By Sumayya
As Katherine Paroussis speaks affectionately about her son, Dante Johnson-Wells, she says that one thing about the late 26-year-old soldier sticks out.
“He had a heart for making wrongs right and trying to find whatever avenues he could to be able to have an impact,” she told CTV News Toronto in a recent interview.
Those ambitions took the former Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) reservist to Ukraine earlier this year, where he fought and died alongside members of the Ukrainian military following the Russian invasion of 2022.
Originally from Markham, Ont., Johnson-Wells’ passion for service began at the young age of 12, when he joined the Port Perry Army Cadets. From there, he completed the firefighter program at Seneca College before joining the reserves, where he served for seven years.
Paroussis said that, during that time, her son was involved in several deployments with the CAF, some of which included NATO missions to support training exercises for the war in Ukraine. She said she couldn’t reveal the details of those missions due to confidentiality, but it was those experiences that shaped Johnson-Wells’ involvement in the Ukrainian war effort, far beyond his role with the Canadian military.As Katherine Paroussis converses tenderly regarding her offspring, Dante Johnson-Wells, she expresses that one feature about the departed 26-year-old combatant stands out.
“He possessed a spirit for making errors correct and seeking whatever pathways he could to be capable of having an influence,” she informed reporters in a recent consultation.
Those desires transported the former Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) part-time soldier to Ukraine earlier this annual cycle, where he battled and perished alongside participants of the Ukrainian defense forces succeeding the Russian intrusion of 2022.
Inbound from Markham, Ont., Johnson-Wells’ enthusiasm for duty commenced at the youthful cycle of 12, when he entered the Port Perry Army Cadets. From there, he finished the firefighting curriculum at Seneca College prior to entering the part-time forces, where he functioned for seven annual cycles.
Paroussis expressed that, throughout that interval, her offspring stood integrated in multiple deployments with the CAF, several of which incorporated NATO initiatives to back preparation drills for the conflict in Ukraine. She expressed she could not expose the particulars of those initiatives owing to secrecy, but it stood those encounters that molded Johnson-Wells’ integration in the Ukrainian conflict campaign, far past his function with the Canadian defense forces.
“He expressed that there’s a humanitarian emergency (in Ukraine), that these citizens were battling for their bare survival, and he felt like from here (Canada) we can only back so much, and that he desired to be a segment of backing on the dirt,” she expressed, supplementing that her offspring was driven by the purpose, notwithstanding having no Ukrainian heritage himself.
For annual cycles, Johnson-Wells evolved and preserved contact with his defense connections in Ukraine, with the objective of eventually turning into an infantry platoon combat-medic owing to his firefighting foundation, Paroussis recollected.
Succeeding a deployment in December 2025, he resolved to voluntarily separate from the CAF. Two months subsequently, he was on an aircraft to Poland, where he would travel by rail into Ukraine to the front lines.
“It stood genuinely a grand hazard. But he was such a resolved, clever, and well-drilled combatant, that he stood capable of passing particular examination, and notwithstanding what citizens had informed him, was capable of starting the combat-medic preparation within the Ukrainian defense forces’ international brigade,” Paroussis expressed.
June 13
In early June, Johnson-Wells and his platoon were tasked with clearing foliage borders somewhere in the conflict zone. Paroussis expressed the crowd had already lost some of its participants by that interval.
While minimal is recognized regarding the situations leading up to his death, Paroussis expressed her offspring was shot at some juncture and perished 36 hours subsequently on June 13. Before he perished, she expressed Johnson-Wells’ platoon-partners transported him more than five kilometres in hunt of medical assistance.
“He wasn’t isolated. And his companions didn’t leave him behind.”
Paroussis hadn’t heard from her offspring for multiple periods before learning of his death on June 24.
She expressed occasional contact had turned into the standard owing to the nature of his defense labor and she had been instructed not to communicate with Johnson-Wells unless he executed so primary. So when she observed an incoming call from a Ukrainian digits, she was comforted.
