OTTAWA – On March 9 on Parliament Hill, Yvan Baker, member of Parliament for Etobicoke Center, Ontario, was elected chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group (CUPFG) during its annual general meeting. The CUPFG is one of Canada’s largest and most active parliamentary friendship groups, with over 100 members representing all political parties.
The purpose of the CUPFG is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas between Canadian parliamentarians and their counterparts in Ukraine, and to promote and enhance the political, economic and cultural relations between Canada and Ukraine.
The CUPFG has hosted bilateral meetings and roundtables with Ukrainian political leaders such as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy, as well as human rights activists such as Mustafa Dzemilev, Hennadiy Afanasyev and Oleh Sentsov.
The CUPFG co-hosts, with the Embassy of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the annual Holodomor Commemoration, Vyshyvanka Day and Ukrainian Day on Parliament Hill.
“Canada and Ukraine have a special and strategic bilateral relationship. This is based on the ties built between the 1.4 million Ukrainian Canadians and their ancestral homeland, and Ukraine’s position as the bulwark against Russian aggression and challenge to liberal democracies. I am deeply honored to having been elected and entrusted to fulfill the role as chair of this association at this crucial time. Canada has stood at the forefront of international support for Ukraine’s democratic, economic and defense reforms, as well as its sovereignty and territorial integrity. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the CUPFG from all parties, in both the House and the Senate, to continue to support Ukraine’s prosperity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Mr. Baker, who is a member of the Liberal Party.