Displaced Ukrainians in Edmonton face new challenges as community works ‘feverishly’ to help

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Sitting in her friend’s kitchen, thousands of kilometers from home, Halyna Luchak says everything in her life seems to have changed in an instant.

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Luchak was among about 60 Ukrainians who arrived in Edmonton Monday night on a flight from Warsaw. She spent a month in Poland after leaving her country with her husband, son and daughter, and Ivan Lypovyk, her husband’s childhood friend, is now housing her family de ella.

“The first day, it was very difficult, because we changed everything in one moment,” she said.

Lypovyk is helping the family try to get settled — the kids will be going to school while the parents look for work. But after an arduous process of getting the right documents to leave Europe, adjusting to a totally different life is an immense challenge.

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Luchak is an anesthesiologist, and in Ukraine, she worked at a maternity hospital. If her family stays in Canada, getting licensed to practice medicine here will be a difficult process.

“We think it will be good for children here. But really, we do not know, ”Luchak said, adding she also worries about her family de ella still in Ukraine.

“We want to be together, but now it’s impossible.”

Lypovyk also helped his wife’s cousin get on the Monday flight to Edmonton, and he’s still working to get two more Ukrainian families to Canada. He says it’s his way of doing what he can to help the community now, but it’s impossible to escape concerns about the dangerous situation in his home country.

“Their body might be here but their mind is still somewhere there. That’s how I feel in the last months,” Lypovyk explained.

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“Every one of us, doesn’t matter where we are in the world, basically these days are fighting their own battle for Ukraine.”

Lypovyk said many more people who urgently need help will soon land in Edmonton. Some of those who are already here left Ukraine just before the invasion, or managed to get out in the early days, but others stepping off plans now are more likely to be fleeing devastated regions of the country.

Orysia Boychuk, president of the Alberta branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said there’s an “extraordinary” amount of work ahead to get displaced Ukrainians the resources they need.

“We’re feverishly working with our agencies, with the government… all levels of government, we’re trying to mobilize,” she said.

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She hasn’t heard any recent news about more dedicated plans bringing Ukrainians in need of safety, but health-care access has been confirmed for Ukrainians who come to Alberta. They’ll also be able to send their children to local schools.

In the meantime, Boychuk said volunteers have been working “day and night” to cover growing community needs. They’re currently taking shifts at a UCC booth at the Edmonton International Airport, helping catch people as they land and directing them to support.

It’s difficult to track the number of people coming because they’re on visitor visas. Some are now arriving with no local connections or place to live — over the weekend, Boychuk said volunteers rushed to the airport after a Ukrainian family unexpectedly landed at 2 am

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“People are arriving, for the most part, with very few funds,” she said. “The ones we’ll be seeing coming forward are really the ones who don’t have the financial support and are fleeing this conflict.”

The biggest gap Boychuk sees now is housing. She said they need to make sure there are safe temporary places for people who arrive as well as a process to make sure people who offer their homes to displaced Ukrainians have support too.

Her group is working with numerous agencies on housing plans. But as the war continues, she expects growing needs, both in Edmonton and overseas.

“The impacts are going to be long-lasting and vibrating on different levels for a long time for a lot of people.”

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Twitter: @meksmith