By: Iryna Shyshkina, SFU Student
Student advocacy has, historically, played a significant role in creating social change. For some, student advocacy is a necessary outlet to share one’s voice. This has become especially necessary for Ukrainian students. Some talk about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as if it began suddenly in February 2022. For Ukrainians, especially those in the diaspora, this framing is not just inaccurate; it is exhausting. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not a new crisis, but a long and escalating aggressive campaign that has shaped Ukrainian lives. For this reason, student advocacy becomes something larger than spreading awareness; it is a form of survival, resistance, and a fight to preserve cultural identity.
After Ukraine regained independence in 1991, Russia continued attempting to maintain control through various tactics. Through acts of political pressure, economic coercion, information warfare, and efforts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty. Russia’s aggression escalated in 2014 with the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the creation of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics,” which were never recognized by Ukraine or by the international community. When the war is framed as something that just began in 2022, it pushes unaffected people to treat it as a single shocking event rather than a long struggle, perhaps making it easier to detach and grow numb over time. For Ukrainians, there has been an attack on our sovereignty, identity, and safety that is felt in all brutality on a daily basis.
For those living outside of Ukraine, this creates a different but deeply personal loss. Many Ukrainian Canadian diaspora members worry about the physical safety of their loved ones, while also being emotionally attached to daily violence and horrors that are happening there.
Many in my community, including myself, have family members in Ukraine — waking up with news that our cities have been bombed, and not having the ability to contact our relatives immediately due to power outages.
This is a hard reality that many Ukrainians face. Advocacy becomes a sociopolitical necessity.
This is why student advocacy matters. All over Canada, students have rallied in support of Ukraine through student-led organizations. From McGill, to the University of Toronto, to the University of Victoria. The student body at SFU is no exception: the Ukrainian Student Society (USS) exists not only to raise awareness, but to actively counter discrimination, preserve historical context, and transform care into action (such as fundraising). In a media environment, where the situation is depicted as “complicated,” this student-led space provides verifiable information, education, and human support. Through events, lectures, cultural programming, and organizing, it allows us to keep Ukraine present, as a lived and ongoing reality.
Advocacy helps counter feelings of helplessness. Seeing others speak up, post, organize, and become a voice for the Ukrainian people restores a sense of hope, reminding us we are not alone.
Student-led advocacy is practical solidarity. The USS collaborates with organizations like All-Ukrainian Association “Patriot,” which supports adults and children affected by the war and assists Ukraine’s defence efforts through humanitarian initiatives. It also works with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which represents Canada’s Ukrainian community, advocates for their interests before the government, and strengthens cultural and political linkages with Ukraine. Advocacy can produce positive, tangible impacts. Cultural preservation happens not only through memory, also through active support and community mobilization.
Russia’s war on Ukraine is about more than territory. It is a matter of whose history survives, whose culture continues, and whose future is allowed to exist. By organizing, educating, and sustaining Ukrainian culture overseas, the community resists erasure in real and meaningful ways. Student advocacy is not just a symbolic support; it is a real defence of identity, culture, and justice.