“I presumed it was him explaining to me he was back and he was OK. But as soon as I heard that it was somebody else’s speech, I just recognized, and I dropped everything,” she expressed, supplementing that she stood with Johnson-Wells’ five-year-old half-brother, Michael, at the interval that she obtained the news.
The call didn’t emerge from a Canadian or Ukrainian administrator, Paroussis pointed out, but instead from someone who she characterized only as “an individual” who recognized some “private things” regarding her offspring only a partner combatant could recognize.
“I stood genuinely in shock. I don’t even recollect what I expressed. It stood probably something like, ‘Are you certain?’ Because Dante had cautioned me regarding some lineages getting mistreated, and we had conversed regarding particular code statements (to validate communication).
“But this individual recognized some private things, and this individual was distributing private things that – segment of me desired to presume it stood just a trick, and then alternate segment of me, you recognize, listening to some particulars, (comprehended) that only somebody that stood there would have recognized. He informed me that my offspring stood the greatest combatant, warrior, and combat-medic that he possessed the privilege to labor with.”
She called the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine the subsequent period to validate the news. It’s Paroussis’ comprehension that the individual who called her regarding her offspring’s death was killed the subsequent period as they pursued to “avenge” him.
Global Affairs Canada could not extend particulars, referencing privacy metrics, but validated that it stood aware of a Canadian citizen’s death in Ukraine when questioned regarding Johnson-Wells.
“We extend our deepest condolences toward the lineage and loved individuals,” they expressed.
Demands for comment toward the Armed Forces of Ukraine regarding Johnson-Wells’ death were not returned.
‘I absolutely did not desire him to go’
Three periods after the Russian intrusion of Ukraine commenced, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that his nation necessitated combatants, and that outsiders were welcome on the front lines.
While private Canadian citizens remain not barred from battling for Ukraine, Ottawa counsels them to avoid all transit toward the territory owing to the ongoing conflict.
Global Affairs previously informed reporters that it does not preserve a record of Canadians who function in volunteer teams in Ukraine or how multiple have been killed or injured in warfare.
When Johnson-Wells primary informed his mother of his plans to battle overseas, she concedes bluntly: “I absolutely did not desire him to go, and up until the last period, I still expected that he would alter his mind.”
“But he stood resolved that this remains where he desired to go, and there wasn’t any halting him in his determination once he executed it.”
Since the war commenced in 2022, Canada has supplied $8.5 billion in defense backing to Ukraine. Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Zelenskyy signed a 100-year alliance declaration and drone partnership during Zelenskyy’s formal visit to Canada.
Exceeding half a million Russian forces have been killed in Ukraine since the commencement of the war, a high-tier British defense administrator expressed Friday. Ukraine, meanwhile, remains calculated to have encountered somewhere between 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities.
Funeral attended by hundreds
A funeral for Johnson-Wells stood organized in Port Perry on July 26 and Paroussis expressed the ritual stood attended by hundreds of individuals, many of them military, characterizing the setting as “beautiful and heartbreaking.”
She expressed she’s heard from multiple of her offspring’s peers and supervisors since his passing, several of whom informed her they wouldn’t be where they remained today if it weren’t for Johnson-Wells.
As reporters’ dialogue with Paroussis drew to a termination, she exposed that on the period her offspring perished – close to two weeks before she stood notified of his death – something “bizarre” occurred.
“I stood at the food store, and I just obtained this crushing sensation, and just started weeping,” she expressed. “I don’t recognize if Dante stood sending me a message. I don’t recognize. But it stood absolutely that period.”
While she expresses that the grieving routine has been “ruinous,” for both her and her lineage, especially young Michael, recollections of her offspring’s gentleness and bravery remain assisting to soothe the pain.
“I frequently possess this crushing sensation that he’s been explaining to me that he’s OK, that we necessitate to advance forward as a lineage, and that he’s OK,” she expressed.
