Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Ukraine on this date in 2016. It was his first trip there and he signed the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement during his stay. “My first official visit to Ukraine has confirmed to me that Canada and Ukraine not only share deep historical ties, but that we are united in our desire for a better future," Trudeau said. "This free trade agreement, and indeed everything we have accomplished during this visit, will allow Canadians and Ukrainians to prosper together.” During the PM's talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, President Petro Poroshenko, he strongly reaffirmed Canada's steadfast support of an independent Ukraine and provided assurances that his government strongly supported Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity as it faced threats of Russian aggression.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.