By Steve Scherer and Rod Nickel
OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, March 2 (Reuters) – Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland played a key role in getting sanctions on Russia’s central bank in place, two sources said, and has been a leading voice against Russian aggression as a vocal member of the country’s large Ukrainian community.
Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister and second in power only to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has made impassioned statements in support of Ukraine to G20 colleagues and the Canadian public.
Canada has closed airspace and ports to Russian vessels, is sending lethal military aid to Ukraine, curbed oil imports and asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe alleged war crimes by Russian forces.
The crisis is personal for Freeland. Both of her maternal grandparents were born in Ukraine, and she has said she speaks Ukrainian at home with her children. Her mother, Halyna Chomiak Freeland, helped draft the inaugural Ukrainian constitution, according to her 2007 obituary https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=90579918, and as a university student, Freeland advocated for Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union.
Freeland’s voice cracked as she made an emotional plea to Canada’s 1.4 million-strong Ukrainian community on Thursday, the day Russia invaded.
“Now is the time for us to be strong as we support our friends and family in Ukraine. Now is the time for us to remember,” Freeland said, switching into Ukrainian,…
