Sudbury residents open their homes to welcome Ukrainian refugees

Sudbury's Marilyn Vervega has spent hours on the phone, and in Skype calls, each week with extended family and friends from Ukraine who want to come to Canada.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 an estimated four million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced within the country.

A large number of them, like Vervega's extended family members, have fled to nearby countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, or have traveled further into western Europe, to countries like Germany.

"Because they're running they packed up their suitcase, they grabbed what documentation they could and they fled with that," she said about some extended family members who are staying in the Czech Republic for now.

Vervega is among hundreds of people in Greater Sudbury who have volunteered to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees. Many of them have connections to the region, or are part of churches and community groups that are raising funds to bring people over.

Daniel Diamond, president of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada's Sudbury chapter, said he has received hundreds of calls from people who want to help in any way they can.

"A lot of churches get involved when they know the people are actually coming," he said. "We're trying to get a list of people who are willing to do that. We're receiving telephone calls from I think it's maybe 100 people at this point willing to house people."

Canada has received more than 51,000 applications to date from Ukrainians looking to flee their wartorn country.

Sudbury MP Vivianne Lapointe said around 12,000 refugees have arrived in Canada so far, but none have settled in Greater Sudbury.

Despite this, Lapointe said she has been in contact with groups like the Ukrainian Seniors' Centre in Sudbury and the Multicultural Society to help facilitate those arrivals.

"Where they have family members here in Canada, that's where they want to go," Lapointe said.

"They want to stay in places where there's an established Ukrainian community. So in the case of Sudbury, we have that. So we could very well expect that there will be some people from Ukraine coming to Sudbury."

Vervega said she has spent hours in calls with family members to help them complete Canadian immigration documents, which she said can be complicated when English is not your first language.

"So now that group they're the point, they want to go back to Ukraine," she said about a group living in cramped quarters in the Czech Republic.

"I wasn't sleeping. I said, 'Now you want to go back into Ukraine, you're going back to a warzone.'"

Vervega said there are too many barriers in place that make it difficult for Ukrainians to emigrate to Canada.

"It's the process," she said. "It's long, it's lengthy, it's timely to get this done."

To help speed up the process, the Canadian government set up the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel, which grants Ukrainian nationals a 10-year visitor visa. Once they arrive in Canada, they can also apply for an open work permit.

I always felt connected with neighbouring countries.- Joanna Jania

Joanna Jania, of Lively, Ont., grew up in Poland and said she feels a kinship with the people of Ukraine.

"I always felt connected with neighbouring countries," she said. "I spent almost a year in university in Warsaw studying Western European studies. So that was something I was always interested in."

Through social media, Jania discovered a group called Aftermath Network Canada, which was started by another Polish-Canadian named Sabrina Steczko, who is based in Ottawa.

Steczko will host a family from Ukraine starting in April, and Jania has added her name to a list to open her Lively home to a family as well.

"So our home is not big but we have two extra bedrooms," she said. "We are easy-going. We are open for one person or a mom with kids."

Local businesses have also stepped up to help Ukrainian refugees settle in Greater Sudbury.

The IVEY Group is a Sudbury-based international recruitment company that has several employees who are originally from Ukraine.

"So we have 40 to 50 Ukrainian workers in Canada whose families are still in Ukraine, or in Poland, somewhere over there," said Antonio Lopez, one of IVEY Group's owners. "So we've launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for their flights and pay for their accommodations."

Due to its expertise in immigration, Lopez said the company is helping those family members with their paperwork at no extra cost.