As one Ukrainian family is settling into a new life in Northern Ontario, another is scheduled to arrive within the next few days.
Dmytro Pustova, his son Aleksandr and wife Iryna arrived in Sault Ste. Marie at the end of May. It was a months-long journey and an escape from two war-torn countries.
When Russian tanks entered Ukraine on March 24, Dmyro and Iryna were preparing to wrap up a vacation to Sri Lanka, with tickets booked long in advance to fly back to Kyiv on the 26th. At the same time, 17-year-old Aleksandr was still in Kyiv.
Too young to stay behind and fight, Aleksandr and his cousin eventually made their way to the border with Poland and eventually met up with his father and step-mother in Sri Lanka.
“We were so very lucky because me and my cousin were 17 and after 18 you cannot leave the country, it’s so hard,” said Aleksandr. “They were checking me for more than one hour.”
As the family was deciding on its next move, the unthinkable happened. Just weeks after war broke out at home, political unrest began in their temporary safe haven in Sri Lanka.
“When we [learned] about this program in Canada for Ukrainian citizens we applied the documents and we got visas very fast, for 10 days, but next question how to get to Canada,” said Iryna. “The tickets were very expensive and all of the money we had became less because the currency changed very fast.”
Dmytro said he knew very little about Canada before making the move.
The family made its way to the airport out of Sri Lanka while that country was in crisis.
“We didn’t have any petrol to get to the airport, we asked friends for a few litres of petrol,” said Iryna. “We didn’t come with luggage, just with hand baggage.”
Prior to leaving, the family spent time researching Canada through Google and Facebook groups.
The couple owns a small post-production house in Kiev. As Iryna was researching places to settle, Dmytro was seeking work in his field of 3D animation.
In a twist of fate, both Dmytro and Iryna landed across the name Robert Peace in their searches, Rolling Pictures’ community relations director for the company’s Sault Ste. Marie operations and someone who recently spent time in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission.
“There’s a lot of things that give you goosebumps, how small the world is, how things happen and how just talking about things ends up connecting people in this global thing,” said Robert. “One of the stories I always heard when I was over in Ukraine was Ukrainians were going on to Facebook, on to social media, and there were sites set up for people who were inviting people — mostly in Europe, but some in Canada.”
Dmytro and Iryna used one such Facebook group to find Becca Leigh, who had posted on the group seeking a Ukrainian family to stay with her.
“Thanks to Becca we have [a] house, we have what to wear because we didn’t have nothing with us. Thanks to Canadian people,” said Dmytro.
Peace said he is working on getting Dmytro employed in his field of 3D animation and possibly teaching through an initiative in the works between Rolling Pictures, the city and Sault College.
“We need those senior people that we don’t have here right now. New people are coming into the community and are able to provide that, it’s going to be so dynamic,” he said. “We are just starting to talk about a lot of amazing programs that we are going to do. We are definitely getting into the educational part.”
In the meantime, 17-year-old Aleksandr was the first in the family to be employed in Canada.
“I [got] a job in the Peace restaurant on Queen Street. I wash dishes only two days a week but I hope after a few months I can get more time,” he said.
Despite sharing a name, Robert Peace is not affiliated with the restaurant.
A Ukrainian mother and son are expected to arrive Friday or Saturday in Echo Bay, says pastor Carl Moulton from Lighthouse Church in Blind River. They arrived in Canada on Sunday.
The Ukrainian mother and daughter who were initially expected to arrive in Echo Bay eventually decided to move to Georgia, where there was another family member.
The mother and son will be staying with Heather Clouston-Goslow in Echo Bay, the woman who was initially set to host the mother and daughter. Clouston-Goslow was not available to be interviewed for this story.
Moulton said his church has raised $5,000 to go to the mother and son when they arrive and an additional $1,600 that will go to Clouston-Goslow to cover some of her expenses.
“I have job interviews lined up for them when they get here, but that’s not guaranteed they are going to be hired, but in all likelihood they will,” said Moulton.
The church also has $1,200 set aside for the next Ukrainian family in need who comes along.
“To be clear, we are not personally looking for families. If the host contacts us and asks for us to help them, then we step in and help them to raise funds,” said Moulton.
The next hurdle for Moulton is securing a reliable used vehicle for the mother and son.
“They may take the $5,000 and use it to get a vehicle so they can get back and forth to work. We don’t tell them what to do with that money, it’s up to them,” said Moulton.
He said the congregation is excited to be doing something to help.
“They are excited to be able to do something. We don’t know if they will ever come to our church because that’s not why we did it,” said Moulton. “We always do kindness with no strings attached. They may come, they may not. They don’t have to prove that they need the $5,000 — it’s theirs. We do know this — they are only coming with a suitcase. They are not coming with a truckload of stuff, they are coming with a suitcase, so they are going to need stuff.”
Asked if there is anything they need in the Sault, Dmytro and Iryna said they are comfortable, but are eager to help anyone else from their country who comes to Sault Ste. Marie.
“We can earn money. We have health, we have legs, we have peace,” said Iryna.
“We prefer if someone wants to help Ukrainians they help Ukrainians who really need that,” said Dmytro. “If some newcomers from Ukraine will be here in the Sault, they can easily call to us and we can help them with everything. Conversation, if they don’t know English as well, things like that. We can help them with survival and living here.”
Iryna said the family is happy they decided to go to a smaller city instead of choosing Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
“We miss so much (in) our country because living here is almost the same (kind of) society. Everybody is so friendly for us and here we don’t have any problems,” she said. “My advice to the Ukrainian people is don’t try to take the big fish in big cities. Try to find your life in small society.”
