‘A massive tragedy:’ Former Sask. politicians reflect on war in Ukraine

Brad Wall believes Saskatchewan lived up to its motto — From Many Peoples Strength — on Thursday.

Appearing as part of the Rawlco Radio Saskatchewan Day of Caring for Ukraine, Saskatchewan’s former premier was more than impressed with the response of people in the province to the campaign.

“There’s just something about this province and I’m just so grateful to live in it,” Wall said. “We all should feel very blessed to live in it, not just because we’re going to sleep in peace tonight but because today and tomorrow and the day after, we’re all going to be trying to figure out ways to help people who deserve our help.”

Former Saskatchewan Party MLA and cabinet minister Ken Krawetz has close ties to Ukraine, not only through his ancestors but also through the work he has done in the Ukrainian community in Saskatchewan.

In January of 2009, Krawetz was presented with the highest honour that can be bestowed on a non-Ukrainian citizen — the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise — for the work he did on the Holodomor memorial in the province.

Krawetz, whose grandparents emigrated from Ukraine to Saskatchewan in the early 1900s, has seen firsthand the connections between those places.

He said when he was finance minister, he checked to see where Ukraine was in terms of immigration to Saskatchewan — and it was always in the top five. He also recalled student exchanges between schools in that country and in this province.

“That kind of comradeship has developed between Saskatchewan people and many people in Ukraine and it continues,” Krawetz said.

“I think that’s why (we’re seeing) the reaction of so many who have been here for a while who have come from Ukraine. They’re saying, ‘It’s my land, it’s my country and I’m prepared to go back and fight for it.’ That says quite a bit.”

Atkinson has personal connection

Pat Atkinson, a former NDP MLA and cabinet minister, has a personal connection to Ukraine these days.

After finishing her 25 years as an MLA, Atkinson began working with CANADEM, an organization focused on going to countries and helping establish international peace and security through working with governments.

That resulted in her visiting Ukraine multiple times, the most recent being in 2019 when she monitored the election.

While she was there, she was aided by an interpreter, who now is stuck in her home city of Kherson.

“It’s the only occupied city at the moment by the Russians, so we’re trying to figure out how to get her out,” Atkinson said. “That’s proving a bit difficult because Russians are blocking all entrances and exits to the city.”

Atkinson started talking to the woman when the war began last week. At one point, the woman said she was going to take her child and mother and drive to another city, but they couldn’t get out of Kherson due to the bombing.

The woman went to a friend’s house with a basement and has stayed there.

“She has food, she has money and she has fuel, which is a good thing,” Atkinson said. “If there’s an opening — a humanitarian opening — I’m hoping that she can exit the city.

“The closest border crossing is Moldova. I’ve set up what I call a human pipeline to help her get from the border of Moldova hopefully to Poland where her husband and father are.”

The Cold War revisited?

Wall said he has been struck since the war started by the global reaction, with some countries that are famously neutral criticizing the Russian aggression and organizations like NATO being invigorated.

“Ukraine has done that,” Wall said. “The people of Ukraine and their response to this naked aggression have done that.”

Wall believes the reason for that response is the world wants to make sure the Cold War “stays a relic of history” by standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We do have this Russian naked aggression — this country with this stated goal to rebuild its empire and basically reanimate the Cold War — and standing in its way, the only country with boots on the ground, is Ukraine,” Wall said.

“Imagine these Ukrainian men who are part of the civil defence, who just in recent days have got their families over the border to Poland, said goodbye to them and then went back home to fight, hoping that their families would be OK. Here’s our chance to make sure that they are (and) to take care of them.”

Krawetz said any assistance sent to Ukraine as part of humanitarian efforts would be a godsend.

“This money will be something very, very beneficial to easing the pain that many Ukrainian people are going to feel,” he said.

‘Shell-shocked’

Atkinson said the people she has been in contact with in Ukraine can’t believe the situation they’re in.

“Ukrainians are shell-shocked. They never thought this was ever going to happen to them because they were making so much progress,” Atkinson said. “There will need to be a massive rebuilding of infrastructure, roads, bridges, buildings and there are going to be a whole bunch of displaced people.”

Atkinson is worried about what the long-term impacts of the war will be, especially on the youngest segment of the population.

“I’m really worried about the kids,” she said. “These little kids will be traumatized because of this war. They don’t understand it …

“It’s just a massive tragedy.”