Category: CUF In The News
More than 100,000 Ukrainians in Canada have temporary resident documents that will expire this year. Facing bureaucratic hurdles and long processing times, groups like the Canada-Ukraine Foundation are urging Ottawa to automatically extend their visas for another three years, as Ukraine continues to face Russian aggression.
“Every day I face a huge amount of uncertainty,” Iuliia Slabinska, a Ukrainian who arrived in Canada after the war began, told CTVNews.ca. “I have children, I have to take care of my family, and then all this immigration side is just so stressful.”
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 300,000 Ukrainians were granted three-year visas to live and work in Canada under what’s known as the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. More than one million had applied.
With many of their visas now on the verge of expiring, CUAET holders must now apply online for a three-year extension. That may seem simple enough at first glance, but Ukrainians in Canada say they face an uncertain future due to immigration backlogs, delayed processing times and bureaucratic hurdles like being unable to renew their Ukrainian passports.
“When I speak to displaced people here, they’re constantly in limbo,” Canada-Ukraine Foundation executive director Valeriy Kostyuk told CTVNews.ca. “A sustainable solution, which the government can offer if they have the will, is essentially to automatically renew all of the work permits of these people without having them to go through the bureaucratic process of reapplying for the extensions.”
The Canada-Ukraine Foundation and Ukrainian Canadian Congress recently sent letters to Immigration Minister Marc Miller urging Ottawa to provide automatic three-year CUAET extensions. While they have not received an official reply, the government announced on Thursday that it was extending the renewal application deadline by one year until March 31, 2026 for Ukrainians’ work and study permits.
“It is crucial that Ukrainian displaced persons in Canada are able to support themselves and their families, and to study, with which this extension will assist,” Ihor Michalchyshyn, Ukrainian Canadian Congress CEO and executive, told CTVNews.ca.
Kostyuk says the extension is “definitely helpful,” but “not quite what the community has been asking for.”
“The minister said that he’s not going to kick anyone out whose permits expire,” Kostyuk added. “But the thing is the work permits are going to expire. All these people are going to lose their jobs or will not be able to work legally in Canada.”
Further complicating matters, Canada recently announced that it was cutting 3,300 positions at the immigration department while reducing the number of new permanent residents by at least 20 per cent.
‘Exhausting financially, exhausting physically’
Slabinska settled in Langley, B.C. with her husband and two teenagers six months after the Russian invasion. They have worked multiple jobs to make ends meet in Canada. Their visas all expire this year.
“There was such a danger for my family when Russia started bombing,” Slabinska told CTVNews.ca. “We just escaped from the country with what we had. Like, I just grabbed my daughter and my cap and just escaped.”
Slabinska’s 19-year-old son was already studying in Canada before the war. With his Ukrainian passport set to expire this April, it took months of online frustration and a recent flight to Ukraine’s consulate in Edmonton before they were able to get his passport renewed – an important step for a new Canadian visa.
“It’s exhausting financially, exhausting physically,” Slabinska said. “The passport and was such a huge problem, like the biggest problem.”
Slabinska and her family will now apply to extend their stay in Canada for the maximum three years. Because her mother is a Canadian citizen, she has also applied for permanent residence status, but one year after applying, she still hasn’t received a letter of acknowledgement. According to immigration officials, they have processed only 367 out of approximately 23,000 family reunification applications. High volumes of applications are being blamed for the delays.
“I just want to get my (permanent residency) and just keep working,” Slabinska said. “We are good people, hard-working people. We are a nice addition to this community.”
Because of long processing times, Slabinska fears her family could be unable to work if their visas expire before their extension applications are granted. She hopes Ottawa considers the calls to automatically extend work permits.
“Now I am in limbo in terms of work permits, whether I get them, when do I get them, for how long will I get them for, will I get them for three years, as it was promised or not?” Slabinska said. “After I get this work permit, I will breathe easier.”
In a news release Thursday, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada clarified that temporary residents can work and study while their extension applications are under review, and that applications will be accepted from Ukrainians, even if their passports are not up-to-date.
