Canadian MPs on Wednesday passed a motion condemning Russia’s ‘acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people’ and acknowledging that there is ‘clear and abundant evidence of systematic and massive war crimes and crimes against humanity’ .
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“The House of Commons has passed a motion regarding acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people,” the lower house of parliament announced on Twitter.
The text, tabled on the initiative of a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP, left), Heather McPherson, was adopted unanimously.
The motion states that “there is clear and abundant evidence of systematic and massive war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the people of Ukraine by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin.” .
These “crimes” include torture, “mass atrocities in Ukrainian territories”, “forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russian territory”, and “large-scale cases of physical and mental violence and rape “.
By validating this text, the House of Commons “recognizes that the Russian Federation is committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people”, according to the document.
The adoption of this text comes about ten days after the Ukrainian Parliament passed a similar resolution.
In mid-April, the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau had for the first time evoked a “genocide” in Ukraine, after the American president Joe Biden, a term deemed “unacceptable” by the Kremlin.
“We saw this desire to attack civilians, to use sexual violence as a weapon of war. It is completely unacceptable”, had denounced the head of the Canadian government.
Earlier Wednesday, Justin Trudeau said Canada was looking for “ways to further punish” by seizing property from people who have been sanctioned.
The Canadian government wants Canada to become the first G7 country to liquidate Russian assets to fund aid to Ukraine.
Ottawa also announced new sanctions against 203 people “accomplices” in the attempted annexation of Donbass.