Above: Despite the uprising and occupations, Daniel Bilak, a Canadian lawyer and former advisor to Ukrainian governments says he’s never been more optimistic about Ukraine’s future in an interview on The West Block with Tom Clark.
Independence Square, or the Maidan as it’s known in Ukraine, is where demonstrators joined forces three months ago to voice their disapproval of their government’s decision to abandon closer ties with Europe. It turned into a full-out revolution.
But their message isn’t complicated, said Daniel Bilak, a Canadian lawyer and former advisor to Ukrainian governments.
“Essentially, the people who are on the Maidan want a kind of life we have in Canada,” said Bilak, who has lived in Ukraine for 22 years. “They weren’t fighting for anything other than the right to make their own choices, to choose their own governments and to live in a society where you hold your government to account.”
Walking around Independence Square, it wouldn’t be long before bumping into Lesya Orobets, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament who is running for mayor of Kyiv and passionate about democracy.
WATCH: Lesya Orobets, a Ukrainian MP who is running for mayor of Kyiv and passionate about democracy discusses the hurdles Ukrainians now face.
Last week, she was there for a press conference, and The West Block host Tom Clark met up with her.
She arrived at the Maidan in mid-November and planted herself there. She has since become somewhat of a celebrity
The first is the “war with Russia,” she said, referring to the Russian military’s occupation in Crimea — a move she says was unprovoked and has brought the country to the brink of a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
“Issue number two is the economic crisis … We have to find out how to restart our economy working,” she said.
Getting there, however, will require building a renewed trust between Ukrainians and their government.
One poignant characteristic about the citizens is their wariness of almost any government, Bilak said, explaining that condition is born of a history in which their governments have almost always been someone else’s.
“Our indigenous institutions here have largely been the village and the church,” he said. “The institutions of state Ukrainians inherited were Soviet. I’ve always maintained, you can’t sow the seeds of democracy on the asphalt of Soviet institutions.”
Despite the uprising and occupations, Bilak says he’s never been more optimistic about Ukraine’s future because now there is a citizen-based culture taking over.
“Ukrainians have shown so clearly, to the point of risking their lives, that they ascribe and aspire to the same values that we hold dear in Canada and Europe,” he said.
WATCH: Independence Square, or the Maidan as it’s known in Ukraine, is where demonstrators met up three months ago to voice their disapproval of the government’s decision to abandon closer ties with Europe. It turned into a full out revolution. Here are the sights and sounds.
Although change is afoot, mayoral hopeful Orobets said, the country has only taken the first necessary step.
“Now we have to rebuild it, set new rules and meet expectations, very high ones,” she said.
Part of that will involve ridding the city of Kyiv, and all levels of government, of corruption. Though no small task, enforcing the penal codes could signal a strong start.
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