“Canada remains committed to supporting the people of Ukraine and their families as the war continues by providing safety,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in the news release. “That is why, through this extension, our aim is to offer protection while recognizing the long-term goal for many to return home when it is safe and there is a proper peace.”
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada says that while passport renewal appointments are fully booked for the next six months, anyone with an urgent or exceptional case can contact their nearest Ukrainian diplomatic mission.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in Canada, along with our Consulates General in Toronto and Edmonton, is operating under exceptionally high demand for consular services due to the large number of Ukrainians currently residing in Canada,” an embassy official said. “While we are continuously optimizing our processes and increasing our resources, the demand for passport renewals remains unprecedented.”
Daniel Otis
A travelling exhibit is teaching students in North Bay more about the Holodomor famine, which took place in Eastern Europe more than 90 years ago.
A retrofitted RV with special seats and a digital presentation has been parked at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School in the city for the past few days.
It’s called the Holodomor Mobile Classroom and it teaches students about a genocide that killed millions of Ukrainians.
“I really didn’t know anything about it. So, it was a pretty interesting experience,” said Katie Sicard, a Grade 12 student at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall.
The retrofitted RV was turned into a mobile display. It travels across the country teaching students about how extreme ideologies enabled mass-scale political repressions through widespread intimidation, arrests and imprisonment.
“The Ukrainians wanted to keep their independence from the Soviet Union,” said Roma Dzerowicz, the Holodomor National Awareness Tour’s project manager.
But Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had plans to collectivize agriculture in 1929. A famine was engineered that killed between five million and seven million Ukrainians from 1932-1933.
The Holodomor, which literally translates to ‘death by hunger,’ was made deadlier by a series of political decrees and decisions aimed mostly at or only at Ukraine.
In 1932, the Communist Party set impossibly high quotas for grain that Ukrainian villages were required to contribute to the Soviet state.
A majority of Ukrainians, who were small-scale farmers, resisted. The state confiscated the property of independent farmers and forced them to work on government collective farms.
The more prosperous farmers and those who resisted were branded ‘kulaks’ (rich peasants) and declared enemies of the state and were to be eliminated as a class.
When the villages were not able to meet the quotas, authorities amped up the requisition campaign, confiscating even the seed set aside for planting and levying fines in meat and potatoes for failure to fulfill the quotas.
Starving farmers
Starving farmers attempted to leave their villages in search of food, but Soviet authorities issued a decree forbidding Ukraine’s peasants from leaving the country.
A law was introduced that made the theft of even a few stalks of grain an act of sabotage punishable by execution.
It’s been described as a genocide by 35 countries, including Canada.
“We learned that a lot of people didn’t believe it was real and that they were trying to hide this,” said Rachel Miller, a Grade 8 student at St. Hubert Catholic Elementary School.
The USSR vigorously denied the Holodomor had occurred, and several Western journalists based in the Soviet Union denied the government‘s policies and its brutal enforcement tactics were causing the Ukrainian people to starve.
But as the famine dragged on, journalists such as Gareth Jones and Malcolm Muggeridge risked their careers by exposing the Soviet Union’s coverup.
Last year, the Ontario government introduced new mandatory learning in the Grade 10 Canadian history course about the Holodomor famine and its impact on Canada’s Ukrainian community.
“We’re using it as a stepping stone for democratic rights, civility, tolerance, equity, and most importantly, our human rights values that are being abused,” Dzerowicz said.
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The mobile classroom features 60-minute sessions with documentaries on the Holodomor with interactive learning. Dzerowicz says it’s all about empowering today’s youth to use their voices and stand up for what is right.
“We can spread the word and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said St. Hubert Catholic Elementary School Grade 8 student Katie Jackson.
In the hopes of avoiding autocracy and fight for democracy.
“We are trying to move forwards as a society instead of moving backwards,” Sicard said.
Eric Taschner
A Kitchener medical device company has sent supplies to those fighting in Ukraine.
Biomiq manufactures a hypochlorous acid-based alternative to regular antiseptics, called PureCleanse, meant to treat and prevent infection in open wounds.
