Canada’s FM: We will always be a friend of the people of Belarus
Mélanie Joly / The Canadian Press
Canada will always be a friend of the people of Belarus, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said in an interview to Euroradio
“Of course we will [continue the support of Belarusians. — Euroradio]. That's not even a question for us. So it's not because what happened in 2020 has been nearly four years that we should not continue to support the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people.
We will continue to do so. We'll put maximum pressure on the Lukashenko regime, and we will also be supporting the human rights defenders and political prisoners because that's what Canada stands for,” the Minister said.
The clampdown of Lukashenko against political prisoners, human rights defenders is worsening rather than decreasing, Mélanie Joly added. “And therefore, as his approach is even much more rigid and tough on people and anti-democratic, we have to react,” the Minister stressed.
“And that's why basically we'll continue to support many organizations that are independent media organizations that absolutely do this God's work. Thank you. I wanted to thank the people that are listening to us right now, because I know that it takes courage to listen to your radio.
It takes courage to try to hear other voices than what you're hearing coming from your government and your regime. And I wanted to thank you also and thank all the people that are working at Euroradio because it takes a lot of courage, determination, and we know, and Canada knows, that there's a difference between the regime in Belarus and the people of Belarus. And Canada will always be a friend of the people of Belarus. Dzjakuj!”
