About 100 Canadian soldiers boarded a plane bound for Poland on Friday to take part in an intense but rewarding mission — in the words of their commanding officer — to help Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
The approximately 80 soldiers who took off from Edmonton and another 20 from Trenton, Ont., will provide humanitarian assistance at reception centers across Poland, said Major Ryan Pridmore, company commander of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light. Infantry.
They must, with a Canadian medical unit, support the Polish territorial defense force within the framework of a two-month mission.
“Our soldiers are all extremely happy to be deployed,” he said. That’s what we trained for. That’s why we do this work. Our soldiers are ready to step in and help make a difference. »
Once the boots are on the ground, Major Pridmore expects the soldiers to be put straight to work.
“We have chaplains to provide spiritual services as well as mental health professionals when the refugees arrive at reception centres,” said the commander, who has served in Afghanistan and Kuwait before.
Some of the other soldiers have language training, he added.
According to him, Canada is ready to send about 50 additional soldiers to help with the management, coordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
“We have a team in place there that is preparing the ground, so we are not flying blind, but it will certainly be a fairly quick start to business once we are on the ground. »
“Genocide”, according to Freeland
On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland argued in Calgary that it was appropriate to call the Russian occupation a genocide — as US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have said — since thousands of Ukrainians were killed and brutalized.
Ms Freeland referred to a “chilling document” posted on a Russian website 10 days ago “that effectively exposed a plan for genocide in Ukraine, which called for suffering, punishment for people who wrongly chose, according to this document, to identify themselves as Ukrainians. »
“It called for the word Ukraine to be erased,” added Ms. Freeland, who is also Canada’s finance minister.
The Department of National Defense said in a statement that the soldiers will also work with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They “will also act as liaisons with the Polish Armed Forces to support federal efforts to grant temporary residency to Ukrainians wishing to work or study in Canada. »
On Friday, some soldiers in Edmonton joked about their nervousness, while others slept in the airport lounge before catching their flight.
“I was very pleased to see that morale was exceptionally high and from my observations I would say the task force is going to be very effective in Poland,” said Lt. Kevin Moffat, Forces Public Affairs Officer Canadian Armed Forces, who points out that some people on the team have Ukrainian roots.
With information from Bill Graveland
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.