‘Life is beautiful’: Ukrainian refugees embracing safety, snow in Manitoba

As Manitoba continues to encourage Ukrainian refugees to settle in the province, one couple who made the journey from war-torn Kyiv to Onanole, Man., says they’ve been overwhelmed by the welcome they’ve received in their new home.

Hanna Palamarchuk and Mykola Prysiazhnyi told Global News their new environment — living in staff housing and working at the Elkhorn Resort near Riding Mountain — isn’t where they would have expected they’d be even months ago, but they’re grateful for the opportunity.

Palamarchuk said the pair left their home in Kyiv the day the war started, with the goal of heading to the western part of the country and the expectation of being able to return home in a few weeks.

Unfortunately, that was an impossibility, and finding themselves in a city with no bomb shelters, they decided to press on — like countless other Ukrainians — and head for the Polish border.

“We got lots of support from Polish people,” she said. “They were very kind and welcoming. It’s just unbelievable.

“We’ve met so many nice and kind people across the world.”

Prysiazhnyi said staying in Poland would have been a difficult choice due to the language barrier, but when Canada launched an emergency visa program for Ukrainian refugees, the two jumped at the opportunity.

“We read about the new program about emergency travel visas to Canada, and we realized since we speak English, we’d have more chance of getting employment,” he said.

“We didn’t know what was going to be next, how our future was going to be … (but) we would definitely like to make Canada our new home.”

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Prysiazhnyi and Palamarchuk certainly picked an interesting time to come to Manitoba — right around the time of a huge blizzard in the forecast — but said they enjoyed the experience, as Kyiv hadn’t had much snow in recent years.

“It looked beautiful,” Prysiazhnyi said. “We were staying in a warm place, so it was absolutely fine for us.”

“Elkhorn Resort is so beautiful — we’ve seen lots of deer already, and rabbits and squirrels,” said Palamarchuk. “We come from a large city, and we’ve never been surrounded by wildlife, so this is so cool.

“Also, it’s great that we can now plan our future. It was pretty stressful for the past six weeks.

“It’s great to be safe. We have a roof over our heads, we have work. Life is beautiful.”

Dmytro Malyk, of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, told Global News the number of Ukrainian refugees choosing Manitoba continues to grow, and that all levels of government, alongside Ukrainian organizations in the province, are working together to make the transition a smooth one.

“Every day, we see Ukrainian families coming to Winnipeg, in particular,” Malyk said.

“Just a few days ago, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, together with the (Winnipeg) Airports Authority, established a help desk at the airport, so all the Ukrainians arriving in Manitoba will be able to find help immediately at the airport.”

Malyk said recent changes to emergency travel for refugees coming to Canada mean hundreds of thousands of refugees are still wading through some red tape before they can get here, but many others are being accepted on a daily basis.

“We’ve been seeing lots of different activities and Ukrainian-Canadian organizations, in particular here in Manitoba, that continue pushing for help and continue helping Ukrainians who are already here,” he said.

“I would like to urge Manitobans to continue helping Ukraine.”