Montrealers open their homes to Ukrainian families fleeing war-torn country

Tatiana and Daniel Romano have been sleeping of their basement, as they renovate their house to deal with Ukrainian households fleeing the struggle.

Up to now month, they’ve torn down partitions to create spare bedrooms and bogs to make their friends comfy. For them, revamping their house in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., a suburb in Montreal’s West Island, is well worth the hassle.

“We wish to have the ability to supply an area to stay with dignity,” Tatiana Romano stated. “Not only a mattress on the ground.”

The Romanos are already internet hosting two Ukrainian households and are anticipating a 3rd to hitch them in June.

“I scored,” Tatiana stated. “I really feel I am the fortunate one who will get to welcome them. I really feel like I am a mom of 10.”

The Romanos are a few of the Montrealers opening their houses to Ukrainians whereas they discover their footing in Canada.

This weekend, town will welcome round 400 Ukrainians, says the municipal councillor in control of the file, Alia Hassan-Cournol. They shall be arriving by constitution airplane on Might 29.

“There’s been an enormous wave of solidarity coming from Montrealers that wished to welcome Ukrainian migrants of their houses,” Hassan-Cournol stated.

“Quite a lot of [Ukrainians] have already got household in Montreal or round Montreal so they will be reunited.”

Discovering shelter

Hassan-Cournol says Ukrainians must know their rights, particularly housing rights, and guarantee they’re revered.

Town of Montreal, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Quebec Immigration Ministry and the Union des Municipalités du Québec are partnering to help Ukrainian migrants settling within the metropolis.

Town company that helps newcomers combine will assist direct the Ukrainian arrivals to dwellings that swimsuit them by asking potential hosts to supply detailed details about their house.

“We have to be sure that people who find themselves coming right here by themselves or with their children in a really traumatic [state] arrive right here protected,” Hassan-Cournol stated.

“The shape will be sure that the housing proposed by Montrealers is sanitary, protected and meets the wants of the households. We test felony data.”

Evgeniia Pimenova from Odesa, Ukraine, who’s staying with the Romanos, says she’s grateful for his or her generosity and for locating security in Canada.

When the struggle broke out, her son, Yaroslav Vakhitov, 15, was in a Ukrainian hospital for surgical procedure on his legs. She says she needed to ask somebody to assist carry him to shelter when she heard bombs.

“I nonetheless do not imagine that I am someplace abroad,” she stated. “We could not imagine how fortunate we have been. All people helps us out.”

On June 2, Vakhitov will get an ultrasound to see if he is recovered sufficient to face once more.

“We’re now going to entrust our son to Canadian medical doctors,” she stated.

As Tatiana Romano and her husband put together to soak up one other household this summer season, she says she’s grateful the households that share her house have given her a possibility to do good.

“It makes a distinction,” she stated. “You give someone an opportunity to start out anew, to succeed and also you see them develop.”