Hamilton and Niagara Ukrainians rallying and fearing for the safety of their families

Tyler Banham couldn't help but recognize his privilege when he finished spending time playing and laughing with his two-year-old daughter Thursday morning before heading out in a snowstorm to go to the gym. 

After seeing a photograph of a father in Ukraine crying and sending his young children off to safety, Banham had tears in his eyes. 

"Here I'm worried about driving in the snow to the gym and this poor dad, about my age, is crying as he holds his daughter and they have to say goodbye," Banham said, who is of Ukrainian heritage.

"I live for my five and two-year-old and my wife. I just couldn't imagine that."

As the crisis in Ukraine unfolds, Ukrainian community members in Hamilton and Niagara are rallying, fundraising and spreading the word here in any way they can. 

St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Hamilton is working with other local Ukrainian churches to organize support for refugees and offer prayers, said parish priest Rev. Wasyl (William) Makarenko.

"I have discussed with some other priests in the area," Makarenko said. "We are getting ready to see what kind of assistance we can provide once the refugee flow starts to get critical."

He said parishes in the Hamilton area have done this in the past following Ukraine's declaration of Independence in 1991.

"We didn't think we'd be doing this now, so our infrastructure still has to be refurbished to receive these refugees – if and when they're coming," Makarenko said.

"I hope that Canada is prepared to accept the people coming out of Ukraine like they have accepted people from other conflict zones."

The head of the UN refugee agency is warning of "devastating consequences" of Russia's military action in Ukraine, and calling on neighbouring countries to keep their borders open for people fleeing the fighting, the CBC reported on Thursday.

"Canada has deep ties with Ukraine. Canada was the first western country to recognize Ukraine's independence on Dec. 2, 1991, and there are over 1.35 million Canadians of Ukrainian heritage," Fred Eisenberger, mayor of Hamilton, said in a statement Thursday.

"As such, the City of Hamilton is raising the flag of Ukraine at city hall in solidarity with the Ukrainian people abroad and the more than 27,000 Ukrainian-Canadians who call Hamilton home."

Banham, former Liberal party president for Ontario from 2012 to 2019, said he hopes to see action to support the Ukrainian people.