Ukrainian churches in Montreal are overwhelmed with donations and some are impatiently waiting to be able to redistribute what they have collected. While very few Ukrainians have set foot on Canadian soil so far, the majority of the material collected will for the time being be sent to Ukraine by highly organized solidarity networks.
” Thank you for your support. At this point we need to stop accepting merchandise for Ukrainian refugees due to lack of space in our building. Until very recently, this is the message recorded in various languages that was heard when calling the Ukrainian Church of the Assumption-of-the-Blessed-Virgin-Mary in Montreal.
Michael Shwec, president of the Quebec section of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, is not surprised and says he is “touched” by the generosity of Quebecers. The problem of the lack of space is already solved. “We are signing today for a warehouse, a gift that we were given,” he explains. “It’s another one of those little miracles. »
In his small parish on Rosemont Boulevard, Ihor Kutash, priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Sainte-Marie-la-Protectrice, says he receives up to 50 calls a day from people who wish to make a donation. “We are a small parish, so we redirect people to the Ukrainian Caisse populaire Desjardins or to the cathedral [orthodoxe ukrainienne] Hagia Sophia,” he says. “We don’t have the capacity to receive everything, so we help each other, instead of competing with each other. »
According to Eugène Czolij, Honorary Consul of Ukraine, aid is mainly relayed by two main networks, that of the Ukrainian World Congress and that of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, each of which has its own foundation. “In both cases, the aid received will first be directed to Ukraine,” he explained. “Both have networks which take quite high risks and which, despite the bombardments, reach hospitals and homes, while many international aid companies are waiting for humanitarian corridors to be created”, explains- he. “These operations are extremely courageous people. »
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress Foundation, created in 2014 for the Crimean War, knows the terrain well and has a solid network of contacts, abounds Michael Shwec. “Right now, you can get killed if you take a corridor [humanitaire], and organizations know it. But Ukrainian organizations are motivated to go to a place, even if it is dangerous. These are their lands, they know the ways and can do more,” he says. He invites people to consult the Quebec section of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to find out how and what to give.
Present in Canada since 2005, the nearly century-old Catholic Association for Aid to the Orient (CNEWA) will also take care of shipping to Ukraine – or rather to Poland, since Ukraine does not fly over who wants – a good part of the donations collected in the churches of Montreal. These days, trucks transport the collected goods to Toronto, where flights have been chartered at the expense of generous donors, explains Mr. Shwec.
For Ukrainians here
The other part of the donations collected, in particular by one of the eight Ukrainian churches in Montreal, will be used to welcome Ukrainians who could set foot on Quebec soil in the coming weeks. The federal government is due to launch the “Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization” on Thursday, which is expected to be a simplified form to allow Ukrainians to come to Canada on a temporary basis.
With this program, in addition to a family reunification permanent immigration program that is being developed, “we expect the number of arrivals to increase,” said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC ). The Legault government indicated last week that it would add its own criteria for family reunification, in agreement with Ottawa.
But it is difficult to say whether Ukrainians will come in large numbers. “I wanted to know what programs will be adopted by the two levels of government, and we are in a fairly gray area. In this context, it is difficult to predict”, recognizes Eugène Czolij. “The Prime Minister said he was going to find solutions to welcome Ukrainians quickly, but it’s one thing to say it and it’s another to do it. In terms of logistics, it’s huge. »
Mr. Czolij nevertheless believes that the donation campaign is perfectly justified. “Things are going fast in Ukraine. Neighboring countries are beginning to be saturated. What if there are too many donations for the number of Ukrainians who will eventually arrive? “We have no worries with that,” assured Michael Shwec. “It will be useful for other communities. There are always needs for newcomers. »