OTTAWA – After speaking by video conference at the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke before the US Congress today. In both cases Zelensky reiterated the call for a no fly zone over Ukraine and the imposition of “new sanctions packages” on Moscow “until the Russian military machine stops.” He did it with his heart in his hand, with passion and determination. 

After three weeks of uninterrupted coverage of the Russian attack on Ukraine, it is unclear to what extent canadians were inclined to meet Zelensky’s demands in the days leading up to his speech. What becomes clear as the days go by is the increasingly strong support for the Ukrainian people.

A new survey by Angus Reid shows that half (48%) of Canadians are inclined to send more lethal weapons to Europe. In the last six weeks, support for sending these weapons to the country invaded by Russian soldiers has tripled, at the same time it has almost halved, falling to 12%, that of Canadians who say that this country has no role to play in the war. However, the desire for more direct conflictual action is weak.

While 48% say they support sending military weapons and weapons to Ukraine, two out of five Canadians (43%) say Canada should support Ukraine’s accession to NATO, a measure that would surely exacerbate Russia, which wants a guarantee that Ukraine will not be part of the alliance. A third (36%) say they support sending money to directly fund Ukraine’s defense. A similar number (36%) say they want to increase the size of Canada’s training mission in Ukraine.

Much smaller is the support for sending Canadian troops to the battle zone to fight alongside Ukrainian forces: 16% say they are in favor. To say that Canada should stay out of it altogether is only 12%.

However, sending lethal aid is much less attractive to Canadians than less confrontational actions – some of which have already been undertaken – such as humanitarian aid (79%) and the imposition of broad (68%) and targeted (64%) economic sanctions.

In addition to the desire to send humanitarian aid, four out of five Canadians say they support the Liberal government’s plan to allow an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees in the country in the coming weeks and months. Canada is already home to 1.4 million Ukrainian Canadians representing the largest population of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine itself.

It is a link that can help explain the considerably higher level of support for this country’s refugees in the wake of this conflict compared to the level offered to Syrian refugees in 2015. At that time, the government pledged to welcome 25,000 Syrians to Canada, a decision that won favor with 39 percent of Canadians. Support for that influx of refugees eventually rose to 52% in February 2016, but remained far below the enthusiasm now seen in accepting Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Other important elements that emerged from the research is that nine out of ten liberal voters (90%) and Ndippini (92%) support the plan to welcome Ukrainian refugees. Less likely to welcome Ukrainians in our country appeared to be conservatives: support among CP voters is lower (75%) but still conspicuous.

Two out of five Canadians (43%) would support Canada in supporting Ukraine’s campaign to join NATO.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash