Many Ukrainian refugees came to St. John’s, Newfoundland on Monday night on a provincial government charter flight. The 166 passengers aboard who fled the Russian aggression left on Monday morning from Warsaw, Poland.
A crowd was at the airport on Monday night to greet them with very loud applause.
I am happysaid Stanislav, one of the first Ukrainian refugees to get off the plane, who will soon be working at a mine in Baie Verte.
He said he was quite relieved on arrival in Canada, but was nonetheless worried about his father, an army officer who remained in combat, on the other side of the ocean.
Iryna, another refugee, never thought she would go to Newfoundland.
At first he wanted to go to Toronto, but the Newfoundland government offered him a free plane ticket.
When they offered me a flight, I said ” okay, let’s go ”he says. The journey was easier than I expected.
Now safely and truly arriving in the east of the country, Iryna will soon be working for the airline Pal Airlines.
Newfoundlanders show their unity
Like many others, Matthew Della Valle hold the Ukrainian flag at arm’s length outside St. John’s International Airport on Monday.
We want to welcome our Ukrainian brothers and sisters here in Newfoundland and Labradorhe cried.
” They went through some difficult trials. It’s all so traumatic. We want to show them our love and tell them: ‘Listen, we are here for you, the world loves you and we will support you in all of this’. “
Accompanied by his sister and his parents, little Samuel, who was attending kindergarten, went to the Saint-Jean airport to greet the newcomers and show them his support.
My sister has a friend from Ukraine, so we decided to take a family from Ukrainehe says.
His father, Frédéric Blouin, confirmed that the family had additional room available.
For the moment, the response seems very good so we are on the waiting list. People are ready to receive. This is a good problem to havehe said.
A long -term preparation
In March, Newfoundland and Labrador established immigration offices in Poland. It is the only Canadian province to do so.
Provincial government employees were sent to Warsaw and matched with the Canadian Embassy to get a better idea of the number of people willing to go to the country.
The Executive Director of the Association for New Canadians (ANC), Megan Morrissays his upline team in the provincial government is more than willing to accept Ukrainian nationals.
We’ve been working on it for weeks. Lots of great companionshe says. We will do everything to help them settle in our province and support them.
The COMPAS Organization, located in Saint-Jean, is one of the entities working to help newcomers settle into their new home.
Our province has decided to bring the people back, to give them new life. We do not know whether these refugees will stay or return to Ukraine, as their status is now temporary residents, but the idea is to offer them a warm welcome here, through our volunteers, through our actions.explanation by COMPAS coordinator, Mehdi Jaouhari.
The provincial government has promised that housing awaits every newcomer.
There is information from Patrick Butler and Kyle Mooney
Source: Radio-Canada
