Local host family still waiting for Ukraine refugees amid months-long delay
Their London-area home is ready for them, fitted sheets on beds and all.
Author of the article:Jonathan Juha
Publishing date:Aug 23, 2022
Their London-area home is ready for them, fitted sheets on their beds and all.
But a Ukrainian family fleeing the Russian invasion of their country is stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare with few answers after applying to come to Canada four months ago and their temporary refuge in Poland coming to an end in mere days.
Volodymyr Saiko, his wife Olena and their two-year-old daughter Zlata applied in April to come to Canada with their cat after fleeing their hometown near Mariupol, one of the most bombed cities in Ukraine since the start of the war in February.
Since then, the family has been waiting for a resolution to their visa application, receiving from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) no other answer about their process than they have to keep waiting, said Jody Brouwer, a Strathroy resident who will be hosting the Saikos family.
Brouwer, with the help of neighbours, has repurposed a home she and her husband Ed had for rent to welcome the family.
“The house is ready,” Brouwer said. “We have kept it open for them and our whole neighbourhood . . . helped to furnish the house.
“They have everything they need, we have people lined up to load their fridge full of food . . . but we’re just waiting.”
To make matters worse, the place the Saikos have been renting in Poland was recently sold, meaning they need to find a new home by month’s end.
It’s a challenging task following the humanitarian crisis created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly six months ago. According to the United Nations, more than 6.6 million Ukrainian refugees remain displaced in Europe. Millions more have been uprooted within their own country.
“With all the people that have moved into Poland and have fled the war, it’s harder to find a place,” said Brouwer, who’s also hosting two young Ukrainian students at her home. “Prices are almost triple now.”
Canada has approved the resettlement of tens of thousands of Ukrainians in this country, where they can work and live for up to three years as temporary residents.
Precise numbers are difficult to pinpoint, but it’s thought that dozens of Ukrainian families have settled in the immediate London area, the refugee total in wider Southwestern Ontario numbering in the hundreds.
The Saikos, however, are far from being the only Ukrainians who have had their dreams of coming to Canada marred by bureaucratic delays, said Richard Hone, head of Ukraine Help Middlesex, a grassroots group helping resettle refugees in the London region.
He said the applications of almost all of the more than 100 families the group has helped come to Canada have had hiccups along the way.
“For families, it’s been very unusual to have someone apply and just go straight through,” Hone said. “We’ve seen situations where a child’s application is delayed but the parents are approved; we’ve seen moms and their kids get approved and the dads are still held back.”
Though Hone said he understands the IRCC has procedures to follow, he added he would’ve expected the process to be a lot smoother six months after the start of the war. “Especially since March, you would think that they could work it out,” he said.
Citing privacy concerns, a spokesperson with the IRCC said in an emailed statement the agency won’t discuss specific cases but said their staff “are working around the clock to help Ukrainians and their families get to Canada as quickly and as safely as possible.”
The statement adds: “The time it takes to process an application varies according to a number of factors and more complex applications may take longer.”
As of Aug. 17, IRCC had approved nearly 205,000 applications through its Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program, which streamlines the process for Ukrainian refugees.
As for the Saikos, the wait for their permit to come to Canada is taking a toll, Brouwer said.
“It’s really, really difficult,” she said. “They’re emotionally depressed. They know they’re coming, but they’re just waiting.”