The Ukrainian Student Union (USU) held a rally on campus in solidarity with Ukraine on Monday, three days after the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
The event started outside the UBC Bookstore at 12 p.m. with speeches by student representatives of the USU, followed by a moment of silence. Students and other participants then marched to the Engineering Cairn chanting slogans like “UBC for Ukraine” and “Stand with Ukraine.”
According to a USU post on Instagram, the group held this rally to “pay tribute to Ukrainian students and their bravery in going through the war at home.” Ukrainian students have said the conflict in their home country has left them stressed about their family and friends, as well as their ability to pay for school and other things.
USU’s President Anna Shubina, a third-year media studies student at UBC, said the USU is trying to secure financial assistance for students coming from Ukraine.
Isobelle Davidson, a fourth-year history student and the USU’s vice president of content, said the USU is working alongside the AMS to write a letter to the UBC regarding waiving tuition payments, citing the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program.
The CUAET allows Ukrainians to “come to Canada and stay for up to 3 years” under a visitor visa or work permit, according to the Government of Canada.
Last year, UBC deferred tuition payments for students from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus due to the conflict — although students have said accessing this resource is hard to navigate.
Ukrainian students also held a rally in March last year asking UBC to take more initiative to support the students which have been impacted by Russia’s invasion.
Davidson said she wasn’t aware of any initiatives from UBC supporting Ukrainian students. Along with deferring tuition, then-UBC President Santa Ono released a statement with financial aid and mental health resources last year immediately following the start of the invasion.
“I don’t even think I heard them mention that the one year anniversary of the full blown invasion happened on the 24th,” she said.
The USU plans on continuing events for the UBC Ukrainian community such as starting a podcast or radio show to “bring more initiative to campus,” according to Davidson.
As the war continues, Shubina said the Ukrainian Student Union “will continue speaking out” and hope to have a “rally of victory” someday.
Davidson echoed this sentiment.
“After a year, it can be really hard … if you’re not personally involved with [the war] to kind of remember it,” she said. “By having this rally, we kind of just want to bring more awareness to what’s going on and to have students support the Ukrainian community on campus.”