TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2022) An anti-war activist says he hopes his confrontation with Foreign Minister Melanie Joly inspires fellow Canadians to resist escalation by Ottawa and NATO in the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine.
On Monday, Canadian anti-war activist Yves Engler interrupted Joly's appearance at the Montreal Council of Foreign Affairs to challenge Ottawa's and NATO's involvement in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Canada has been among the most active supporters of Kiev throughout Russia's special operation in Ukraine, providing the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy with millions of Dollars' worth of lethal aid and has also imposed hundreds of sanctions against Russian individuals and entities.
"Stop escalating the war, stop sending arms. Why didn't you push Kiev to sign the Minsk accords? Why (not) no to NATO? You're going to push us to World War III! Shame on you," Engler told Joly on Monday before being escorted out by security.
Engler, in an interview with Sputnik on Tuesday, said he had a "moral duty" to push against what he sees as an escalation of the conflict by third parties, including Canada, and hopes his protest resonates with Canadians and inspires them to confront an increasingly hazardous situation.
"The message is aimed at overwhelmingly Canadians," Engler told Sputnik. "The objective is really to kind of galvanize a sense of resistance to a very dangerous, escalating situation."
While Engler believes the world is already embroiled in a conflict of global scale, he believes it has the potential to spiral out of control and ordinary people across Canada, the United States and allied countries must play a role in de-escalation.
"It's absolutely essential for Canadians, Americans, others to start restraining our government's path towards ever more belligerent and militaristic policies," Engler said.
The Montreal-based activist and author also took issue with the one-sided media coverage of the conflict, saying that the aggressive tone set by the press is silencing dissenting voices, including politicians, that may be in favor of peaceful solutions.
"There's a history of politicians, even the progressive end of official politics, of completely cowering in the face of warfare, in the face of media war drums... it's very troubling," Engler said.
Engler notes that while Western media makes a regular show of Russian anti-war demonstrators and dissidents, local protests, including his, barely get noticed by the same outlets. Engler's impassioned appeal only received passing mention from only one major Canadian broadcaster, CTV news, despite several mainstream media journalists attending the event in Montreal.
Despite Ottawa increasingly flexing its muscles against protesters in recent memory, including during last month's Freedom Convoy demonstrations - anti-government protesters had their financial assets frozen and some still face the prospect of jail time - Engler doesn't believe he faces additional law enforcement intervention.
"No, I don't expect any kind of follow up for this," Engler said, but noted that the possibility exists.
On February 24, Russia said it began a military operation in Ukraine in response to calls from the Donbas republics for help in countering intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only. It accused Ukrainian forces of using terrorist-like methods, such as hiding behind civilians and in civilian quarters.
