News from the Ukrainian Refugee Committee – Sutton as of June 9, 2022

Please read below the latest news from the committee:

The latest news of the Ukrainian family that arrived in Sutton in mid-May

Our newcomers come from the town of Mikolaiv between Odessa and Kherson near the Baltic Sea. At the beginning of the war, they were visiting their families in Turkey. They decided not to return to Ukraine because of the events. They were therefore able to arrange for the necessary papers to enter Canada with relative ease.

All the members of the family are taking a good anchor in the community here in Sutton! Erdem, the father, works a lot in his trade of plastering and painting. Even though the language can be difficult, nothing stops him! He finds a way to communicate and at least make himself understood by his new clients. Tamara, the mother, has found a job in a local daycare centre and has placed her 20-month-old son, Marat, there. This way, they are never far from each other, which is reassuring for both the little one and the mother! Everything is new, the ways of doing things, the gestures, the everyday life and even the driving. Little Marat doesn’t mind if Tamara feels good. As for Arseniy, 13 years old, he seems to be integrating well at the Massey-Vanier School. He has already made friends and is having fun while participating in the family’s efforts to become independent as soon as possible.

The meetings with the government representative for the integration of newcomers (SERY) are done and all the paperwork that needs to be completed is almost finished. The family that is hosting them, notably Mrs. Michelle Julien, is working hard to make sure that everything is going well and also to find a place to live, which seems to be coming along nicely.

We will keep you posted on the progress of their integration! Here is a link to discover the faces of our group which was the subject of a report on Radio-Canada Estrie.

Four more families to come

Currently we have four other families in the process of settling in Sutton, one of which is scheduled to arrive next week if all goes well! The others are in the process of applying for visas to enter the country.

To date, we have about $20,000 in the bank with more coming in soon. We continue to appeal to the entire community for monetary donations to support these families.

Thank you to the population of Sutton for your generosity! It is because of you that we can welcome these families!

(Source: Ukrainiens Refugee Committee – Sutton)

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