Editor:
We’d like to thank all the individuals and businesses on the Coast who have assisted the arrival of Ukrainian refugees. While the blue and yellow flags decorating residences up and down the Coast are fading in the late summer heat, this senseless and tragic conflict continues with no peace yet in sight.
When this war began in February the federal government issued fast track visas to Ukrainians wanting to move to Canada. Around 12 million people out of a population of 44 million are displaced and around 77,000 have to come to Canada. To date a dozen or so families have arrived on the Coast where they have been welcomed with open arms, as many of our ancestors were similarly welcomed here generations ago, seeking stable, peaceful communities in which to raise their families.
The Ukrainians who have arrived here have generally found work easily. They are skilled educated people and although certainly a loss to Ukraine they are an undoubted gain for Canada. The family that we are hosting in Roberts Creek Cohousing includes a female family physician whose skills are sorely needed here. The main difficulty for Ukrainians wishing to settle has of course been the lack of affordable housing but Coasters have stepped up to offer vacation cabins and cottages, spare rooms and guest suites.
We are so grateful to these hosts and to the businesses who offered employment, phone cards and food vouchers. We thank organizations such as Rotary and the Legions who have put on fundraisers and the people on the Coast who have provided household items as well as donations for resettlement costs. You are all helping to enrich our lives here as well as giving hope to families fleeing catastrophes, the like of which most of us can never imagine.
If you’d like to contribute to the Ukrainian resettlement program please write to us at [email protected].
Jerry and Debbie Rolls
Roberts Creek
