Natalia arrived in Dorval with her suitcase last April. Half contained toys of her youngest daughter, Kateryna. Like any mother who distributes bread to her family and keeps only the crumbs, she left all the space in her suitcase to her daughter, who had difficulty leaving her country, her toys, her clothes, her friends. and his teachers for a new unknown country. She had already left Donetsk in 2014, during the first Russian invasion of Ukraine, and still had scars and nightmares from this passage. Moving again? In this country where neither Russian nor Ukrainian is spoken. But why ? And why can’t dad come with us? And my cat Barsik?
Natalia chose Quebec, unlike the majority of Ukrainians who prefer Toronto or Western Canada. On Facebook, the recommendations are unanimous: the cost of living is more expensive there, but you can find work there by getting by in English. Learning French, after all the stress and trauma of war, is not among the most coveted hobbies of Ukrainians. But not for Natalia. She thinks it would be great if her daughters spoke four languages. In addition, she fell in love with Quebec when she saw, in the internationally popular South Korean soap opera The Lonely Shining God – Goblin, a scene in which we can see the Château Frontenac.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY ANNICK PILON
scene of The Lonely Shining God – Goblin, where you can see the Château Frontenac
We saw Natalia’s post on a Facebook group of Ukrainian arrivals looking for accommodation. We offered to host him with his two daughters in our house in Laval. She gave us a taste of borsch, a typical Ukrainian beet-based soup, and her traditional family salad with chicken, pineapple, corn, hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise. We made him taste our turkey and cranberry sauce at Christmas and our chicken wings at the Super Bowl.
We discovered to our great surprise that several French words are very similar in Russian… Apparently this is explained by the visit of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great to France in 1717. He returned to Russia with French engineers and artists and French words became very fashionable at this time in various fields.
Natalia and her older daughter Hanna, who completed a university degree in Ukraine, have been taking full-time French lessons since last June, offered by the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration. Hanna progressed at lightning speed. It must be said that there is nothing like the language of love. She has a pure Quebec lover from Bas-Saint-Laurent. What better way to speed up your French learning.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANNICK PILON
Natalia with her daughters Hanna (left) and Kateryna upon their arrival at Montreal airport last April. They were welcomed by the family of Annick Pilon.
They have been in Canada for almost a year now. It’s been a year since this horrible, disgusting war began. Do world wars really have to last an average of five years with millions of deaths? When you watch all those WWII films and when you visit the Anne Frank House or the Dachau camp, or any other war museum around the world, you think it was terrible , but we reassure ourselves somewhere by saying that this is the story of the past and that fortunately, it will never happen again.
However, history is now being written before our eyes: all these crimes, these horrors, this destruction, these sacrificed human lives, these tortured humans, these separated families and the traumas of these 14 million displaced or exiled Ukrainians, c is senseless and unacceptable. While we would like the world to unite to fight climate change, viruses, or access to drinking water, we see our common billions invested in armaments and destruction. What a waste!
Every gesture counts
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the atrocity of this war. Yet we, as privileged Canadians, have a duty to help our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Every little gesture counts. Today I call on all business leaders and human resource managers to hire more Ukrainians. Set yourself a business goal and add that to your dashboard. Nearly 200,000 Ukrainians have already arrived in Canada on work visas and hundreds of thousands more have received their visas. They are educated, hardworking and motivated. How many have you hired? To offer them work is to offer them at least temporary stability in a world that has made them lose their footing.
To all Ukrainians, know that all Quebecers and Canadians love and support you. It will be rebuilt, this Ukraine, even more beautiful, stronger and free. In the meantime, you are welcome here.