Today on On The Line, host Jen Gerson sits down with longtime friend and Calgarian Paul Hughes, who left his comfortable life in Alberta to help in Ukraine at the outbreak of war four years ago.
Hughes, joined early on by his son Mac, has witnessed both the extraordinary courage and the relentless heartbreak of the Ukrainian people. His son was seriously injured. Hughes himself was kidnapped by Russian forces. And even now, speaking to Gerson from a darkened apartment in Kharkiv, he describes living under regular bombardment, air raid sirens, and the aftermath of assaults that have left whole neighbourhoods without electricity or heat.
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The conversation is unflinching about the toll of war — physical, emotional, and moral — but it also explores why Hughes remains. He reflects on what years on the ground have taught him about resilience, civic duty, and what happens when a country’s sovereignty is tested by force.
They also turn the lens back home. Hughes shares how his experience in Ukraine has shaped the way he thinks about the separatist tensions now brewing in Alberta, and what Canadians may be taking for granted about the fragility of national unity.
Note: CBC Radio recently profiled Hughes’ experience with the Russians in an article referenced in this episode: “300 missions in, this Canadian volunteer says he’ll stay in Ukraine until he’s asked to leave.”
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