Trudeau meets Polish president to talk about getting Ukrainian refugees to Canada
One of the options being considered is an airlift operation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got a brief, first-hand glimpse Thursday of the refugee crisis washing over Poland from the war zone in neighbouring Ukraine.
He met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, who praised Canada — and the prime minister in particular — for Canada's offers of assistance, while stating that his country is counting on those promises being kept.
The two leaders discussed how to quickly get refugees who want to go to Canada onto flights. One of the options being considered is some form of airlift. Duda said that proposal is "still an issue of negotiations."
Duda said his country has absorbed about 1.5 million of the roughly two million people who have fled in the face of last month's Russian invasion.
"In the future, we could have a deep, deep refugee crisis here in Poland," said Duda, giving impromptu remarks to the Canadian journalists following Trudeau on his tour of Europe.
He said Poland is still managing the crisis but he fears that "in a few days we'll have a real problem" and Canada's help will be "very, very necessary."
Duda made a direct appeal for Canada to eliminate as many obstacles for incoming refugees as possible.
"Try and introduce some very, very, very simple procedures, yes? Simple procedures, visas ... to move this process," he said.
Just a few blocks from the presidential palace, Warsaw's main train station was a sea of humanity on Thursday as thousands of newly arrived Ukrainian refugees — most of them women and children — lined up for food, medical care and a place to stay. The queue for food was ten people deep in some places and stretched the length of the main floor.
Anne is a refugee who fled from a small town in Luhansk, the eastern district of Ukraine where Russia proxy forces have fought a seven-year war to break away from the central government in Kyiv. She said the relentless Russian artillery fire and bombing terrified her children to the point where they trembled.
The second floor of the train station has been converted into an ad-hoc day care — complete with toys and a small play structure — where kids in winter coats munched on sausages, cookies and snacks. Some exhausted teenage boys were sprawled on the floor wrapped in fleece blankets. They were too young to be caught in the Ukrainian government's order for males aged 18 to 60 to stay behind and fight.
"This is my house now," said Lizzy, a 17-year-old girl from Kyiv who showed reporters photos of the smouldering ruins of her once-tidy suburban home. "My Dad and my family stay in Ukraine, and this is very terrible."
Lizzy — who would only give CBC News her first name — was on the verge of tears as she described her escape through western Ukraine and across the border into Poland, where she said "beautiful people" have shown her much kindness.
"I miss my home," she said. "We've been here five days and I very [much] want to be back home.
"The Russian Army can go fuck [off]. I hate Putin. [He] broke my life."
Many people in Poland are opening their doors to take in tired and bewildered Ukrainians who have left behind husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and other relatives to the relentless Russian bombardment of their cities.
'I can't stop crying'
Standing at the entrance to the train station were five black-jacketed employees of the Polish copper mining giant KGHM. Each held signs offering shelter to refugees. The company's workers were opening the doors of their homes for the displaced.
Natalia — who also would only give her first name — was one of the supervisors at the shelter site. She said they made their first pickup of 40 people on Wednesday.
"I'm frustrated, really," she said as she choked back tears watching a weary mother push a stroller across the platform.
"I can't believe that it's the 21st century. I'm afraid I can't stop crying because behind one war is hundreds of thousands of persons whose world has been ruined."
She said she is trying to think of what to do "if war follows into our country."
Trudeau visited a Warsaw hostel housing 15 refugees from five different families. He spoke to some of them with the help of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who did the translating.
"I just want to tell you that we are watching what's happening in Ukraine every single day from around the world," Trudeau told the families. "And we are all standing with you and we all want this to be over as [quickly] as possible."
Trudeau is expected to meet with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also in the Polish capital and met with Duda earlier in the day.
The prime minister announced Canada would increase its matching donations to the Red Cross by $20 million — money that goes to support immediate and ongoing relief efforts in the region. In addition, half of Canada's $100 million contribution to humanitarian aid in the region will be earmarked for the Ukrainian crisis.
Trudeau also said his government will invest $117 million in efforts to speed up refugee applications.
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