Three years ago, in the earliest days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world was briefly captivated by a viral video of a middle-aged Ukrainian woman, dressed in a parka and toque, accosting a group of heavily armed Russian soldiers. “You’re occupiers. You’re fascists,” she yells at them. “What the f—k are you doing on our land with all these guns?”
Then, she reaches over and hands them a bunch of sunflower seeds. “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.”
Three years on, Ukraine is still fighting, still resisting. The human costs have been dire. But almost no one, in February of 2022, thought Ukraine would be able to withstand the Russian invasion and fight back so ferociously.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the extraordinary bravery and wit of that one Ukrainian woman, and what she came to symbolize about individual courage and national resolve.
When Donald Trump first started making “jokes” about Canada’s independence, calling us the 51st state, referring to our head of government not as prime minister but as governor, I, like most Canadians, just rolled my eyes. It seemed pretty obvious he was trolling us, trying to get a rise out of us. And it seemed like the mature and rational thing for us to refuse to take the bait. Trump is and always has been an attention junkie. Responding to his goad, giving him the attention he craves, felt like the wrong response.
Over the course of my lifetime I’ve dealt with a little brother. I’ve raised a toddler. I’ve trained two dogs. And the thing you learn, when they misbehave, or whine, or tease you, is to ignore them, and to not give them the reaction they’re looking for.
Trump, even now, is testing our national resolve—and weighing our capacity for humiliation.
But Trump’s online assaults on our sovereignty didn’t stop. The snarky put-downs went on and on.
Then the American media began normalizing this bonkers discourse. “The president-elect has suggested a territorial expansion into Panama, Greenland and Canada,” CNN reported. “If he’s serious, it would rival the Louisiana Purchase.”
Territorial expansion? That’s a euphemism you could well imagine TASS or Russia Today employing to discuss Putin’s invasion of Crimea.
But then, the most disturbing twist. High-profile Canadian conservatives starting publicly celebrating and promoting the idea of some kind of latter-day Anschluss, gleefully talking up the economic potential of being absorbed into the United States. With deluded naïveté, they seemed to believe that Canada—with their help—could negotiate some kind of partnership, instead of understanding that a Trump-led America would never see us as equals.
It was a craven display. How embarrassing to watch these high-profile Canadian politicians, business leaders and pundits rolling over, eagerly exposing their bellies to the most dominant dog at the dog park.
How Trump (and Putin) must be laughing at the sight of these Canadian quislings, slobbering over themselves to sell out their country for 30 pieces of silver.
The sad spectacle really made me wonder. Would we, as Canadians, ever have the resolve of the Ukrainian people, to stand up for our country if push came to shove? Would I, a middle-aged woman in a parka and a toque, have the courage to confront armed invaders, with nothing more than a pocket full of sunflower seeds for protection?
To be clear, I don’t seriously believe that the Americans, under Trump, are ever likely to stage an armed invasion. I’m not expecting soldiers to march from Sweetgrass through Coutts. No. The attacks will be more subtle. Trump and his government will be looking to undermine our political sovereignty and our capacity for self-determination in hundreds of ways, on issues from trade and investment to immigration and refugee policy, from environmental regulation to national defence. Trump, even now, is testing our national resolve—and weighing our capacity for humiliation.
And in this moment of trial we need to find ways to transcend our ideological and party differences. We need our premiers and our federal leaders to be working in concert, or at least in grudging cooperation, to protect our national interests and to remind us all—and to remind the whole world—of what makes Canada so remarkable.
We won’t do that by scoring on our own net, nor by selling out the principles and values that make us who we are. The next four years are going to be challenging for the whole world, and the rules-based international order we have known for decades will itself be under siege.
When the world, when our allies, look to Canada for moral leadership and moral example, I hope we will stand ready to provide it. And ready to plant the seeds for a future we can be proud to call our own.
Paula Simons is an independent senator and the host of the podcast Alberta Unbound. She lives in Edmonton.
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