WINNIPEG — The head of a Nobel Peace Prize winning Ukrainian organization says she is thankful Canada is helping her country fight.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the prestigious international award in 2022, for what the Nobel committee called its “outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power,” said the ongoing war isn’t just between Ukraine and Russia.
“This is not just a war between states,” Matviichuk said Sunday before a tour of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.
“This is a war between two systems: authoritarianism and democracy. With this war, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin attempts to convince the entire world that democracy, rule of law and human rights are fake values … If Putin succeeds, it will encourage other authoritarian leaders, in different parts of the world, to do the same.
“We can find ourselves in a world which will be dangerous for everyone, without any exception.”
The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in 2007 and began pushing authorities to make sure Ukraine became a full-fledged democracy that followed the rules of law.
After Russia unilaterally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, it began to document cases of unlawful imprisonment of citizens and, since Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian border in 2022, it has documented war crimes by Russian soldiers against the civilian population.
Victor Hetmanczuk, chairman of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, has said the organization’s work “cataloging war crimes is essential and will constitute a critical part of the Nuremburg trials against Kremlin officials once this war is over.”
Matviichuk said: “Russia has never been punished. Russia believes they can do whatever they want … We must hold Putin and top political leadership and high ministry (accountable).
“If we are not able to stop Putin in Ukraine, he will go further. Russia is an empire … empires always try to expand. And that is why, it is not just a question for Ukraine how to stop Putin, this is our common goal and we have to achieve this goal together.”
Since arriving in Canada on June 3, Matviichuk has given speeches and held private meetings in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg with politicians and senior government officials, including federal Justice Minister Arif Virani.
The speaking tour was to raise awareness of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Matviichuk spoke at a fundraising gala in Winnipeg on Saturday, which included a musical performance by Chantal Kreviazuk, and took a tour of the Oseredok Ukrainian community hub and diaspora archive centre.
She laid flowers at the Holodomor monument Sunday.