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'We have to build bridges': Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk on Ukraine, reconciliation

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Moving toward reconciliation doesn't come from jumping "the queue to perfection," but by building bridges and trusting one another, Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk says.

Kreviazuk shared that message during an interview with CTV News Channel on Friday as Canada Day celebrations got underway in Ottawa.

The Winnipeg-native and Juno Award winner, who collaborated with Drake on his Grammy-winning 2011 album "Take Care," is one of many performers to hit the stage in the nation's capital.

With Canada Day meaning something different to everyone, including Indigenous people, Kreviazuk, who is both Ukrainian and Metis, said reconciliation comes through "small pivots."

"What we have to do is come together with a little faith that some of us do not have an agenda except to ... move forward, to get to a better place," she said.

"We can't just jump the queue to perfection and we have to build bridges and we have to trust each other, and I think when friendships are built and we break bread together and we understand, not to sound cheesy, but we do have more in common as humans than we don't."

With a great-grandmother who was a survivor of the Elkhorn residential school in Manitoba, Kreviazuk said she was raised to be protective of that side of the family — because having Indigenous blood could have landed you in a residential school, she says.

"Now, here I am. I am not ashamed. I'm very proud of my heritage both as a Ukrainian and Metis girl," she said.

Kreviazuk also addressed Russia's war in Ukraine, telling CTV News Channel that Russian President Vladimir Putin "needs to be stopped" and Canada should do more to end the war.

"I don't think that we won't win. I just think that it's how many lives will we lose," she said.

"I just hope that when history is written, we did all that we can."

Watch the full interview with CTV’s Mike Le Couteur and Chantal Kreviazuk at the top of this article. With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press

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