Pro-Russian Telegram channels and public pages are actively spreading a “news story” claiming that the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada has officially supported “harsh mobilization” in Ukraine and declared that every Ukrainian is obliged to defend the homeland.

Analysts from the StopFake project drew attention to this claim.

A post in just one Facebook public group has already received 1,300 reactions, more than 700 comments (mostly mocking), and 135 shares.

In reality, this is a classic fake.

None of the large and reputable organizations of the Ukrainian community in Canada (the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union, the Ukrainian National Federation, and others) have made any such statements – StopFake analysts checked their official pages and press releases.

The photo used to illustrate the “news” was taken from a 2019 archive. It shows participants of Canada’s Ukraine Parliamentary Program, a Canadian internship program for Ukrainian youth, posing with Justin Trudeau at a reception for Vyshyvanka Day. The program has been funded by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress for more than 30 years.

On the left in the photo is Andrii Shevchenko, who at the time was Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada and is now the head of the World Congress of Ukrainians’ representation in Ukraine. StopFake contacted him to ask whether he had heard of any statements by the diaspora in support of “harsh mobilization”. Andrii Shevchenko said he was also unaware of any such remarks by Ukrainian organizations in Canada.