Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s ongoing work to secure the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russian officials shows how Ottawa is attempting to work with a spread of nations to advance practical, humanitarian goals.
In an interview ahead of a Monday conference in Brussels, Anand said Ottawa is concentrated on what it will probably achieve for Ukrainians, relatively than whether Russia is currently committing an act of genocide.
“For me, the necessary query is, what are we doing here and now, what are we doing to bring Ukrainian children home,” she told The Canadian Press.
“The problems referring to terminology and the classification of the illegal and unjustifiable Russian invasion will probably be heard within the international court system. Everyone knows that Russia’s actions are against international law — they’re reprehensible and we’ll do all we are able to to carry Russia to account.”
In 2024, the Trudeau government co-launched with Ukraine a global coalition of countries pushing for the return of Ukrainian children abducted in the course of the war. Canada is co-hosting a Monday summit of that coalition in Brussels to take stock of those efforts.
Since March 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior Russian official have been subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on charges of illegal deportation and transfer of youngsters.
Ukraine and its allies imagine Russia has effectively abducted 20,000 children; about 2,000 of them have returned. Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab believes there are literally 35,000 Ukrainian children being forcibly held in Russia, the parts of Ukraine it occupies and Belarus.
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Moscow has rejected these claims and at times has suggested children have been voluntarily delivered to safety, particularly orphans. Russian officials have also repeatedly claimed Ukrainian culture doesn’t exist, particularly in large areas of Ukraine where people speak Russian.
Despite Russia’s claims, human rights groups have documented cases of youngsters being forcibly adopted into Russian families where they’re made to reject Ukrainian culture. They report that some abducted children are militarily trained.
“When these children are stolen from their families, they undergo, in lots of cases, a strategy of indoctrination, where they’re forced to learn the Russian language, they’re forced to sing Russian songs, they’re forced to wish within the Russian language and tackle the culture of the Russian people,” Anand said.
While the coalition has succeeded in reuniting some families, it faces challenges in identifying children and maintaining contact during an lively conflict.
The coalition is meeting this week to take a look at how recent funding may help with identifying and contacting these children, and to review efforts to assemble evidence of possible crimes that would in the future be prosecuted.
“Families are the bedrock of communities and powerful communities ensure a robust country. And so this is completely central to, in my estimation, the work that Canada can do internationally,” Anand said.
Qatar has acted as an intermediary between Moscow and Kyiv to facilitate the return of youngsters. The initiative has been supported by countries beyond Europe, including Chile and Argentina, whose governments have had vastly otherwise political opinions.
Anand said that is an example of the federal government’s “network diplomacy” approach of working with each its closest allies and newer partners to advance specific, shared goals.
Before the conference gets underway in Brussels, Anand will participate within the European Union’s foreign affairs council, which co-ordinates the bloc’s foreign policy, to debate Ukraine. The council rarely involves non-European ministers in its deliberations, Anand noted.
“The magnitude of Canada’s effort stands strongly,” she said. “That’s, I imagine, certainly one of the explanations I’ve been asked and invited to attend the FAC.”
She can even meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte as a part of her ongoing push to get the alliance to focus more on Arctic security.
Anand said she can even speak along with her Belgian counterpart, Maxime Prévot, on broader Ukraine policy. She said this discussion will touch on Canada’s push to have Russian assets abroad seized and forfeited to support Ukraine’s war effort. Most of Russia’s central bank reserves abroad sit in Brussels-based Euroclear bank accounts.
European countries have thus far only seized the interest earned by Russian accounts. Belgium has pushed back on the concept of forfeiting the actual funds, arguing it might expose the country to large risks and scare off investors.
After Brussels, Anand will head to Oman and Qatar to speak about each regional issues and Ukraine.
“In all places I am going, I raise the importance of family reunification,” she said.
© 2026 The Canadian Press