Canadian military aircraft deliver Ukraine-bound military aid not only from Canada, but from allies and partners, but Canada recently found it difficult to fly its citizens home from a war zone.
Canadian citizens were caught-up in the war zone in Sudan, where two rival generals are fighting for power and control.
CTV News reported that, faced with a dangerous and desperate situation, a Canadian woman from Toronto, Azza Ahmed, her mother and an elderly aunt were left to fend for themselves in evacuating Sudan, and felt forgotten by the Canadian government in the process.
A Canadian government representative called the woman and advised her and her two aunts to go to a military airport 25 kilometers away to catch an evacuation flight. At that time, the situation was too dangerous to even venture outside, but they were expected to fend for themselves in getting to the airport.
She recalls that Canada did not offer them any assistance with food, accommodation, transportation, or the evacuation flight home.
"(The Canadian government) basically abandoned us," said Ahmed. She compared her experience with other nationalities evacuated, and found some countries got their citizens out of Sudan in just two or three days and paid for all their expenses.
Many are asking about Canada's priorities, and whether the attention and expenses spent on keeping the war going in Ukraine has made Canada weaker and less prepared to care for its own citizens' needs.
The Canadian government does not see it their duty to evacuate their citizens from danger abroad. They take the position of their ally, the US: you got yourself there, now get yourself home.
Canada follows many American viewpoints, including the supplying of weapons to the Ukrainian military. The American-Canadian-NATO priority is to keep the fighting ongoing in Ukraine, and support the fight against Russia.
Canada found it difficult to quickly evacuate its citizens in Sudan because they lacked the personnel on the ground to tackle the job. Canada relied on several Canadian planes that flew out of the capital Khartoum, but then handed off the job by relying on the US evacuation resources.
The airport at Khartoum became a front line in the battles, and pilots deemed it unsafe. Then the government switched the evacuation plan to the Port Sudan, but that was 800 kilometers away, which represented a 30-hour journey filled with risks.
A possible solution would have been a Canadian military convoy of buses that could have been rented from local transportation companies, and citizens living in the capital could have left for the port safely.
Colin Robertson, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellow and former Canadian diplomat, has said that crisis situations require a larger diplomatic corps than presently available. He says instead of increased diplomatic personnel as Canada grows, instead it has been reduced over the last two decades.
In any evacuation situation, the diplomatic corps would be making travel and logistical plans with local, allied and Canadian resources according to Robertson.
However, a brief study of the facts reveals that the Azov Battalion was the backbone of the Ukrainian military forces and was originally proudly identifying themselves as Nazis. Many western TV commentators would scoff at the idea while commenting, "How could there be Nazis in Ukraine, when the President is Jewish?"
The Nazis in Ukraine have no problem having a Jewish President Zelensky, viewing him as useful cover to operate under. A Nazi can be described as an Ultra-Nationalist, and some will use the descriptive term of Fascist.
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