Ukrainians set to arrive in N.L., seeking refuge from war
CBC
It was less than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine when Kelly Power got a message from an old friend asking if she'd take in her 16-year-old brother — if he could make it to Newfoundland.
The boy was in Ukraine, and his sister was trying to get him out. She'd lived in Newfoundland and worked with Power at a pharmacy four years before. They got along and stayed friends, even after the sister moved away.
Power, 52, said she didn't think twice about agreeing to take the boy in.
"If I said no, he wouldn't have anywhere to go," she said in a recent interview with the Canadian Press. "I was his way out."
The teenager is now scheduled to arrive in St. John's on Monday, aboard a plane from Poland chartered by the provincial government and carrying up to 175 Ukrainian refugees.
The flight is part of a massive effort led by the provincial government and buoyed by a network of unaffiliated volunteers — and people like Power — who are working to bring Ukrainians to Canada's easternmost province and ensure they're safe, housed and cared for.
Newfoundland and Labrador opened a satellite office in Warsaw, Poland in March to help Ukrainians fleeing Russian attacks resettle in the province, beating Ottawa to the punch by almost two months.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday the federal government would open an office in Warsaw to help Ukrainians come to Canada, and made a surprise visit to the capital city of Kyiv on Sunday to formally reopen the Canadian Embassy.
Newfoundland and Labrador Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne insists the plane arriving Monday is the first government-chartered flight to bring Ukrainian refugees to Canada. His department had not confirmed how many would be on board as of Sunday evening, but a spokesperson said Friday 175 was the "working number."
Power gets emotional as she talks about the teenager arriving Monday — whose name The Canadian Press has agreed not to publish — and all of the things he'll need: clothes, bedding, help with his English and friends.
She said his sister worked hard with the team at the Newfoundland and Labrador office in Warsaw to get him a visa, a passport and a way out of Ukraine and into Poland to make the flight.
The trip to St. John's will be difficult, Power said: he's leaving his parents behind, as well as his dog. He's never been on a plane and he only just turned 16.
Adilya Dragan was preparing a box of clothes and supplies for the teenager on Friday afternoon.
The 32-year-old from Russia lives just outside St. John's, and she moderates a Facebook group dedicated to sending medicine and supplies from Newfoundland to Ukraine.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.
A memorial to remember lives lost to gender-based violence was held in Charlottetown Friday, ahead of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which is marked annually on Dec. 6.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.