Petition Statement:

We who sign this petition ask you to immediately stop supplying weapons, military training, and other military aid to Ukraine!

Background (updated 21 July, 2023):

Please don't get Canada into someone else's war.  Donating increasingly weapons, training, and money for military use to a non-ally nation at war (Ukraine) definitely makes Canada an accessory to that war.  There is a massive cost to Canadians for this, and a massive danger.  Nevertheless peace is easily available and we should promote that rather than our world's destruction.

Canada has already committed $1.5 billion to Ukraine in military aid alone ($6.5 billion in other aid).  The Canadian government has committed to help them "as long as it takes".  How long is that?  It's admitted that this war could last for decades (plural).  Also, what if it's not just a question of time: what if Ukraine is losing no matter what weapons we give it it?

We have no objection to Canada supplying Ukrainians with things to directly support their lives in their time of need, such as: food, blankets, and medicine. This helpfulness is the traditional Canadian approach to international crises and one which we would be proud to see continue.

Donating weapons into a war, however, is deeply immoral, especially when there are no peace talks.  Donating weapons keeps the fighting and killing going as surely as adding wood to a fire.

Canada has been approaching the Ukraine war with an unsubstantiated narrative: as though peace is not an option (while Canada mediates peace negotiations in Cameroon), as though we owe Ukraine something, as though Russia is and always was a foe, as though we should get into someone else's war half a world away, and as though there is no history to it except Russia's 'unprovoked aggression'.  How did Russia get portrayed as our enemy and Ukraine our friend, especially if neither one has a defence treaty with Canada?  Couldn't we have taken a more neutral approach, and preserve our relationship with both nations, while they sort this out themselves?  Can you please point out anything Russia did against Canada (hockey doesn't count) or which Ukraine has done for Canada?

Is there even an incentive for the Ukrainian government to end this war while enjoying such generous worldwide support to keep it going?  Ukraine president Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is welcomed as "champion for democracy" by our Prime Minister of Canada, and enjoys lavish gifts of money, training, and weapons to make war.  We've given him no incentive to make peace.  In fact he reportedly refused a peace deal just before the war started, reportedly ignored another one signed with Russia in Istanbul in spring 2022, and more recently he is reported to refuse peace talks with Russia to the point of actually making it a law that peace talks with Putin cannot happen (who does that?).  Neither is he a hero for his own People: he concealed from them detailed knowledge of Russia's plans for their special military operation, even assuring them of peace, because he would have lost money if he had informed them (his explanation).  As for being democratic, he reportedly banned 11 opposing political parties and reportedly closed 3 local television stations: some democracy he's running.  Why is he Canada's 'champion'?

Worse, a Ukraine war backed with Canadian military support risks escalating into a war between Canada and Russia directly, and you seem to know it.  The premise is that military involvement (such as by Canada) in a war makes it (Canada) a legitimate military target in that war because of that military involvement.  This is not an arm's length relationship where we are selling arms to Ukraine.  In fact, Russia has already publicly declared that NATO nations could be 'legitimate military targets' for reason of supply of even conventional weapons, and in terms of them pushing their button, their definitions can be expected to affect that decision more than ours.  Now Russia is warning NATO that the F-16 jets which it plans to send to Ukraine soon (and which Canada is to train Ukrainians to fly) is a 'direct nuclear threat'.

Even if, at worst, Russia is truly an enemy, is it sound military strategy to provoke an enemy we can't expect to withstand?  Why not let the bear sleep?  Russia’s weapon capabilities are advanced, including hypersonic missiles and more nuclear weapons than all of NATO combined, and it doesn’t help us that Canada has no air defense system of its own (such as the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) which Canada has purchased from a third party to send to Ukraine). We are right across from Russia over the arctic, and between Russia and USA in the same direction (is our role to be a convenient sandbox for those nations to fight in?). Canada fighting Russia would be like the final match in the movie Rocky IV (1985) except with Rocky having his hands tied behind his back. If we can't defend against nuclear strikes, and we have no comparable weapons of our own, how do we win? Our only hope would be to utterly depend on NATO allies for help. Isn't that like someone setting fire to their house on the belief that the fire department will put itout?  For Canada, utter dependence on other nations to save us: subjugates Canada, the other NATO nations are likely to have problems of their own in that scenario (especially since countries like the USA are already low on ammunition), and really no country is known to have the technology to defend against Russia's hypersonic missiles.  Despite that, the Canadian Government is so not-shy that it even arbitrarily seized a Russian cargo plane (which had only come delivering COVID-19 tests) presumably just to burn our bridges and make sure that Russia considers us an enemy.

Here's an idea: why don't we model the risk to Canadian lives from the war with Russia like we've been modelling the risk to Canadian lives from COVID-19?  What can we do to stop the spread of war with Russia?

Is all this all really to help Ukraine?  General mobilization for military service was ordered in Ukraine since February 2022, leaving most civilians between ages 18-60 years are eligible for conscription, and has not spared even pregnant women.  The physical country is often bombed or shelled through this war; by the time it's done maybe there won't be a blade of grass left alive there. Moreover NATO is sending depleted uranium and cluster munitions for use there, which would leave behind radioactive material and unexploded bomblets, respectively, as a lingering danger long after the war is over.  How is that good for civilians of the region? 

