This whole crisis accelerated because Ukraine was on the verge of joining NATO and the Russians moved to stop it, gambling correctly that NATO would avoid a military confrontation with Russia to defend a non-member. The NATO charter does not lend itself to taking that direct of extra-territorial action. In spite of all the propaganda that floats about on the Western Alliance, it is a defensive alliance and not an instrument of expansion. No one joins NATO involuntarily ... The Warsaw Pact ... Well, that was something different.
Without excusing Russia's actions, just remmember Jason Kenney on the streets of Kiev cheering on student protestors who had taken over government ministry headwuarters and criticizing the government for taking lethal action against those students. Thiswas before any Russian action in Ukraine. If we look at it objectively, had student protestors overtaken ministry headquarters in Ottawa-Gatineau, I would have thought the government foolish for not declaring martial law at that stage. Once students take over ministry buildings, that's reasonably a state of national emergency for which lethal force is reasonable.
While I grant that Putin exploited this as a pretext to 'protect Russian speakers' from the anarchy of Ukraine, Kenney and his ilk provided the pretext. Had they not done so, and had they supported Ukraine's decision to take lethal force against students who posed a genuine threat to national stability at that stage, the crisis would probably not have reached a stage that Putin could have used as a pretext.
Canada has a habit of playing double standards in the world and that causes problems like this one. I can guarantee that if that was going on in the streets of Canada, we would have invoked the War Measures Act.