File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Ukraine-Russia Conflict

Sanctioned by Russia, Kamloops MP says he will not be intimidated

Mar 15, 2022 | 2:04 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo says he won’t be intimidated after his name was listed among Canadian MPs sanctioned by Russia Tuesday (Mar. 15).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and nearly every other Canadian member of Parliament have been banned from visiting Russia after expressing support for Ukraine, which Russia is attempting to invade.

Caputo told CFJC Today the ban will have no practical effect on him.

“No… I didn’t plan on visiting the Kremlin in 2022-2023, so it will really have no impact on me,” said Caputo. “To be very candid, it caught me by surprise. I know it probably shouldn’t have, but it did.”

The blacklist could be interpreted as an attempt at intimidation, but Caputo said he won’t stop speaking out against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine.

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“In this instance, they’ve said, ‘You’re not welcome in Russia’ — and that’s fine. I won’t be intimidated from speaking out against a regime that has invaded a free and democratic country, that has violated a free country’s sovereignty and has killed in the name of invasion and in the name of building an empire that they don’t have to build,” said Caputo.

Caputo was in Ottawa Tuesday to attend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s virtual address to a joint session of Parliament. The rookie Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP said he found Zelenskyy’s appeal for more help from Canada “quite profound.”

“When you hear about what’s happening, when you hear him cite 97 children — that’s just children — have been killed, it puts something into perspective because this is a democratic, free country that is asking for something,” said Caputo. “We may not be able to provide that but, at the very least, I think we have to start having a discussion around, for instance, a humanitarian no-fly zone.”

“That’s what I really took from it, is that urging that he was giving was something that should just not fall on deaf ears.”

Caputo has pressed the government to, on a temporary basis, allow Ukrainians to travel to Canada without visas. He says the government has yet to move on that request.

“From what I can gather, more than 3 million people have left Ukraine and those 3 million people need to go somewhere. I, for one, am prepared to welcome Ukrainians temporarily or as new Canadians — just as my family was welcomed 60 years ago as new Canadians.”