Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.
A lot has been said this evening with respect to the various measures that Canada has put in place to help Ukraine and about coming together with the world in our response to the outrageous aggression that is coming from Russia right now, and particularly to Putin. I think it is very important to put on the record, at least from my perspective, that I do not believe the Russian people are bad. I just think that Vladimir Putin is a monster.
We have talked about the various things that have been put in place, whether it is sanctions, money that has flowed to Ukraine or the personnel sent over as part of Operation Reassurance. What we know from the history over the last decade or so of Canada's involvement is that there has been an opportunity to really help Ukrainian people prepare for what has unfortunately come to pass.
What I want to talk about in the short amount of time I have is the incredible resolve that we have seen from the Ukrainian people. The member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman talked in his speech about the manner in which Ukrainian people were responding to what is going on. He compared it to the manner in which we are witnessing Russian troops engaging.
The member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman specifically said when someone is under a dictatorship and they are being told what to do, they are never going to have the same resolve as those who are fighting for something they believe in and that they are so passionately pursuing.
It reminds me of when I was on the defence committee and travelled to Ukraine as part of a study we were doing on Operation Unifier and Operation Reassurance. The member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman was there as well. He would remember that at one point we went to meet with the new police chief of Kyiv. We met him in the centre of town, and he could not have been more than 35 or 37 years old. It was remarkable to listen to this young individual talk about the future of Ukraine.
Indeed, what we know is that in 2014, the revolution that took place was led by future generations. It was led by the youth. It was a youth movement that changed the course of Ukraine back in 2014. What we heard from this young police chief is that things were done differently in the past.
Remnants of the former Soviet Union still existed in Ukraine, and they literally had to fire almost every police officer who was over the age of 40 just because they did things differently, and that is not the future that the younger generations wanted. They knew what they were going for. They knew how to chase after it. They knew it had to be done.
If we want to talk about the resolve of the Ukrainian people versus the resolve of those who are under a dictatorship, look no further than one of the former presidents of Ukraine, Yanukovych, who was president during the uprising. What did he do? He fled the country as a result of a youth revolution. He literally got up and left because of what was going on.
We can compare that to the president of Ukraine today, President Zelensky. He will not go anywhere. He is steadfast in his commitment to staying with his people and staying in Ukraine to see this through to the end. Nothing can show the difference that the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman was talking about in his speech more than the approach by the two different presidents, one who was a puppet of Putin and one who is for the people.
I genuinely believe that regardless of what happens, regardless of the wars that are fought today, the battles that might be won or lost today, at the end of the day the Ukrainian people are going to get what they want. They are going to get this freedom because they have been fighting for it for a long time and they have the resolve to see this through to the end. It is clear that they will win their freedoms at the end of the day, regardless of these temporary impositions that Putin is putting in the way.