Not only is the province a year late setting up a 1-800 help line to assist Ukrainian refugees navigating access to support, but there’s a good system already in place, says an advocate of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
On Tuesday, the province announced $2.1 million in additional supports for pre-arrival services and a Ukrainian Help Line to streamline information and available resources.
Thomas Lukaszak, a former Progressive Conservative deputy premier, said the money should go to help the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, a group that has been working tirelessly to assist the refugees for more than a year.
“Since the war began, every day and every night, they have a table set up that’s manned by volunteers at both the Calgary and Edmonton airports welcoming every single refugee,” Lukaszak said.
“They are in touch with those refugees continuously. That’s who the refugees turn to for all kinds of help because they’re Ukrainian, they speak the language. They met them at the airport. They have that contact. They have that trust.”
He said tapping into the congress, and community groups like the Ukrainian Displaced Persons Planning Committee for Central Alberta which are already working with Ukrainians, is the best way to help the refugees.
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The province says it has welcomed 26,572 Ukrainians, including more than 600 who settled in Red Deer, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and directed more than $28 million to date in support and services to help evacuees resettle in Alberta.
The help line, which still needs to be set up, was recommended by the Premier’s Advisory Task Force on Ukraine so evacuees and the organizations that serve them can get timely, accurate information in the language of their choosing.
Funding previously announced in the 2023 provincial budget include money for settlement and language supports to help agencies and immigrant-serving organizations meet increased demand, social housing and rent supplement programs, and emergency and financial support.
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But meanwhile the province still insists on asset tests for refugees whose homes may have been bombed, and vehicles destroyed or stolen by Russians, Lukaszak said.
“These people come from a country that’s in the most brutal war since World War II and we are asking them to establish what are their assets back home. Who cares what they have at home that they may never be able to access again anyway.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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