Government Supports Project to Send Ambulances to Ukraine

Released on August 21, 2015

The Government of Saskatchewan is providing $25,000 in financial support to a humanitarian project that is sending donated ambulances to Ukraine to help care for the victims of the crisis and conflict in the eastern part of that country.

Ambulances for Ukraine is a co-operative project involving Canadian citizens, businesses and associations concerned about the political conflict that has devastated Ukraine and its infrastructure.  The project has been spearheaded by MD Ambulance of Saskatoon and the Paramedics Chiefs of Canada in response to the urgent need for ambulances to transfer casualties from field hospitals in the conflict zone to military and general hospitals.

“The people of Saskatchewan have a special bond with the people of Ukraine and we stand with them during this crisis and in their time of need,” Legislative Secretary to the Premier for Saskatchewan-Ukraine Relations Ken Krawetz said.  “The ambulance project is a practical way Canadians, and in particular, the Ukrainian Canadian community, can help a war-torn country, and I am proud that much of the leadership for this initiative has come from here in Saskatchewan.”

The first phase of the project has just started.  Four donated ambulances, three from Saskatchewan and one from Alberta, left the port of Halifax on August 11 and are scheduled to arrive in Kyiv next week.  The ambulances will then be sent to hospitals treating the wounded from the conflict zone.

The companies donating the ambulances in the project’s first phase include MD Ambulance, Parkland Ambulance of Prince Albert, Duck Mountain EMS of Kamsack and Associated Ambulance Services of Edmonton.

Other key partners in the Ambulances for Ukraine project include the Saskatchewan-Ukraine Relations Advisory Committee (SURAC), the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), UCC Saskatchewan, EuroMaidan Canada and Crestline Coach Ltd. of Saskatoon.

“Donation of these four ambulances is the first step in an effort to get vitally important equipment to Ukraine’s front-line medical and health care workers,” MD Ambulance past President and CEO and founding member of the Paramedics Chiefs of Canada Dave Dutchak said.  “After we evaluate the success of the project’s first phase, we plan to expand the project nationally and source an additional eight to 12 vehicles from ambulance providers across the country.”

“Our committee is pleased to be part of the team that has enabled the success of the Ambulances for Ukraine initiative,” SURAC Chair Gerald Luciuk said.  “While much of our role is to offer advice on Saskatchewan’s well-established business, cultural and trade ties with Ukraine, we have been increasingly active in raising awareness of the humanitarian issues currently affecting Ukraine and in being a voice for the province’s Ukrainian community on those issues.”

Krawetz noted that the government has a long history of support for Saskatchewan-Ukraine relations, including the establishment of SURAC, a previous donation of $60,000 last year in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and the annual provincial commemoration of the Holodomor, a man-made famine that devastated Ukraine during the early 1930s.

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For more information, contact:

Bob Ellis
Intergovernmental Affairs
Regina
Phone: 306-787-2709
Email: robert.ellis@gov.sk.ca