‘Good year of transition’ Anniversary of Ukrainian influx met with appreciation, support By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 19, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/05/2023 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Back home in Ukraine, Svitlana Koieva was working as a nurse before becoming a pharmacist.

Now, months after Koieva left the war-torn country and arrived in Winnipeg, she is working slicing meat and helping customers at a local deli and meat market.

She couldn’t be happier.

“I have a job,” Koieva said. “It was a happy moment for me that, after three or four weeks being here, you have a job. A lot of people who come here don’t have a job for three or four months.

“My husband and I expected what it would be like. I knew I would need to start my life from zero — I knew that.”

Koieva is one of thousands of Ukrainians who have left their homeland to come to Manitoba to start a new life — or at least begin a temporary one — since Russia invaded its neighbour more than a year ago.

On May 23, 2022, a federal government-funded planeload of Ukrainians touched down in Winnipeg. Since then, even though Ukrainians now have to pay all or a portion of their airfares to Canada, there has been a steady flow of potential new residents.

Statistics provided by the Manitoba government show, by the second week of May, more than 21,900 Ukrainians had presented themselves to the reception and welcoming centre at Winnipeg’s airport.

As well, more than 16,550 reimbursement claims (for the costs of the federal immigration medical examination, required on entry) have been processed.

And, in what officials say is a somewhat accurate statistic of how many Ukraine newcomers have stayed in Manitoba, the province has issued about 18,000 health cards in the last year.

“Manitoba continues to lead the country in providing a full range of settlement supports and services to Ukrainians fleeing this brutal war of aggression,” a provincial government spokeswoman said. “On a per capita basis, more Ukrainians have sought refuge in Manitoba than in any other province… roughly 14 per cent of all arrivals are coming to Manitoba.”

Koieva, who arrived in Manitoba with her husband and family dog on July 1, said her spouse was an industrial mechanic in Ukraine and was able to get a similar job here.

But not her. She worked as a nurse for 11 years, before going back to school and graduating with a pharmacy degree. She worked as a pharmacist for three years before coming to Canada.

Unfortunately, while Koieva admits she dreams about someday working as a pharmacist again, she knows her qualifications aren’t sufficient in Manitoba, so she had to look for a job to help pay the bills.

Working in the deli was initially tough and it took her a couple of months before it became comfortable, she said.

“It is a skill,” Koieva said. “I felt a lot of support from my colleagues.”

Sausage Makers Delicatessen has hired eight Ukrainian refugees full-time, and — for the first time in years — has a full complement of workers.

“Thirty per cent of my staff are Ukrainians,” said Mike Watson, owner of the deli and meat market at 630 Nairn Ave. “This is the first time in a long time we don’t have to hire anyone. We went through two to three years of COVID and the pandemic and it has been difficult to hire staff.

“This is amazing actually. They are wonderful employees.”

Store manager Daria Zozulia is responsible for hiring. Zozulia said she knows what the Ukrainians are facing because, almost a decade ago, she left Crimea and came to Canada when Russia invaded and annexed the area in 2014.

“All of them, 99 per cent of them, didn’t have any experience in sausage making,” Zozulia said. “Most were teachers and lawyers, one a director of agriculture, and one an economist. They’re all doing a great job. We still have people come every day looking for jobs.

“If I could, I would hire dozens of people.”

At Claude Simard Metal Systems Ltd. (which installs metal cladding on buildings), co-owner Joel Simard said he has hired a total of 23 people from Ukraine. A few have left to work elsewhere, he said, but 20 are still there.

“We’re just over 50 employees in total, so they’re a large percentage of our work force,” Simard said. “The Ukrainians I have hired have 100 per cent fully transferable skills.

“They are a perfect fit.”

Kathy Landygo, Ukrainian Canadian Congress volunteer executive assistant and job developer, has been working to help incoming Ukrainians find jobs.

“I started volunteering April 2022, and then the first chartered flight came into Winnipeg,” Landygo said. “Our phone, since that plane landed, has been literally ringing off the hook. I volunteer 40 to 50 hours a week, and I work with 200 to 300 employers.”

The group has found jobs for hundreds of Ukrainians.

“We’ve placed builders in jobs that are $60-per-hour jobs,” she said. “It was such a void. These organizations have had a hard time finding people.”

Not all of the incoming Ukrainians have stayed in Winnipeg. Many have headed to smaller communities, including Steinbach.

When incoming flights began, the community formed a settlement task force, but now, with so many Ukrainians in town, they are taking over the reins.

“We’ve been busy for more than a year,” said Chris Goertzen, task force co-chairman and a former Steinbach mayor. “We’ve helped 85 to 90 families — it is well over 300 people. And now, with so many who have come, they want to help each other out.

“It has been a good year of transition. We’ve seen that community flourish… It has been great we can be that beacon of light for them.”

“It has been a good year of transition. We’ve seen that community flourish… It has been great we can be that beacon of light for them.”–Chris Goertzen, former mayor of Steinbach

Daryna Malyvkh, president of the newly formed Southeast Manitoba Ukrainian Association (and a Ukrainian who left her homeland about seven years ago), said it is now helping more than 150 families.

“It was our decision to move (to Canada),” Malyvkh said. “I fell really bad for these people who have immigrated here. It was not necessarily their first choice.

“Immigration is not for everyone. It is challenging.”

But, overall, Malyvkh said the newcomers are happy in Manitoba.

“I can’t express how appreciative I am for the people who have helped already,” she said. “The task force met everybody’s needs.

“Now, we’re going to give back.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca