Ted Opitz, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke Centre, meets with the media and members of the Canadian-Ukrainian community at the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Community Centre, as a shipment of non-lethal equipment is prepared to leave Canada for Ukraine. He was accompanied by Bernard Trottier, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and for La Francophonie.

Mr. Opitz highlighted the work of the Stabilization Support Services, an organization based in Toronto, for its outstanding logistical support in delivering the shipment. The shipment, of night-vision goggles, is one of several non-lethal equipment shipments to Ukraine. A total of 238 pairs of goggles, worth $1 million, will be sent to Ukraine.

This non-lethal equipment will enhance the capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces in their fight to defend their country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mr. Opitz also spoke of the imminent transfer of more than 1,000 medical kits, this time with the support of Patriot Defence, an organization headed by Ulana Suprun in Ukraine. Ms. Suprun is also the director of humanitarian initiatives for the Toronto-based Ukrainian World Congress.

In the months to come, Canada will be providing to the Government of Ukraine a mobile field hospital, high-frequency radios and $3 million-worth of explosive-ordnance disposal equipment.

Since the very beginning of the Maidan protests, Canada has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian people and unequivocally supported their efforts to ensure a prosperous, democratic and secure future for themselves.

Canada will not stand idly by in the face of this threat, and it will continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/photos/2015/04/17a.aspx?lang=eng