Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during her visit to Ottawa.
Mrs. Tsikhanouskaya expressed her gratitude for Canada's efforts and initiatives to promote democracy around the world. She also thanked Minister Joly for continuing to put pressure on the Lukashenko regime by imposing sanctions on Belarusian officials who have been involved or complicit in the ongoing suppression the right of Belarusians to protest peacefully.
Minister Joly reaffirmed Canada's commitment to promoting freedom of speech and counter information manipulation and disinformation. She announced that Canada had recently signed a partnership valued at $1 million with Journalists for Human Rights, which is aimed at providing assistance to Russian and Belarussian independent journalists to combat information manipulation.
Minister Joly and Mrs. Tsikhanouskaya discussed the Lukashenko regime's ongoing support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. They identified opportunities for our countries to work with our international partners to better support Ukraine.
Minister Joly and Mrs. Tsikhanouskaya also agreed to have bilateral consultations on human rights, democracy and how best to ensure accountability by the Lukashenko regime to put an end to the human rights violations that have been ongoing in Belarus since the fraudulent presidential election of 2020.
