Despite its 1.80 m, the piles of boxes in the nave of the Ukrainian church of Saint-Michel, in Montreal, stare Marta Zybko. “You’ll see, people are starting to arrive and then it doesn’t stop,” explains the one who coordinates the team of volunteers. A small dozen are already agitated, from 9 am. Two answer the phone. They say they receive around 50 calls a day: “People are asking how to help those at the front, help families, and what they need. »
For now, the church is focusing on donations to be sent to Ukraine. “They first go to Poland, then leave in Ukrainian government convoys. There are 40 million people left there, they have to be fed. We take cans of tuna and a lot of bandages. Many Ukrainians here are concerned about what is happening. »
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More than 1.35 million Canadians are of Ukrainian origin (nearly 4% of the total population). The ties between the two countries are old. During the first wave of immigration, between 1891 and 1914, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, 170,000 Ukrainians arrived in Canada. Many responded to the call in 1896 for farmers from Eastern Europe to cultivate the prairie region (mid-west), wrested from the First Nations.
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“In 1969, during the commission of inquiry on bilingualism and biculturalism, Ukrainians wanted to be considered as the third culture, as one of the founding peoples! », says Harold Bérubé, professor of history at the University of Sherbrooke, in Quebec. Other waves will follow after each world war. An immigration marked, however, by trauma: many Ukrainians were interned during the First World War, because they were considered “subjects of an enemy country”citizens of states at war with Canada.
Take loved ones across the Atlantic
“We’ve been here for so many generations, but we’ve never cut the cord,” smiled Anna Tatsenko, her blue eyes shining. « CThis is also why the situation in Ukraine hurts us so much. » She takes care of her compatriots who seek refuge in Canada. Ottawa launched a welcome program on March 17 that offers temporary three-year residency to Ukrainians. This program “eliminates most application fees and provides expedited and priority processing”according to Global Affairs Canada (the Department of Foreign Affairs), which says it has received more than 20,000 applications and supports working “night and day to help Ukrainians (…) coming to Canada ». For Anna, however, the program should be improved. “There are people who call us and who don’t understand. Already, the online form is not in Ukrainian, but in English. Why ? »
→ READ ALSO. At the Polish border, refugees from Ukraine thrown on the exodus route
Once in Canada, she assures that intergenerational assistance will help refugees find work easily. “We will continue to help them feel good here. And work, at the moment, there is everywhere. » The country is indeed facing a labor shortage, and Quebec has just launched an email address for employers who want to recruit Ukrainian refugees. According to the newspaper The Press, as of March 24, 4,733 of them have arrived on Canadian soil since the beginning of the war. And the country expects to see tens of thousands arrive in the coming weeks.
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