Cowardice and Apathy

Naturally:

Before pulling Canadian diplomats out of Ukraine weeks ahead of the Russian invasion, Global Affairs Canada received intelligence confirming that Russia intended to wage war against its neighbour, and that Ukrainians who worked for the Canadian embassy were likely on lists of people Moscow intended to hunt down.

Despite the apparently dire situation, Ottawa told Canadian embassy leaders in Kyiv to withhold this information from those Ukrainian staff members and leave them behind.

These events were described to The Globe and Mail by three Canadian diplomats with direct knowledge of what happened, who say they are troubled by the way Canada left its Ukrainian employees at risk. The Globe is not naming the diplomats because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The revelations highlight the inconsistency of Canada’s treatment of local workers at its embassies, who have at times been offered federal assistance in crises, and at other times left to find their own escape routes. ...

Before Canadian staff members were withdrawn from the embassy ahead of the Feb. 24 invasion, they received instructions from Ottawa about what to do with the warning that their Ukrainian colleagues could face arrest or execution.

The instructions were clear: Don’t tell them.

The 50 or so Ukrainian employees, many of whom had worked with Canadians in the embassy for years, were left to fend for themselves, unaware of the risk.

 

(Sidebar: now, now - Global Affairs also ignored Afghan translators, too. If that's not consistency, I don't know what is.) 

 

We can't all be Chiune Sugihara:

 

But I guess we can all be William Mackenzie King.