Does the Canadian Government have nothing better to spend our money on?  This Government was so desperate to limit spending on Canadians that the it clawed back COVID-19 relief money (already given), and Canadians had to go to Court for justice.  Have you announced any specific aid for many Canadians who are fleeing the worst forest fires in our history, or even a Government-matched donation program?

While keeping a careful eye on whether Canadians are misusing emergency benefit money, the Canadian government is known to have great difficulty to track the weapons which we have been sending the Ukrainian Government and the only thing we seem to be doing about it is to send more.  Will there be a clawback for the Ukrainian Government?

How do you have the informed consent of the Canadian people to provide military support to Ukraine?  The way the media coverage has been going, the casual observer could be forgiven to thinking this war is about Russia invading Ukraine since 24 February 2022, and that Canada's military aid is a response to that.  Actually, this is a civil war that's been on since 2014 (documentaries: The Donbas and Donbass. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow) with over 29 cease-fires and two failed peace agreements ('Minsk agreements') mediated by officials from NATO countries.  Meanwhile, Canada has been providing military support since at least 2015 and weapons 10 days before before the Russian 'invasion' (which was actually under a treaty with the separtatist regions). Russia cited the failure of the Minsk agreements as a reason for the offensive.  Did you explain to Canadians why you were giving military aid to Ukraine before the 2022 Russian invasion?  Since what happens in Ukraine is important, and since we were already involved in helping Ukraine for years anyway, and since officials from NATO nations were mediators of the Minsk agreements, wouldn't it have been very easy for Canada, either alone or through NATO, to put some pressure on Ukraine to honour their commitments under those peace agreements they signed, at the very least, for example, as a prerequisite for our military aid?  Or did we just plan to have war the whole time?  Interestingly, the German and French officials since admitted that the Minsk agreements were only signed to give Ukraine time to arm up.  Will you give even Canadians a referendum on our war involvement?  I hope you're not planning to conscript us to fight in it.  Have you revealed to Canadians that the Ukraine war would end in days if NATO stopped sending weapons into that war?

If you don't care what Canadians want, shouldn't it at least matter what the People of the contested regions want?  The majority are ethnically Russian, and they are not treated equally under that rule.  There is a language law restricting any other language but Ukrainian. There is a race law denying human rights for anyone of Slavic origin (ethnic Russians).  Presumably the People want an end to the fighting (although Ukraine president Zelensky was elected, he was elected on a promise to bring peace to Donbas).  Provably those People want to leave Ukrainian rule and join Russia: four contested regions have in September 2022 (besides 2014) held referendums of overwhelming support to join Russia (Donetsk 99.23%, Lugansk 98.42%, Zaporozhye 93%, and Kherson 87%). Yes, they were called a 'sham', but at least Russia gave the Public a choice, which the Ukraine government has not and NATO has not, while the Ukraine Government threatened independent observers, and while we support the Ukrainian government physically preventing these people from from separating.  The Donbas had similar referendums in 2014 but you seem to ignore that also (also 'shams'?).  Crimea was annexed in 2014 by Russia, following their own referendum there, and practical evidence that the People of this region really do want to be with Russia is that Crimea, under Russian rule, has enjoyed peace since that time while the Donbas, under Ukrainian rule, has been at war since that time.

Even if we ignore all history and explanations, and look only at what's happening physically now, we see NATO and Russia moving heavier and heavier weaponry into a 'hot' (shooting) war in Ukraine.  NATO is boosting its own troop presence nearby: for Canada's part, Canada is sending our own ships and troops to the region specifically to deter 'Russian aggression'.  Therefore, regardless of the narrative, doesn't this look like a NATO-Russia war taking shape?

Is it even wise to arm someone who is not an ally (ie. with clear commitments to us in return)?  Could Ukraine's amazing cache of donated weapons eventually get pointed at someone we didn't intend?  Are they being pointed at someone we didn't intend right now?

Shouldn't the Canadian Government also care about avoiding links to neo-Nazis?

What does Canada hope to gain for all of this?  Is Ukraine coming to help us with anything?  If they wouldn't honour the Minsk agreements, will they honour any commitments to us, even if they made them?  What's the best-case outcome here, for Canada, for all this outlay?  It seems like the best we can hope for is a huge bill and the worst we can hope for is nuclear annihilation.

Please choose a path of peace for Ukraine, Canada, and the world by immediately halting all Canadian military aid for Ukraine.  This solution is immediate, simple, and free.  It should have been thought of.

If, however, you choose to continue to supply military aid to the Ukrainian Government, you are hereby notified that you are using your office to involve Canada in someone else's war, to prolong that war, and to risk global nuclear war, not to mention tremendous resource expenditure, for no noticeable hope of anything in return.  If you do this, you do it all against our consent; in fact we the undersigned are made morally innocent by this our formal objection.