Ukrainian family that fled Russian invasion says more support needed in Ontario

Sandy Tarasenko's cellphone rings multiple times a day, each time bringing her vital news from home.

Her husband in still in Ukraine.

She called him briefly Thursday afternoon using WhatsApp and he appeared on screen wearing an olive green shirt and wiping his face in exhaustion. A few seconds later, the call dropped.

"He has to call me four times a day and say 'I'm fine. I'm alive,'" she said. "They all are in danger."

Standing near a schoolyard in Burlington, Ont., with kids running around in the sunshine and laughing as they played, Tarasenko's mind was on her home city of Kyiv, loved ones left behind and how to create a life in the country she's fled to.

The 39-year-old and her children — ages 11, 9 and 3—  are in Canada now, arriving just over a week ago, but she says she's been struck by a lack of supports for Ukrainians being offered in Ontario.

"Ukrainian people are hard workers. It's not like we want to come and watch TV all day long until the end of the war," she said.

"We are ready to do anything, we just need somebody to lead us and to help with first steps."

'People come very shocked'

On the morning of Feb. 24, her family looked out the window of their home in Kyiv to see explosions rocking the city.

She left with her three children and a friend named Victoria Perro that same night, crossing the border into Hungary and travelling across Europe in search of safety. Her husband, like many Ukrainian men, stayed behind. 

They spent 17 days in Vienna and just over a day in Paris, before flying to Canada — travel arranged with the help of friends here. They arrived in Toronto on March 24, a month after the war began.

But Tarasenko told CBC Hamilton her family's arrival in Canada has been complicated and difficult. 

"I packed my luggage in 10 minutes," she said. "People come very shocked, very shocked. They don't prepare much money. Sometimes even without a toothbrush."

In Europe there were volunteers at train stations, airports and the border, who were ready to help with accommodation, food, financial support and even school for her children.

That hasn't been the case here, she said.

"It's very hard," she said, adding she spent seven hours filling out the paperwork for various applications and it would have been "impossible" without the help of a Canadian friend they're staying with.

She's applied to schools for her kids and had a meeting set up with a bank on Friday, but progress has been slow.

Perro, who travelled with the family to Canada, agreed.

"Here the situation is completely different," said the 24-year-old.

"We really need to feel that someone [is] ready to help us."

Ontario says more supports coming

Elena Lazar, acting president of the Hamilton branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said she learned last week that because many of those fleeing the war are coming to Canada temporarily, they don't qualify for some of the supports typically offered to refugees.

Compared to provinces such as Quebec, which said in late March that it would offer temporary accommodation, employment assistance as well as health and education services for their children, Ontario is pledging "practically nothing," she said.

"We're hoping that the province, in the next week or two, will look around the country and see what kind of response other provinces are providing and perhaps expand the services," said Lazar.

Ontario's website for newcomers from Ukraine mentions health care, housing and employment supports but, as of Friday afternoon, provided few details on what they entail and how to access them.

Ontario is offering newly arrived Ukrainians up to $28,000 through its second career program, which can be used toward basic needs, such as living allowances, tuition, and transportation, according to Harry Godfrey, spokesperson for Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton.

The ministry also has services to help recognize the education and professional credentials of Ukrainians more quickly, he said.

"Working across government, we will be announcing further supports to connect Ukrainians with housing, jobs, and free education so they can start a new life in Ontario as quickly as possible," Godfrey added in an email to CBC.

'I was full of tears'

Lazar said Tarasenko and Perro are "ahead of the curve" when it comes to Ukrainians arriving in Canada.

More people are expected to start trickling in over the next week or so, she said. She's hoping Ontario will have its supports in place by then.

Canada has pledged to take in an "unlimited number" of Ukrainians fleeing the war. A federal program, the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, will consider those eligible as temporary residents, who will be permitted to live and work in Canada for up to three years. Tarasenko told CBC she had not heard about the program, but once she was made aware, said she intended to apply.

While they continue to seek out support, Perro said they're left worrying about their family and friends, including her boyfriend who's still in Kyiv and her father on the front lines.

"When I left my house … I was full of tears, I couldn't stop crying because I understood that my relatives are at home."

Tarasenko knows that pain, too.

"Everybody thinks, '[war] will never happen in my life,'" she said. "'Bombs will never come to my country, bombs will never come to my house.' But when it happens, it's impossible to describe."