“Those of us who are outside, we have a duty to speak”: How a North American summit brings together Belarusians abroad

Political organising is now almost impossible in Belarus, with people regularly sent to jail for social media activities and making or accepting donations. Despite these draconian measures, Belarusians around the world continue to fight and plan for a democratic future. 

North America has long been a stronghold of the Belarusian democratic tradition. Following the Second World War, refugees, immigrants, and exiles founded organisations to preserve Belarusian culture and advocate for a free Belarus. In her book on Belarusian music and national identity — Of Mermaids and Rock Singers — Maria Paula Survilla recollects growing up in Canada’s Belarusian community. She writes: “Beyond family and community experience, being Belarusian also meant asserting a Belarusian identity in the public sphere […] As a result, Belarusian youth not only danced Belarusian dances but learned what lobbying meant.”

The tradition continues to this day. This past September, the 35th Summit of Belarusians in North America took place in Toronto and the neighbouring Canadian city of Oakville. It was organised by the Belarusian Canadian Alliance (BCA) and the Belarusian-American Association (BAZA), both founded in the 1940s. This year’s summit was also supported by the Association of Belarusians in America, a more recent organisation that is active in 25 cities in the US. 

The format of the event aimed to bring together different generations of the diaspora. The first day focused on interactive panel discussions with coffee breaks to provide opportunities for networking. The second day took a more traditional approach, with longer lectures on topics related to Belarusian history and culture. The event was attended by Belarusians living in Canada and the US, and for the first time, the summit also included guests from Europe. Participation by Andrej Stryzhak from the Lithuanian-based BYSOL and Veranika Stankevič from Volnyja, which is registered in Poland, confirm the increasingly global nature of Belarusian advocacy. 

Lossi 36 interviewed Alena Liavonchanka, Secretary of the Board of the Belarusian Canadian Alliance and Chair of the organising committee for the summit to learn more about the summit and the strategies they have used to organise Belarusians outside of Belarus and connect with different generations of the diaspora. 

The friendly and informative phone conversation started with a pronunciation lesson. For readers at home, the word “Belarusian” doesn’t rhyme with “Prussian.” Instead, soft vowels and a sleek s yield: Biel-a-ru-see-yan.

Why is it important to bring together Belarusians living abroad?

AL: Right now, Belarus is in a very difficult situation. We have an authoritarian regime. There is very little people can do inside of the country to support democracy, human rights, to show their anti-war position, or to help people who fight. For any slight action, even a repost or a “like,” or a comment on social media, people get arrested and have been put in jail for several years. Not just fined or warned but actual terms in jail. So those of us who are outside, we have a duty to speak and we have a duty to tell the world what is happening in Belarus. 

Also we have a duty to do the planning: How are we going to change the situation? What is the path to a free, democratic Belarus? Because it’s going to be a difficult transition. The Belarusian diaspora, sadly, has grown. There are different estimates but between 300,000 and 500,000 people have left Belarus since 2020. It’s bad for the country but it’s a challenge — a good challenge — for the diaspora because those people have to organise themselves. 

It’s the first time there has been a conscious, self-reflective Belarusian diaspora in Europe. In Canada and the US, it’s been very strong and very organised after World War Two. That’s when most Belarusian organisations were created in Canada, the US, and Britain. But in Europe — like Poland, Lithuania, Eastern European countries — there was no such thing as a Belarusian diaspora. And now it’s actually more prominent and more active there.

With all of those changes in Europe, what were the goals for the 35th Summit of Belarusians in North America?

AL: For us it was two things. First, it was important to continue the tradition of summits between the US and Canada because that’s where the history is. That’s where the historical mission of defending the vision of a free, independent Belarus started out after the [Second World] war. But also it’s important to start collaboration with the European diaspora. They are very numerous but they don’t always know the traditions that exist so we had to share best practices.

What are some of those best practices? 

AL: So number one is to have a formal organisation. When people flee the country, it’s the last thing on their mind. They care about their family, their jobs, their security, their safety. The last thing on their list is to get organised and to support the community. I keep telling everyone — if you think about the future you have to get organised, you have to register your organisation. It could be a non-profit, it could be a group, it could be through the church. Look into the by-laws in your new country and get organised, get registered. Even five, ten people, that’s enough. 

Number two is communication. This is exactly why we do this conference. It’s important to meet people, to talk, to exchange opinions. Because very often what happens is that people leave their country, they are new, they assimilate into their new country. But then when the moment comes — like 2020 with the Belarusian protests, nobody knew what to do! Honestly, the whole diaspora was taken aback. Because there were not many interactions, not much communication. I met a lot of people online. So we need to maintain communication and maintain cooperation.

