Vasyl Dizhak, Unsplash
The Oakville Community Foundation (The Foundation) has granted $12,500 to help Ukrainian newcomers as they arrive in Canada and settle in Halton.
The Foundation has granted $5,000 to the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (specifically for Oakville), $5,000 to St. Joseph’s Ukrainian Catholic Church and $2,500 to HMC Connections, a local organization that helps newcomers settle and integrate into a welcoming and inclusive community.
All three grants come from The Foundation’s Oakville Resettlement Fund. The fund was established in 2017 during the Syrian Resettlement crisis. and continues to help support the needs of new immigrants and refugees.
"St. Volodymyr Cathedral and Cultural Center is extremely grateful to the Oakville Community Foundation for this generous donation in support of our resettlement efforts," said John Holuk, a Board Member of St. Volodymyr’s Cultural Centre.
"The newcomer families consist primarily of women and children fleeing the brutal war in Ukraine. We are focused on providing for the emergency support and meeting the special needs of these families, helping them find safety and security in our community."
The Canadian government has classified Ukrainians fleeing the war as visitors with special considerations through the immigration process, the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel measures (CUAET). This allows Ukrainians fleeing the war to arrive in Canada as quickly as possible.
However, those arriving do not meet the description of "refugee" and are instead classified as "displaced persons." This means those arriving in Canada may not have access to the housing supports offered to refugees, such as subsidized housing.
Many of the newcomers arriving in the Halton area are women and children, with young mothers, some well advanced in pregnancy, fleeing their home country. Some families include mothers who have up to four or five children with them. Housing, income support, employment and child care have all been identified as priority needs.
There is a need for host homes to provide temporary housing (3 months - 1 year) to give the Ukrainian newcomers time to orient themselves in Canada, find jobs, settle their children and start to connect to the community.
If interested in helping with housing or employment opportunities, contact HMC Connections at info@hmcconnections.com.
Families have been settling in the Halton area with the help of both Ukrainian faith groups and HMC Connections, with 300-400 people arriving in Toronto every day. So far, more than 8 million people have fled Ukraine to safety.
"We are very appreciative of this support," said Oksana Sawras on behalf of the Humanitarian Support Committee at St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church.
"We have recognized that mental health is a very real issue and have organized a weekly social support group for women that are here either alone or with their children as well as monthly stress relief workshops to provide an outlet for them to share their grief and know that they are not alone."
“We're grateful to the many donors to The Foundation’s Resettlement Fund, enabling us to support community organizations that are leading the local resettlement efforts to ensure that the dollars get to where they’re needed most, quickly,” said Frances Pace, Director of Fundholder and Community Engagement at The Foundation.
In 2021, The Fund supported local faith-based organizations with the resettlement of three sponsored Afghan families in 2021 who are currently waiting to arrive in Canada. Please consider making a donation to the Resettlement Fund, to ensure we can quickly support the needs for new immigrants.