Robert Fuller, Biomiq’s co-founder, said hypochlorous acid is naturally produced by our white blood cells in response to infection, making it a safer option for patients.
“There’s a lot of antiseptics that are very effective at killing [infection], but unfortunately they are very damaging to the host tissue and cells that exist,” he explained to CTV News. “Our PureCleanse solution is quite the opposite.”
Last month the organization sent 4,400 bottles, or nearly one tonne, of PureCleanse to hospitals and surgery centers in Ukraine.
“It [can be used for] anything from a skin tear, an abrasion, all the way up to very traumatic blast injuries,” Fuller said.
The donation was made in partnership with the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, which provides humanitarian support to those impacted by the Russian invasion.
The foundation’s programs coordinator told CTV News those injured in the conflict suffer from wounds that aren’t healing and getting worse.
“[PureCleanse] heals faster and the skin is not infected by the wound,” Marianna Kaminska said. “It just promotes healing.”
Biomiq claims to be the only Canadian company to manufacture the product in Ontario.
Christina Lupu, with Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy and Continence (NSWOC), is one of many medical health professionals across the province to adopt the product.
“I use it for wound healing, specifically for wound bed preparation and to help with debridement,” she said. “The time is shorter in healing and the length of the treatment is shorter.”
Kaminska believes Biomiq’s support of Ukraine is making a big difference.
“Resources are really scarce and so to have that help is very impactful,” she explained. “To feel that support from another country, from Canada, that you’re not alone in this and there is another country behind you.”
Biomiq said it also plans on sending additional product to surgical aid missions across Ukraine and Poland.
Tyler Kelaher
Canada-Ukraine Foundation has so far raised more than $700K in funds for new hospital equipment
Solomia Fomeniuk, 16, was in the midst of life-saving dialysis treatment at a children’s hospital in Kyiv last month when it was suddenly blasted with a deadly missile strike.
Covered in blood, she was carried out on a stretcher from the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital — Ukraine’s largest medical facility for children, her mother told CBC News. The hospital is believed to have been struck by a Russian missile during a massive daytime barrage on July 8, killing 44 civilians throughout the country. Of those, two adults were killed in the hospital attack, including one doctor.
“We have no peaceful life, feel there is nowhere safe in Ukraine, not in the shelters, not in a children’s hospital,” her mother, Oksana Fomeniuk, told CBC News.
“We will never know how many children may die because they can no longer turn to Ohmadyt for care.”
The destruction of the facility drew international condemnation and prompted the Canada-Ukraine Foundation in Toronto to take action by setting up a fundraiser to help purchase new machines and equipment for the hospital. So far, it has raised more than $700,000 with a target goal of $1 million, as the hospital works to rebuild and return to its normal operations.
“It’s essential that we’re able as Canadians to contribute to the rebuilding of that hospital so that it can start receiving children at the same capacity [as] before the bombing,” said Valeriy Kostyuk, the foundation’s executive director.
The machine Fomeniuk had been using that day was one of the dialysis machines donated by the foundation.
“Imagine we as Canadians — as Torontonians — lose the ability to have, you know, SickKids [hospital],” Kostyuk told CBC News. “God forbid this would ever happen in Canada. But it’s like losing this whole entire institution.”
Russia has denied responsibility for the hospital strike, insisting it doesn’t attack civilian targets in Ukraine despite abundant evidence to the contrary, including reporting by The Associated Press. But the United Nations rights mission said last week there was a “high likelihood” that Ohmatdyt hospital took a direct hit from a Russian missile.
WATCH | Canadians raise money for damaged children’s hospital:
Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital lost its entire dialysis unit in a suspected Russian missile strike. Now the Canada-Ukraine Foundation is trying to raise $1 million for equipment.
‘Strain and urgency is real’
In 2022, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation sent 17 dialysis machines to Ukraine, and Kostyuk said it hopes to send more through the money raised. Kostyuk said it has sent roughly $80 million worth of humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.
