Speaker of Canada’s Parliament: "We fundamentally all are Ukrainian"

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada’s Parliament, Greg Fergus, said that, considering the significant contribution of Ukrainian migrants to the development of Canada, all Canadians can consider themselves partly Ukrainian.

The official said this in his speech at a solemn event in Ottawa, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Why do I think that this is our fight as Canadians? Because when we think about how much Ukrainians contributed to the building of our country... Seeing the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine, I cannot help but think of white and red flag of Canada. For generations and generations, Ukrainians have come to build, farm, and contribute in other ways to Canada. We then have to think of what it means to be Canadian. And then we have to understand that it also means to be Ukrainian. Because of how much labor, sweat, and effort went into building our country. This is an effort we all benefited from. We fundamentally all are Ukrainian," Fergus said.

He emphasized that Canadians should think of Ukraine as their own country. "None of us would stand by if our country were invaded by a hostile force seeking to relive some glory of the 19th century," the official noted.

He added that Canadians always look ahead and plan for the future. "Let's think what Ukraine will achieve after it is completely, integrally restored after the end of this aggression of Russia," Fergus remarked.

As is known, Canada is home to the largest Ukrainian community in the Western world, numbering more than 1.3 million people. The first Ukrainian migrants arrived in Canada from the territory of modern-day Ivano-Frankivsk region in 1891.