locally-engaged Canadian embassy staff to face arrest or execution while diplomats quietly left Kyiv. Outrageously, the Liberals knew that embassy staff and their families had targets on their backs because of their involvement with Canada. It is shocking that the Liberal government would leave behind their own employees to be hunted down and persecuted.

Reports allege that, unlike other governments fleeing their embassies in Kyiv, Canada’s government didn’t even warn local staff that their lives and the lives of their loved ones were in danger - It’s appalling. Clearly, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are following in the footsteps of the Harper government by refusing to provide a duty of care. They’ve done this to Ukrainians, and when Kabul fell, they left Afghans who worked as interpreters for the Canadian government to face the Taliban.

It is clear - when faced with the most difficult circumstances, the Liberals simply shrink away from their moral responsibilities, endangering people’s lives.

What the government has done to embassy staff in Kyiv is horrendous. New Democrats are calling on the Liberals to step up and support the people that they turned their backs on and begin rebuilding the trust that has been broken – if it’s not too late.”