Number three was to think together. When people think “politics” they always think — oh let politicians do it, it’s a dirty job, it’s so shady. But my goal was to get different groups of people together. For example, we had entrepreneurs, we had artists, we had businesses. So people like that are important. Even if you’re not getting elected, even if you’re not making policies. Right now in Belarus there is not much that we can do, but it’s important that people from different backgrounds discuss options and share perspectives.  

For the first time in the history of this event we had guests from Europe. Like I said, because the European Belarusian diaspora is getting organised. So we had members of the Association of Belarusian Businesses Abroad. It was really nice to have them. We also had journalists from Europe. We had a Belsat journalist, Siarhei Padsasonny, he’s their lead of news reporting. The second journalist was Aliaksandr Ivulin, he actually served two years in prison. I respect him immensely because obviously he went through a very traumatic experience but he came back to his journalism, his reporting. He also does sports and supports Belarusian [athletes] who are in exile.

Based on the summit, what do you think is needed to bridge the different generations of the diaspora? You’ve talked about the organisations that started in the 1940s but also the more recent organisations and groups of people who left the country since 2020.

AL: I think the first line of action is to have more meetings, have discussions face to face. Because that’s how you realise the feeling is the same for the old generation and the new generation. We want our country to be a normal, European country where you have freedom of speech, where you can elect your government, where you can have a normal life and be sure your country is not starting a war.

What were attendees talking about in terms of that path forward, towards a more normal country?

AL: The first topic of discussion was how the diaspora can help Belarus and Ukraine. Like I said, our hands are tied. The country is pretty much sealed off right now. You cannot transfer money via official channels. So our mission is to communicate with Western countries, with governments, media, independent institutions and explain that Belarus is not Russia. 

The second topic was about helping people who escaped. Because after 2020 there was a big influx of people and then [again] after the plane was grounded in 2021. Another massive wave, which is still happening, came after 2022 with the full scale invasion of Ukraine. Several families called me personally. For example if the wife is Ukrainian or the husband is Ukrainian, and the other partner is Belarusian, they cannot go back to Belarus now. Because in your passport if you have a record that you have a spouse from Ukraine, you will be arrested and interrogated and maybe you can go to jail. So that’s a big problem and we need to help those people. 

Practically, that’s what we can do. As the Secretary of BCA — and our organisation in general — we always help to connect with MPs. We write letters of support when people seek refugee status in Canada. People need to have normal lives, they need to have protection. They need to survive these tough times because every person matters for the future. I strongly believe that.

The third topic was about the media and about how we can present Belarus in the media. I can give you one example. My close friend here in [the Canadian province of] Ontario, Olya Ianovskaia, founded a publishing company, Grunwald Publishing. Using her own time and resources, she translated and published a book. It is a Belarusian classic from the 20th century — it’s called Two Souls, written by Maksim Haretski. It was well received, so she’s going to make it her mission to translate as many Belarusian books as possible. 

What do you wish more people knew about Belarus?

AL: I think we are trapped in that part of the name of the country — “rus.” Because Russians kind of monopolised it so when you hear “rus” you immediately think of Russia. In fact, this word “rus” comes from the time when Vikings arrived in what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and the Western part of Russia and started settling there and making cities and conquering states. I wish people knew that it doesn’t mean that we’re Russian. 

We’re part of this common space and political entity that is very much ignored in the West right now: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuanians are proud of it and rightly so. But all of Belarus and parts of Ukraine were also part of that history. It was a part of Europe, on the frontier of European culture and on the border with Russia. Nothing changes, we fought bloody wars with Russia when they were still Muscovites and they were trying to conquer those lands. It was us and the Ukrainians who really stood up and fought and lost a lot of people. So I wish people appreciated our roots and understood why our people do not want to fight Ukraine.

With all of that history in mind, what do you hope attendees of the summit took away with them after the weekend? 

AL: Most importantly it’s new connections. Really it’s this feeling of presence and physically knowing someone. You trust someone because you sat with them, you looked them in the eye. I hope that there will be more events like this. Because we’re all used to events organised by big institutions like human rights non-profits, different academic institutions. I just wanted to show that any organisation can do their own event. They don’t need to wait for someone to organise it for them! 

We can talk, we can formulate thoughts, we can influence other people and step by step, it’s going to work. It’s amazing to me how much people care, they put their money and thoughts and free time into this idea of a free Belarus. That’s actually what gives me hope. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.