“Without undergoing hemodialysis three times a week, these children will not survive for more than three days,” the organization said in a news release on Aug. 8.
The 10-storey hospital was caring for 627 patients at the time of the attack, according to the country’s health minister.
The Canada-Ukraine Foundation said the patients are currently receiving treatment at another hospital, where dialysis machines are used in four shifts due to limited equipment availability.
“The strain and the urgency is real to help Ukrainians be able to sustain the flow of patients and to be able to provide the life-saving support that is needed,” Kostyuk said.
Born with chronic renal failure, Solomia was admitted to the pediatric hospital in May 2022. She would travel from Rivne in western Ukraine to Kyiv for treatment dialysis three times a week, which lasts about four to five hours at a time.
“[Without dialysis] she wilts, becomes feeble, has no appetite, no energy, no life force, it’s hard on her body,” her mother said.
Hospital attack a devastation to patients’ families
At the time of the attack, her mother had to flee to the hospital’s basement shelter. Solomia was in the dialysis unit, where her mother could not get to her.
- UN analysis sees ‘high likelihood’ Ukraine hospital took direct hit from Russian missile
- Russian airstrikes kill at least 41 in Ukraine, damage Kyiv children’s hospital
Fomeniuk says the attack on the hospital has been a devastation to families that relied on the facility for its highly specialized medical care. The assault interrupted heart surgeries, forcing children being treated at the hospital for cancer treatment and dialysis, to run for cover.
Following the attack, the children, including Solomia, were moved to other hospitals but some suffered shrapnel injuries, the foundation said.
“She had blood in her eyeball and her legs were scratched up from the cement falling from the ceiling,” her mother said.
Dana Bagan, a medical coordinator with the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, said all children were removed from the hospital, with many undergoing dialysis at the time of the attack.
“This was something that was kind of unfathomable to attack children that were, you know, already vulnerable, already having to travel for treatment. Many of them were not local,” Bagan said.
WATCH | Missile attack on Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital kills dozens:
A barrage of Russian missile attacks against Kyiv largely destroyed the Ukrainian city’s largest children’s hospital and left other buildings in the city in ruins. Dozens have been killed in the airstrikes that may have been timed to coincide with NATO meetings.
As the hospital works to rebuild and repair its facility, Fomeniuk said she will remain with her daughter.
Our lives will not be the same. With every siren warning, we are anxious,” she said.
“It’s hard enough for me, but even more for the kids, they are crying because it’s painful for them. It’s a terrible noise and they are already sick and now terrified.”
Sara Jabakhanji
«Повністю не було носа й губи. Усе зчесане снарядом», — розповідає 41-річний український військовий Павло Щербина, з яким стоїмо у дворику польської лікарні міста Челядзь.
Він сюди приїжджає уже вчетверте — операція за операцією відновлює функціональність свого обличчя.
Тут, у Польщі, з моменту повномасштабного вторгнення росії відбулася вже п’ята Канадсько-українська хірургічна місія. Канадські пластичні хірурги і травматологи оперують поранених українських військових та цивільних.
Іноземні лікарі застосовують новітню технологію оперування — пересаджують під мікроскопом живі тканини пацієнта, щоб відновити функціональність і чутливість постраждалого органа або частини тіла.
«Нас збирають як конструктор, як пазл. У мене ніс — це шматок голови, ноги й вуха. А це моя щелепа», — показує Павло на свою руку зі шрамом, звідки взяли живі тканини для відновлення верхньої щелепи.
А ось кулеметник Павло з Херсонщини, який пішов у ЗСУ ще 2018 року. Його важко поранило у серпні 2022-го. Увесь цей час між численними операціями він лиш думав, коли нарешті повернеться на фронт.
«У мене руки-ноги цілі, хлопці на мене чекають», — запевняє військовий. Йому залишилося зробити операцію на каналах носа та протезування зубів. Але це — вже в Україні.
hromadske
«Я думав, що приїду в Україну як турист, а не працюватиму»
Операції на обличчі у Польщі Павлу робив відомий канадський пластичний хірург Олег Антонишин. Його батьки родом з України, виїхали до Канади після Другої світової війни. Лікар говорить українською — батьки навчали його змалечку, щоб не забував своє коріння.
