The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is showing its support to Ukraine.
As Russia continues its attack on the country, the Civic Centre in Chatham-Kent will be raising the Ukraine flag in a show of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
"The people of Ukraine have a democratically-elected government and as free people, they have the right to choose their leadership," said Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff. "Some of these mayors that our Chatham-Kent councillors met with two years ago may now be on the front line. My heart goes out to those brave Ukrainians fighting and dying for their homeland and democracy."
Ukraine, with a population of 44.4 million people formally became a sovereign state in 1990. Canada was the first Western nation to recognize Ukraine's independence and the two nations have enjoyed close bilateral relations.
According to the municipality, Chatham-Kent hosted a delegation of 13 mayors from Ukraine in July of 2019 as part of an international study tour organized by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for the newly elected heads of Ukrainian amalgamated communities.
Chatham-Kent has since declared July 4 as Ukraine Day. Each year, the event has been marked with a ceremony and flag raising at the Civic Centre.
