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The Belarus Freedom Flag was waved all across Canada. You have to see it! 

Check out Canadian cities, towns, landmarks, mountain peaks, ocean shores, and National and Provincial Parks that had scored the Belarusian White-Red-White Freedom Flag sighting in the past few years!

Belarus is our home country. Both of us – Alex and Alexandra – were born and raised in Belarus, leaving for Canada in our early 20ies. The country is very dear to our hearts, and we wish to go back to Belarus often. Unfortunately with Belarus’ political crisis escalation in 2020, we are not able to visit our home any further. It is simply not safe, as our family is very much open in our views of pro-Democracy, pro-Freedom, pro-Human rights, and very much against the Lukashenko regime with its old system of “soviet” government. Hence in recent years, we've joined Belarusian Diaspora in Canada, proudly picked up the Belarus Freedom Flag, made our stand, and showed our support here.

With this post, we'd like to share cool Canadian destinations, cities, towns, landmarks, mountains, and National and Provincial parks where the Belarus Flag of Freedom could have been spotted in Canada in 2020-2022. Enjoy!

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The Symbol of Belarus Freedom Movement

The symbol of Belarus’ movement towards democracy and freedom from time immemorial was the White-Red-White flag – aka “Belarus Freedom Flag”.

According to historical records, the flag was first introduced as the symbol of Belarus in the 14th century by Knyaz Vitovt of the Great Lithuanian Kingdom. Legend says that in one of the battles Vitovt’s injured head was wrapped in a white cloth. He saw his troops' morale weakening, unwrapped the blood-stained cloth using it for a banner, rushed into battle leading his troops and brought in the victory. 

Hence the White-Red-White banner became the symbol of resistance through suffering.

The flag was adopted by Belarusian resistance against the USSR's rule, Russia's occupation, and the pro-Russian Lukashenko regime.

For most of the past century, the resistance was driven underground. Yet all of a sudden in 2020 the World’s Belarusian community, even those who had never been into politics (like our family) took up the Belarus Freedom Flag and started parading with it literally everywhere, including all across Canada. 

Why is that? 

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Belarus Political Crisis 2020-2021

On August 9, 2020, Belarus held its most recent presidential elections. Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya won the majority vote. Yet, the old dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, refused to leave, publishing fraudulent results. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered for peaceful protests across the country. In response, the Lukashenko junta unleashed armed forces, military, and riot police. He brutally suppressed the protests and launched a wave of repressions against anyone who dared to speak up.

In 2022, this regime’s tight rule and violent suppression of any and all opposition voices are still ongoing. Any symbolism or display of the white-red-white Belarus Flag of Freedom is of course completely banned in Belarus.

As of the time of this writing –  April 12, 2022 – at least 1117 Belarusians were recognized as political prisoners according to the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”. Overall 50,000+ people were arrested for participation in peaceful protests. 

Half the world’s countries, including Canada, did not accept the election results. 

Canada had joined hands with the World in recognizing Sviatlana Tsikanouskaya as a Democratic Leader of the People of Belarus.

It is estimated that in the first year following the political crisis over 1 million Belarussian citizens had to flee the country for fear of prosecution. That’s a whopping 10% of the entire country’s population (!), which before 2020 was approximately 9.5 million people.

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Belarusian Diaspora in Canada

Currently, the World’s Belarusian Diaspora of recent immigrants and first and second generations of descendants from Belarus is estimated at roughly 2.5 million. 

Canada actually served as the home base to the “resistance” for over a century. Its overall Belarusian ancestry “headcount” in 2022 is getting closer to 30,000+

The majority of Belarusian Canadians reside in Toronto and Montreal. Yet there are local Belarusian community groups in every city large and small. The most well-known is the Belarusian Canadian Alliance with headquarters in Toronto.

After the events of Summer 2020, most of us, even the most apolitical of us – like our travel family – could not stand aside. We became very vocal very quickly all across Canada. We joined thousands of local residents in open peaceful protest against the regime. Luckily, Canada is a free and democratic country that has the right to protest, the freedom of speech, and freedom of expression written into its constitution – so waving the Belarusian Freedom Flag in public is completely ok.

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The Flag of Freedom Across Canada

It took the devastating events of August 2020 and the following months of the nightmare-like violence for the Belarusian Diaspora in Canada to find each other.  

For the past 2+ years we’ve been proudly waving our Belarus Freedom Flag all across major cities of Canada, Canadian National Parks, Mountain Peaks, and even underwater. Let’s see it!

Quick Links:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• Nova Scotia
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan

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Alberta

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British Columbia

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All income received from placing ads on this post will be DONATED TO iHelpBelarus.org

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Manitoba

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Nova Scotia

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Ontario

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All income received from placing ads on this post will be DONATED TO iHelpBelarus.org

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Quebec

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All income received from placing ads on this post will be DONATED TO iHelpBelarus.org

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Saskatchewan

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All income received from placing ads on this post will be DONATED TO iHelpBelarus.org

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Concluding notes

Belarus is a beautiful place with awesome people, stunning landscapes, delicious food, ancient culture and history, and many cool landmarks and attractions. 

Yet it really does pain me to my heart to NOT RECOMMEND anyone to travel to Belarus in 2022 due to Travel Safety concerns. 

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Once Belarus is able to get rid of the Russian occupation and acquire new democratic leadership, we do encourage you to come to visit! There is much to see and many cool places to travel to and explore in Belarus. We even put together a Travel Guide for family travel to Belarus to help you plan your future visit. We only hope that it is all still there once the madness stops.

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Check out next: learn more about Belarus

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Enjoy!

Cheerfully yours,

Alexandra, Alex & Cosmos

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