Greens question decision to send more 'offensive' weapons to Ukraine
CBC
The Green Party says Canada should consider restricting the types of weapons it sends to Ukraine and should press for a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Both positions make the party an outlier on the Canadian political landscape. One Ukrainian-Canadian group called them "a moral obscenity."
In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault described Russia's war on Ukraine as illegal and said he has supported the Canadian government's previous decisions to send weapons to Ukrainian forces.
But as the conflict passes the one year mark, he said, he worries about where the tanks and aircraft donated by allies could ultimately end up.
"I am questioning the whole question of supplying weapons in active conflict areas such as this one, weapons that can be used for offensive purposes," he said.
Pedneault described being in Ukraine during the first 10 days of the conflict as part of his previous job documenting human rights violations for Human Rights Watch.
"One thing that I know, having spent 14 years working in conflict areas, is that an aggrieved party — for all the good reasons and human reasons — will most likely and often try and seek revenge," he said.
"Do we have any assurances that war will stop at the border of Russia once territory is reclaimed?"
Pedneault pointed to Afghanistan and Iraq as examples of places where western military aid was eventually "scattered around" to groups hostile to human rights.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress condemned the party's position.
"It is a moral obscenity to argue that people who are the victims of an unprovoked assault should not be given the means with which to defend themselves," said UCC senior policy adviser Orest Zalydalsky in an email to CBC News.
"To argue against the provision of weapons to Ukraine is to argue that Russia should be allowed to annihilate the Ukrainian people."
Defence Minister Anita Anand's office did not respond to a question about whether Canada has placed conditions on the future use of weapons sent to Ukraine.
"We continue to move in lockstep together with our allies in order to provide Ukraine with the military equipment that it needs to win. Ukraine has proven that they are effective at using what we send," she said in an interview last week with The House.