Advocates prepare to welcome Ukrainian refugees to Steinbach

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This article was published 16/05/2022 (1066 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the first Ukrainian refugees begin to arrive in Steinbach, two community leaders are working behind the scenes to ensure the city is ready to meet their need for food, shelter, employment, and community.

Anna Mondor and Chris Goertzen both say Steinbach is ideally suited to settle refugees arriving from Ukraine, which has been devastated by a Russian military assault now in its third month.

Mondor, Steinbach’s director of economic development, volunteers with Manitoba Operation Blue Skies, a grassroots organization affiliated with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress that is developing a network of businesses, charities, and individuals to support Ukrainians starting a new life in Manitoba.

Her goal is to help lodge up to 50 Ukrainian in Steinbach. Days Inn has offered 15 hotel rooms, and Mondor is also looking for host families who can accommodate a Ukrainian family for at least three months.

Goertzen, a business owner and former mayor, is working with another group toward the similar goals. When the war began, he formed a task force co-chaired by Denis Vassart, a former emergency planning coordinator for Steinbach and Hanover. The task force includes members of the Steinbach and Area Ministerial Association and individuals who emigrated from Ukraine over the past decade.

Goertzen said he was motivated to act because he wanted to ensure arriving refugees “were helped and supported as much as possible.”

The task force’s goal is to ensure arriving Ukrainians know about existing settlement services, from English classes to clothing and food banks to help finding shelter and furniture.

“We know that these resources are already there,” Goertzen explained. “It’s a matter of making sure that newcomers and host families know where they are and connect with them easily.”

Goertzen said a few Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Steinbach, and some have even found work. He said he expects 30 to 40 families to arrive in total.

“We want to be ready,” Goertzen said. “Steinbach and the Southeast region is a very generous area and people want to help. People already have been contacting us wanting to know how they can help, and it’s been wonderful to see.”

The local efforts undertaken by Mondor and Goertzen complement steps taken at the federal and provincial level to welcome Ukrainian refugees.

Ottawa has created the Canadian Ukrainian Authorization for Emergency Travel, which offers Ukrainian nationals and their family members free, extended temporary visas, allowing them to work, study, and stay in Canada until it is safe to return home.

The special visa includes the option to apply for a free open work permit, enabling them to find work as quickly as possible. Manitoba’s provincial nominee program also provides a path to citizenship.

The Manitoba government has bolstered provincial support services and provided $800,000 in direct humanitarian aid to Ukraine. A deputy minister steering committee, and a special task force led by the Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization, were also formed.

Eastman Immigrant Services also received provincial funds for Ukrainian settlement. It is hiring a settlement facilitator to assist Ukrainian newcomers with tasks like applying for ID, drafting resumes, and more.

All the preparatory work will soon be put into action. On Tuesday, Premier Heather Stefanson confirmed a federally chartered flight carrying about 300 Ukrainian refugees will land in Winnipeg as soon as next week. The exact arrival date of the flight, which will departed from Warsaw, Poland, is unknown.

A special reception centre at the Winnipeg airport will provide intake services, temporary accommodations, health care, and referral services to the refugees, the province said in a release. Manitoba Public Insurance will recognize Ukrainian driver’s licences under a new simplified process, the Crown corporation announced Monday.

Then it’s up to regional settlement offices like Eastman Immigrant Services, and supplementary local supports like Goertzen’s task force and Mondor’s Blue Skies organization, to help integrate Ukrainians into the local community.

Goertzen said the reception centre will alert his task force of families who want to settle in the Steinbach area. Mondor said Steinbach is a good home for Ukrainians for many reasons, including its deep Ukrainian roots.

“You can feel the European spirit in the city,” she said.

Steinbach has a settlement office, an affordable cost of living, a strong retail sector, a full suite of essential services, and several large employers in need of labour. Mondor said she wants to get arriving Ukrainians into the labour force right away. She is working with HyLife and Loewen Windows, which she said have pledged to hire an unspecified number of Ukrainian newcomers. Barkman Concrete has also expressed interest.

The advocacy work is personal for both Mondor and Goertzen. In 2003, Mondor came to Canada from Poland, which borders Ukraine and has accepted more than three million refugees since the war began.

“It’s very important to help people,” Mondor said. “That’s the way it should be, and that’s the way I was raised.”

Her father was born in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine that was once part of Poland. She said the two countries have similar cultures.

“Therefore, we treat Ukrainians as our brothers.”

In addition to Ukrainian ancestry, Goertzen has friends in Ukraine and serves on the board of a foundation that provides humanitarian aid there. In 2016, while mayor, he started the sister city program between Steinbach and Zaporizhzhia, a city in southeastern Ukraine.

The devastation in Ukraine has been hard for him to process.

“It’s really difficult to see a country and communities that I know, and people that I know, going through very difficult times, fleeing war, fleeing for their lives, and leaving everything because of that,” he said.

“It’s really sad to see people having to leave everything they have and start over, but that’s what’s happening. This task force that’s been created is wanting to make that transition just a little bit easier.”

Goertzen said those interested in becoming a host family should check with their church or email him at chris@chrisgoertzen.ca.

Those interested in becoming a host family through Blue Skies can email manitobaoperationblueskies@gmail.com.

Blue Skies has also partnered with the Ukrainian Canadian Institute Prosvita in Winnipeg to accept donations for Ukraine. To donate, visit manitoba-operationblueskies.com.