In Ukraine: Mayor touched by visit
Mayor Debra Button arrived safely back in Canada from a brief visit to Ukraine, to the capital city of Kyiv, where she attended a two-day conference on behalf of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
The mayor was never in danger from the turmoil that is occurring in that country between Ukraine and Russia, but she noted the hardest part about the trip was saying goodbye to the friends she had made there, because she doesn’t know if they will stay safe in the coming weeks and months.
She travelled from Toronto along with Toronto city councillor Pam McConnell, as they attended a conference on women in politics in Ukraine, the last one of a five-year program FCM had in that country to attempt to improve the involvement of women in Ukraine’s political system.
The two-day conference was on Sept. 10-11, plus she had a free day or two to sightsee and visit; initially she had hoped to travel outside of the capital city to visit an orphanage, as she has done on previous visits there, but with the level of unrest occurring with Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, she felt it was wiser to stay in Kyiv where things were fairly quiet, and not venture out of the city.
Mayor Button is scheduled to go back to Ukraine one last time on Nov. 11-12, to officially wrap up the five-year FCM program, and she plans on making that trip unless she is told otherwise by FCM or by the Canadian embassy.
“I was happy as the program comes to an end, and I’m very happy with the work that’s been done on this issue,” said Mayor Button. “I’m pleased to see the reforms they’ve done so far.”
As far as being nervous about going to Ukraine where there is military unrest, Mayor Button said she’s been in constant contact with FCM, and they in turn with the Canadian embassy, she wasn’t really that nervous — but the reality of the situation became apparent when they landed.
“We got to the airport in Ukraine, and there was way more military people on duty than I had ever seen before,” she said, adding in Kyiv, she toured memorials set up for the young people who died in fighting in the downtown square there against Russian supporters.
“When you see things on TV, it’s not real as when you see the memorials that were set up,” Mayor Button said. “It became very real then.”
Besides the memorials, the other aspect of her visit that touched her was hearing from women politicians in Ukraine, including the poignant reflections of one mayor whose town is near the fighting.
Mayor Natalia Musiyenko talked about such circumstances as having to do fundraising for such things as buying clothing for 1,500 families who had to be evacuated from near the battle zone in one day, and to buy such things as helmets and bullet-proof vests for Ukrainian soldiers.
“She spoke of never wanting to know some things, like the price of a helmet. She spoke of meeting with Ukrainian soldiers who were so happy to see their mayor,” said Mayor Button on her Facebook posting about the mayor’s speech.
“My presentation (to the conference) was about ‘keeping your head above water, and dealing with crises’. These women are doing it. It was striking for Pam and I; we say ‘crisis’, they say ‘war’,” said Mayor Button, referring to the ongoing conflict with Russian forces.
As for the project the FCM representatives were there to talk about, Mayor Button feels it was a very worthwhile project.
“Our work has been very positively well-received, from the first time I went five years ago till now. I believe we’ve made some good inroads, and I do believe now wouldn’t be the time to walk away from the project,” said Mayor Button.
“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done. As I told the staff at the Canadian embassy, this is one of the most successful projects FCM has ever had,” she added.
One fact she’s very proud of is that Canadians are very well-respected in Ukraine, which was demonstrated to her when she went out to look through a market in Kyiv.
When she told them she was from Canada and didn’t know how to speak Ukrainian, some of the shopkeepers tried singing “O Canada” to her.
Once Mayor Button makes her trip in November to wrap up the program, this will end her involvement in Ukraine for the time being. Most recently, she was appointed as the vice-chair of the international relations committee, and she was unsure what new assignments she might get in this position.
Only days after her return back to Canada, Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko visited Canada, and made a historic address to a session of Parliament, thanking Canadians.