Joly seeks reprimand of Russian ambassador as embassy tweets against LGBTQ2S+ community
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has had her department summon Russia's ambassador over social media postings against LGBTQ2S+ people.
In recent days, Russia's embassy in Ottawa posted on Twitter and Telegram that the West is imposing on Russia's family values, and that families can only include a man, a woman and children.
The embassy posted images of a crossed-out rainbow flag and Orthodox icons of Adam and Eve. It decried Canada for "conflating the concepts of individual sexual preferences and universal human rights" and repeated old tropes about pedophilia.
The first post appeared Nov. 24, just days after five people were killed in a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado.
The tweets came as Russia expanded a ban on exposing children to so-called homosexual propaganda, meaning that authorities can now prosecute Russians for doing things they argue might entice adults to be gay or transgender.
Canada was among 33 countries that signed a joint statement condemning the legislation, prompting the embassy to push back.
"Our country is not interfering in the Canadian domestic affairs," the embassy claimed, seeking a "corresponding respectful attitude toward the legislative process in Russia."
Despite ample documentation of persecution of LGBTQ2S+ people in Russia, including forced disappearances in Chechnya, the embassy asserted that "there is no discrimination in Russia with respect to the rights of sexual and other kind of minorities."
In reaction to the first tweet, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, who is lesbian, decried Russia's treatment of LGBTQ2S+ people as "a disgrace and an attack on basic human rights."
The Russian embassy responded with a photo of the Russian imperial Romanov family, asking St-Onge to "please explore and explain how you appeared in this world."
The family photo includes Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II, his wife and their five children, all of whom Bolshevik revolutionaries assassinated in 1918.
"(The) Romanovs’ family photo is a symbol of strong family traditions and an example they presented, as the Orthodox Christians when facing martyrdom," the embassy wrote Monday when asked to explain the tweet.
Joly's office says the posts must be called out.
"Unsurprisingly, the Russians have once again chosen hateful propaganda," wrote spokeswoman Maéva Proteau.
"We absolutely can't tolerate this rhetoric, and even less the subsequent comment on Minister St-Onge's response. This is an attack on the Canadian values of acceptance and tolerance."
Monday is the third time Global Affairs Canada has summoned ambassador Oleg Stepanov this year. The embassy confirmed Stepanov discussed differing views on Ukraine during the meeting at the department's Ottawa headquarters.
"(Our) ambassador noted that there is still deep disagreement between our governments regarding a number of issues. But the Russian side remains open to continuing communication on difficult and even seemingly (insurmountable) issues with the Canadian partners," the embassy wrote.
"Diplomacy should be seen as a necessary tool during the times of crisis."
The federal Liberal government has previously said it does not plan to order the Russian embassy closed, since it wants to maintain its own diplomatic presence in Moscow.
Maria Popova, a McGill University professor specializing in Eastern European politics, said the Russian government has increasingly espoused Christian nationalist rhetoric that includes a "clash of world views" with the West.
"LGBT rights is actually a big motivator for this war," she said of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"They're constantly talking about how Ukraine has gay soldiers and that is part of the contamination, so to speak, of Ukraine by the West," she said. "It's part of the narrative that they use to make the war look defensive, which of course it is not."
Popova, who is a Jean Monnet Chair in European law, said Russia is likely trying to stir up division where it can.
"It's an attempt also to just push a bit of polarization onto Western audiences, (and) activate the people who may find this message attractive and embolden them to be more vocal," she said.
"Russian diplomats at this point are completely fine with posting hate speech and outright lies, which they know are lies."
St-Onge said Monday that human rights are a Canadian value that everyone inside Canada needs to respect.
"I find it horrible; I think there's no place for it," she said in French of the embassy's rhetoric.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2022.
With files from Émilie Bergeron
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?
Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
WHO likely to issue wider alert on contaminated cough syrup
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
WATCH Video shows dramatic police takedown of carjacking suspects chased through parking lot north of Toronto
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Local Spotlight
UBC football star turning heads in lead up to NFL draft
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Cat found on Toronto Pearson airport runway 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly on a mission: N.S. student collecting books about women in sport for school library
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Marmot in the city: New resident of North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale a 'rock star rodent'
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
Relocated seal returns to Greater Victoria after 'astonishing' 204-kilometre trek
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Ottawa barber shop steps away from Parliament Hill marks 100 years in business
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
'It was a special game': Edmonton pinball player celebrates high score and shout out from game designer
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
'How much time do we have?': 'Contamination' in Prairie groundwater identified
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.