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Irene Tomaszewski’s life began with her family fleeing Soviet occupation.
Born in a Soviet concentration camp in Poland, Tomaszewski’s family evacuated the country in 1942. After escaping through the Middle East and spending six years in a Tanzanian refugee camp, her family finally settled in Canada in 1949.
Now, Tomaszewski is Ottawa-based and 85-years-old, and says her experience is a part of what drives her support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
“What you’re seeing now is the last country in Europe still trying to shake off the most vicious empire ever,” Tomaszewski said. “So here I am … sending money to Canada Ukraine [organizations] because it’s the only thing [I] can do, right?”
The Russian Embassy Protesters group has been holding demonstrations several times a week outside of the Russian Embassy in Ottawa since the country’s invasion in 2022.
Tomaszewski, who is a member of the protest group, said her bad leg makes it harder for her to stand, so she hasn’t been joining the demonstrations as often as she’d like.
But after United States president Donald Trump’s verbal attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, Tomaszewski couldn’t stay silent. She made sure to join the group at their protest outside the U.S. Embassy on March 4.
Since February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has claimed the lives of more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 12,000 civilians. More than three years after the invasion began, Tomaszewski is not alone in her continued efforts to support Ukraine. Across Canadian post-secondary campuses, in Ottawa and elsewhere in the country, Canadian and Ukrainian advocates are still coming out to support Ukraine and protest Russia’s invasion.
Drivers honk in solidarity with protesters brandishing Canadian and Ukrainian flags outside of the U.S. Embassy on Sussex Drive on March 4, 2025. [Photo by Sophia Laporte/the Charlatan]
“Canadians and Americans have never been subjected to an occupation,” Tomaszewski said. “They don’t know what it’s like to have bombs follow you, and secret police everywhere. I knew right away [when the war started] this was going to be trouble.”
Protests across the country see demonstrators brandishing Canadian and Ukrainian flags. Some condemn Trump’s government and their sharp change in attitude toward Ukraine and Canada, as seen at the Oval Office meeting and through Donald Trump’s threats to make Canada its “51st state” in early February. Others show up to display their general support for Ukraine.
Tomaszewski said she hopes Canadians will recognize that Russia’s invasion and occupation are nothing new: “This [Russian empire] is not fading at all.”
Karen Niven-Wigston, another member of the Russian Embassy Protesters, said showing up to protest is her “civic duty.”
“I still feel that very strongly, in fact, more strongly than ever,” she said. “If you know that something is evil, you are obliged to do something about it.”
Though she’d been protesting outside of the Russian Embassy for three years, Niven-Wigston said she has noticed increasing support for the protest group, including a visit from then-MP Charlie Angus.
“I hope that [support] continues. One of the reasons I will always be there is we get such support from the people, the motorists passing by,” Niven-Wigston said. “I think we’re offering a service that way too, because not everyone can be at the embassy, but we are and they can acknowledge that.”
Support for Ukrainians in Ottawa comes from more than just protests.
Ukrainian clubs at post-secondary institutions, for instance, host events for Ukrainian students and those interested in learning more about the culture.
On Feb. 25, the Carleton Ukrainian Students’ Club hosted two touring Ukrainian exhibitions at Carleton University: the War Up Close Virtual Reality museum and the Sunflower Dreams Project.
The exhibit showed students what Ukrainian cities looked like before and after the war, while the Sunflower Dreams Project displayed artwork by Ukrainian refugee children displaced from their homes.
Like many who uprooted their lives due to the war, Milena Lobko, a second-year Carleton student, said she and her family left their central Ukraine home in 2022. Lobko said she was forced to finish her secondary school studies online, and described being in Ukraine at the time as “apocalyptic.”
“[There was a] constant feeling of fear, because you didn’t know what would happen, not tomorrow, but in one minute, one hour,” Lobko said. “It looked like a horror movie, when people buy basic items, go home, lock their doors and just sit because they don’t know what will happen and what to do.”
Lobko and her family moved to Ottawa in 2023, and she began studying biology at Carleton that fall.