Мав бажання приїхати до України. Думав, відвідаю її як турист. Навіть не уявляв, що приїду колись в Україну працювати.
Олег Антонишин, пластичний хірург із Канади
Його перший візит до України став робочим — з медичним набором пластичного хірурга. Після Революції гідності Канадсько-Українська Фундація запропонувала доктору Антонишину та ще кільком канадським лікарям приїхати в Україну, щоб допомоги пораненим на Майдані.
Так створили Канадсько-українську хірургічну місію. Запит на допомогу лише зростав, адже невдовзі довелося приїжджати вже до поранених в АТО. Відправляти лікарів в Україну для канадської фундації виявилося в рази дешевше, ніж везти десятки пацієнтів до Північної Америки.
hromadske
До повномасштабного вторгнення канадці сім разів приїжджали до Києва, Одеси та Львова. Після 2022 року з безпекових міркувань місія почала працювати у Польщі, де на базі місцевої лікарні протягом двох тижнів кожні пів року канадські хірурги оперують українських військових.
Крім операцій на обличчі, тепер тут проводять і ортопедичні операції. Тож до місії доєдналися й хірурги-травматологи.
Що цікаво — усі свої поїздки канадці здійснюють під час офіційної відпустки на основній роботі. З їхнього боку це на 100% волонтерська праця. При тому, що в чергу на участь у місії вже записалися 250 лікарів. Цього разу їх приїхало 60.
«Мінно-вибухові рани — те, що ми звикли бачити»
Паралельно у Польщу на запрошення CUF приїжджають по досвід і українські лікарі. Зараз такі навички вкрай потрібні через бойові дії та велику кількість пов’язаних із ними важких травм.
«Такі операції роблять не всюди у світі, адже потрібні фахівці. Але в Україні вже теж їх почали виконувати — можливо, не такої складності у плані дефекту, але ідентичні: коли беруть кістку на судинній ніжці й моделюють нижню щелепу», — пояснює український пластичний хірург Олександр Ломпас.
Лікар додає, що наразі такі операції в Україні — поодинокі: «Мікросудинна реконструкція дуже локалізована. У нас нині мало місць, де їх технічно можливо виконати. Потрібна дуже велика команда, щоб це реалізувати».
У цій місії добре можна побачити, як організувати відділення мікросудинної реконструкції. У канадців багато досвіду такого лікування після онкології. Зараз ми їх швидко наздоганяємо, бо випадків важких травм у нас більше. Але йдеться саме про бойові травми.
Олександр Ломпас, український пластичний хірург
За його словами, травми від бойових поранень складніші в оперуванні: «У разі контузії судин неможливо простежити, як мікровибухова травма себе поводитиме».
Його канадський колега, доктор Антонишин, погоджується, що різниця між бойовими та «цивільними» травмами суттєва: «Мінно-вибухова рана складніша від так званої тупої травми (англійською — блант-травми) — того, що ми частіше бачили в Канаді. Там, де війни немає.
Мають значення й обставини — у бойових умовах більше інфекцій, минає більше часу між травмуванням та госпіталізацією пацієнта. Це все впливає».
Одним з найважчих випадків під час останніх місій доктор Антонишин називає історію 39-річного військового — командира роти Романа Іллічова. Він уже втретє приїжджає оперуватися до Польщі на місію CUSAP.
hromadske
«Спочатку нашою метою було забезпечити йому можливість нормально дихати, їсти — повернути основні функції. Бо він не мав ні носа, ні щелепи.
Наступною великою операцією була реконструкція щелепи: пересадка шкіри, м’яких тканин, кістки. Почекали певний час, аби все зрослося. І тепер він має стабільну нову щелепу.
Зараз ми вже можемо робити йому косметичні операції», — радіє за пацієнта Олег Антонишин.
За час дії місії лікарі прооперували тут уже 296 українських воїнів.