Canada's national defence minister Anita Anand visited Windsor on Thursday and made a stop at Polish Club Windsor, 1275 Langlois Ave, to meet with members of the Polish community who have been supportive in Ukraine's fight against Russia.
Anand recognized and thanked the Windsor-Essex Polish community for being so welcoming to Ukrainian refugees as they settle into the area.
Anand stressed the importance and recognized the work Poland is actively doing including the welcoming of Canadian Armed Forces members who are training Ukrainian engineers in Poland who are training Ukrainians soldiers on use of the Leopard 2 battle tanks.
Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk was on hand at Thursday's event and said Polish Club Windsor was chosen as the location for this gathering because of its significance to the Polish community as a Dom Polski, which means gathering house in polish.
Kusmierczyk said in 1941 Dom Polski served as the recruitment centre for polish Canadian soldiers that were going off to fight in the second world war.
"The fact that we have for the first time a minister of national defence of Canada here at Dom Polski is a tremendous symbol of solidarity and unity and it has deep meaning for every Polish-Canadian in our community," Kusmierczyk said.
Over 20,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Canada, with hundreds settling into Windsor-Essex since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Canada's Defence Minister Anita Anand and Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk meet with members of local polish community at Polish Club Windsor, 1275 Langlois Ave, April 13, 2023 (Photo by AM800's Dustin Coffman)
Anand said there are a number of immigration pathways to form a bridge from Ukraine to Canada, "The polish community and Poland itself has been incredibly important in allowing that bridge to be created because Ukrainians come across the border from Lviv into Poland. And then they leave Poland to come to other countries, Canada being one of them."
Anand added the fight Ukrainians are continuting to undertake, is not only a fight for their own sovereignty and democracy, but is also the fight for Canada's principal's and decomcracy.
"If we stand idly by and let Vladimir Putin cross geographical boundaries and redraw maps, that undermines the system of Bretton Woods and the international legal order that we've all relied on for our own peace and security since the end of the second world war, " Anand said.
Anand said the support of Windsor-Essex is an example of what's happening right across the country with communities reaching out to Ukrainians as they come to Canada, "And Canada for it's part has sent over $1-billion of military aid to Ukraine. Over $8-billion of economic, humanitarian and military aid commbined. And that's the type of fortitude and support that our country as a whole will continue to give to Ukraine as it fights for it's sovereignty."
Anand said prior to the invasion, Canada had over 1.3 million Ukrainians in the country with the number steadily rising.
-With files from AM800's Rusty Thomson