“I always wanted to be a doctor,” Lobko said. “I’m not sure where exactly I’ll end up yet, but I know for sure that I want to keep learning, keep growing, and use what I’ve been given to do something good.”
Lobko was the only one of her peers to come to Canada, which initially made finding friends a challenge. Carleton’s Ukrainian students’ club was the first community she joined at the university.
“I felt much better when I became a part of this team and I [learned] that people [in it] are from Ukraine, and understand the situation and feel the same,” Lobko said.
Hoping to continue supporting the community that supported her, Lobko became the club’s communications director for the 2024-2025 year.
“It’s really important to have a community and people to support you,” Lobko said, “It’s emotionally hard to adapt in a new country without having friends, it’s really difficult.”
Fourth-year Carleton student Valeriia Gusieva, the culture, language and politics director and events coordinator of the Ukrainian students’ club, came to Canada from Ukraine in 2016.
The club’s diverse membership is one of Gusieva’s favourite aspects, she said.
“We have people like myself who have moved from Ukraine, and then we have people who are second or third-generation Ukrainians,” Gusieva said. “We come from different worlds, but we have this very big part of our identity.
“We share it and then we can make good things happen.”
Gusieva says the club often collaborates with other Ukrainian organizations in Ottawa.
“Last year, we collaborated with a Mohawk artist to do beading workshops. She reached out to us herself and really wanted to support us,” Gusieva said. “Indigenous people in Canada can understand what we’re going through.”
The workshop, which happened on Nov. 2, 2024, was hosted by Theresa Benedict, a graduate student from Akwesasne. Attendees beaded sunflower designs, with monetary proceeds from the workshops headed to Project Soniashnyk, which translates to “sunflower” in Ukrainian.
Ukrainian organizations in Ottawa are also collaborating on larger events like rallies and demonstrations that stretch across the country.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress-organized “Stand with Ukraine” rallies held across Canada on Feb. 23, 2025, marked the third year since Russia’s invasion.
“It’s not just Ukrainian Canadians. Canadians are active and engaged,” said Ihor Michalchyshyn, chief executive officer and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
The organization had a record high of 56 communities sign up to host rallies on Feb. 23, 2025, Michalchyshyn said.
The congress, which was first established in 1940, has taken on an active role in supporting Ukrainian refugees and advocating for support for the Ukrainian army from the Canadian government since the war began.
With more than 30 branches in Canada, the group creates resources for its volunteers like briefings and speaking points for calls to action or other forms of advocacy for Ukraine.
Michalchyshyn said he has watched support for the Ukrainian community in Canada reignited after Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Feb. 28.
“I think Canadians deeply understand the war in terms of who invaded whom. They know Russia is the aggressor and are determined to do more to help Ukraine.”
What is needed now, he said, is to translate that common understanding into tangible actions by the Canadian government.
Michalchyshyn described the Oval Office meeting as a “disturbing beratement” of Zelenskyy. He condemned the United States’ decisions to stop shipping aid and sharing intelligence with Ukrainians.
“This is the kind of stuff Ukrainians will be killed over,” Michalchyshyn said. “I think we’re seeing a realignment of the world security order. Canada [needs] to be at those tables with our NATO allies, with our European allies.”
Michalchyshyn said he is grateful to everyone who attended protests, including the Feb. 23 “Stand With Ukraine” rally in Ottawa.
“We have a very strong Ukrainian community in Ottawa and unfortunately due to the war, it’s grown a lot because of refugees coming and fleeing to here,” Michalchyshyn said. “The [Ukrainian Canadian Congress] and the community broadly invite all kinds of Canadians to join us.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Russian Embassy Protesters and Carleton’s Ukrainian students club all plan to continue their work advocating and fundraising for Ukraine.
“I’ve been here for two years, and I’ve realized how strong Ukrainians are,” Lobko said. “The war brought all people together. We’re not powerless because communities and all Ukrainians are supporting each other.
“It’s really inspiring.”
Featured image by Sophia Laporte/the Charlatan
