Through the eyes of newcomers to small-town Manitoba, Canada offers peace, safety

Karina Havina is working hard to learn English the first step on the path to her dream ofstarting a manicure business and becoming a Canadian citizen.

"My name is Karina and I am happy to be here," she writes, then reads, in English.

Havina, 22,is one of the dozens of Ukrainians who have fledwar and are now in Altona, a smallcommunity in southern Manitoba.

She's among the newcomers who want to remindlocal residents how lucky they are to live in Canada even as others say Canadians must acknowledge the country's historyof abuses involvingIndigenous people andother ethnic groups.

She left Ukraine three weeks after the war began in February, reluctantly leaving her 19-year-old brother and mother behind.

Havina spent several months in Poland before herauthorization for emergency travelwas approved. She arrived in Canada on May 10, and is nowliving with her aunt, Nelli Voloshanavskiy.

"She was really scared the day when [the war started] especially when the airplane starts to go around the city," said Voloshanavskiy, who translatedquestions and answers for Havina in a recent interview.

"They feel like maybe they all just bomb them and everyone will die. So she thought it will be better to move to safety."

Havina is slowly adjusting to the peace and quiet of the agricultural community, her aunt said, "but she still worry, of course, about her mom and her family. [She]said, 'I don't know if I will see her again, if I will see him again.'"

Giving back

Voloshanavskiy is also a relative newcomer. She started a new life in Altona five years ago, and isnowhelping others do the same.

She said she's grateful for the opportunity and welcome she has received.

"When I saw some families like that, they have more problem than I have, so I feel like I really want to help them. I really want to give them a chance to start their life in a better way," she said.

That's why she's volunteering with another Altona resident, Callum Morrison, who is helping resettle refugees.

One of his duties is organizing the donation depot in the Altona Mall, where local residents have been dropping off furniture, mattresses, dishes and bedding some of the things going into homes being outfitted for the newcomers.

Many residents in the town of about 4,300 have Mennonite ancestors who also fled what is now Ukraine, escaping war and persecution, so "they always do what they can to help," Morrison said.

The influx of newcomers also breaks some of the stereotypes of rural Mennonite communities, he said.

"Sometimes people will think out here, we might be closed-minded, we might not be open to change.

"But really, it's showing that even in these little places, Canada is not just one thing. We're many different peoples and we're coming together to support those who need it."

Altona may not be the destination that's top of mind for many newcomers, but it has one thing most are looking for jobs.

The printing press is always running at Friesens, one of Canada's largest printers of books and amongAltona'sbiggest employers.

A third of its600 employees were not born in Canada. The company has lots of work and a career development process for Ukrainian refugees now arriving,said Odia Reimer, Friesens' vice-president of people and culture.

"We're looking for people who want to work," she said.

Friesens will offer them a placeto live, arrange phone and internet, and help them get their Manitoba health card and social insurance number, said Reimer.

Newcomer employees are also teamed up with a corporate and community mentor.

"We kind of set them up in all sorts of ways to make sure that they have success when they land in Altona," Reimer said, adding the goal is to make them feel like part of a family.

"It's really fun to see how people prosper and how they find a home here."

Must see Canada 'through the eyes of all people'

Residents and businesses of Altona have sponsored about 300 refugees fromwar-torn countriesin the last 15 years through the non-profit group Build a Village, according toRay Loewen, the organization's founder.

"They've come from Congo, from Sudan, from Syria, Iraq, Venezuela, Colombia," saidLoewen, whose grouphelps support refugee families in the area.

"It's improved the community greatly."

The newcomers have broadened the community's worldview and given them a new perspective on their home in Canadaone that sometimes contrasts with the reality in this country, he said.

"Every time we talk to newcomer families about their experience, it is impossible for us to imagine the horrors that they have endured as a result of war or other things they have had to deal with," Loewen said.

"When we see Canada for the first time again through the eyes of a refugee family, we see a country that is mostly peaceful, mostly safe and a great place to live."

However, it's also difficult to imagine the horrors Indigenous people have been, and continue to be, subjected to in Canada, said Loewen, pointing toresidential schools and the recent discoveries of what are believed to be unmarked graves at many sites.

"For Canada to truly be a great nation for all, we need to see ourselves and our country through the eyes of all people," he said.

Young Ukrainian refugee grateful for warm welcome to Canada

2 years ago

Duration 4:03

Karina Havina, 22, fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now living in Altona, a small Mennonite community in southern Manitoba.

For now, Karina Havina is looking forward to seeing some fireworks on Canada Day something banned in Ukraine since Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

"She says she's really happy to be here," Voloshanavskiy said. "She's thankful to everyone who helps her to be here right now."