City of Ottawa to vote on sending retired ambulance to Ukraine

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A one-time City of Ottawa ambulance may soon be serving on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.

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Coun. Riley Brockington introduced a motion on Wednesday to give one of the city’s surplus ambulances to the Embassy of Ukraine to help “pursue the goal of ensuring adequate condition to provide urgent medical care and to further improve emergency response in Ukraine.”

To do so, council will have to waive a bylaw requiring surplus equipment to be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

The request for an ambulance came from Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, Yuliya Kovaliv, who was a guest last week at the Mayor’s Breakfast. Brockington introduced the motion on behalf of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.

The city has made similar donations of unused ambulances to the Salvation Army, the Government of Nunavut and organizations doing humanitarian work in Ghana and Ethiopia. Brockington’s motion will be voted at a future council meeting.