Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Canada’s continued work to secure the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russian officials shows how Ottawa is trying to work with a range of countries to achieve practical and humanitarian goals.
In an interview before Monday’s conference in Brussels, Anand said Ottawa is focused on what it can achieve for the Ukrainians, not on whether Russia is currently committing an act of genocide.
“For me, the important question is, what do we do here and now, and what do we do to bring Ukrainian children back to their homeland,” she told The Canadian Press.
“Issues regarding the terminology and classification of Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion will be heard in the international court system. We all know that Russia’s actions are contrary to international law – they are reprehensible and we will do everything in our power to hold Russia accountable.”
In 2024, the Trudeau government, together with Ukraine, launched an international coalition of countries to press for the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped during the war. Canada is co-hosting Monday’s summit of this coalition in Brussels to evaluate those efforts.
Since March 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior Russian official have been subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court on charges of illegal deportation and transfer of children.
Ukraine and its allies believe that Russia has actually kidnapped 20,000 children; About 2,000 of them have returned. Yale University’s Human Research Laboratory believes there are already 35,000 Ukrainian children forcibly detained in Russia and the parts of Ukraine and Belarus it occupies.
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Moscow has rejected these claims, and has sometimes suggested that children, especially orphans, were voluntarily taken to safety. Russian officials have also repeatedly claimed that Ukrainian culture is non-existent, especially in large areas of Ukraine where people speak Russian.
Despite Russia’s claims, human rights groups have documented cases of children being forcibly adopted into Russian families where they are forced to reject Ukrainian culture. They reported that some of the kidnapped children received military training.
“When these children are stolen from their families, they are, in many cases, subjected to an indoctrination process, where they are forced to learn the Russian language, they are forced to sing Russian songs, they are forced to pray in the Russian language and learn about 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 active conflict.
The coalition is meeting this week to consider how new funding can help identify and contact these children, and to review efforts to collect evidence of potential crimes that could one day be prosecuted.
“Families are the bedrock of communities and strong communities ensure a strong nation. So this is absolutely fundamental, in my estimation, to the work that Canada can do at the international level,” Anand said.
Qatar acted as an intermediary between Moscow and Kiev to facilitate the return of the children. This initiative was supported by countries outside Europe, including Chile and Argentina, whose governments had vastly different political views.
Anand said this is an example of the government’s “network diplomacy” approach in working with its closest allies and new partners to achieve specific, common goals.
Before the conference in Brussels, Anand will participate in the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which coordinates the bloc’s foreign policy, to discuss Ukraine. Anand pointed out that the Council rarely includes non-European ministers in its deliberations.
“The scale of Canada’s efforts stands strong,” she said. “I think that’s one of the reasons I was asked and invited to attend FAC.”
She will also meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as part of her ongoing push to make the alliance focus more on Arctic security.
Anand said she would also speak with her Belgian counterpart Maxime Prévot about broader policy towards Ukraine. She said this discussion will address Canada’s efforts to seize and seize Russian assets abroad to support Ukraine’s war effort. Most of the Russian central bank’s offshore reserves are in the accounts of Brussels-based Euroclear Bank.
So far, European countries have only seized the interest earned from Russian accounts. Belgium has backed away from the idea of seizing actual funds, arguing that doing so would expose the country to significant risks and scare off investors.
After Brussels, Anand will head to Oman and Qatar to talk about regional issues and Ukraine.
“Everywhere I go, I bring up the importance of family reunification,” she said.
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
