Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 16, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA8 C M Y K PAGE A8 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 WINE & FOOD EXPERIENCE M A N I T O B A SAVOUR WAR IN UKRAINE D OZENS of Ukrainians fleeing their country and the Russian army are looking for information about moving here from a Manitoba Ukrainian organization. And, if they do, the provincial govern- ment will waive the fees for Ukrainian citizens to apply through the provincial nominee program. Ostap Skrypnyk, of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress’ Manitoba branch, said as of Tuesday, they had a list of 157 Ukrainians who had contacted the orga- nization’s website for information about moving here. “We will be keeping in touch with them through email,” Skrypnyk said. “There are people in Europe now who would like to move here, or are think- ing about it, so they can put down their names. We can’t promise we can help them, but we wanted to know what their needs are.” The congress has a list of 700 peo- ple who have offered to open up their homes to Ukrainians. It had to stop tak- ing offers because they had flooded in. “It was such an overwhelming re- sponse we had to put a pause on it until we decide how to process these names. And, which shows this is Friendly Man- itoba, it seems like a broad cross section of society. I would think the vast majority aren’t obviously of Ukrainian descent.” About 180,000 Manitobans are of Ukrainian descent. Already, Economic Development Win- nipeg, which had been planning to go to Ukraine to see if any of its highly skilled work force wanted to move here, but now it is pivoting to help organizations like the UCC help spread the word to Ukrai- nians there will be temporary or perma- nent job opportunities here for them. The Stefanson government said Tues- day it will make it easier for Ukrainians to come here. Immigration Minister Jon Reyes said the government would waive the $500 fee for Ukrainian citizens who apply to the nominee program. Reyes said his office has authorized the prioritization of applications from Ukrainian families and flagged ap- proved applications for the federal gov- ernment to give its stamp of approval to. “Our government… will do whatever we can to welcome as many Ukrainians as possible to stay in Manitoba,” Reyes said in the house. Speaking to reporters, Reyes said there were about 100 applications from Ukraine citizens in the queue as of two weeks ago, some of whom are already in Manitoba. Updated numbers were not immediately available. “They’re being expedited as quick as possible,” Reyes said. The Manitoba government has opened a special application stream for Ukrainians on the province’s website, the minister noted. “Those are for Ukrainians that are ac- tually looking to get out of the Ukraine, if they have relatives in Manitoba or wanted to come to Manitoba,” Reyes said. “We know there are Ukrainians who can’t get to a Canadian embassy. So, we’ve communicated that to the federal government and our communi- cation streams to ensure that they’re aware of that link.” It was unclear how the processing time for applications could be affected by the fee being waived. The province has not set a cap on the number of applications it will ac- cept and the current processing time is about three months. However, Reyes said the province is still waiting for di- rection from the federal government on which immigration streams it will make available to Ukrainians, includ- ing for those who claim refugee status, which could be faster than the provin- cial nominee program. People who are in the queue should expect delays. “We know that there are many that want to come to Manitoba,” Reyes said. “With a special case like this, there ob- viously will be some delays. I can’t pin- point on how long it will be, but again we’re in a very unique situation.” NDP MLA Mark Wasyliw, whose fam- ily came to Canada as refugees after the Second World War, said the Stefan- son government could do even more. “What we can do is be our tradition- al role as a safe harbour for refugees, Wasyliw said. “We were calling for this at the start of the invasion and we are now at Day 20 and it shouldn’t have taken this government 20 days into the invasion, with three million Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, and seeing the mass horrors and the war atrocities to get them to act.” Wasyliw said the government should provide the Ukrainian Canadian Con- gress with money to hire full-time re- settlement officers. “Manitobans want to be part of this solution, they are lining up to do it. They need their government to partner with them to make that a reality.” Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont also called on the government to help the lo- cal Ukrainian congress. “We need the government to put mon- ey into settlement services,” Lamont said. “The other thing, which we think is essential, is to make sure people, ba- sically as soon as they arrive in Man- itoba, are treated as full Manitobans and can get access to health care here because you’re going to see all sorts of people in distress.” kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba drops fee for Ukrainians seeking settlement KEVIN ROLLASON AND DANIELLE DA SILVA MARIUPOL, Ukraine — A wounded pregnant woman who was taken on a stretcher from a maternity hospital that was bombed by Russia last week has died, along with her baby. Images of the woman, whom the Associated Press has not been able to identify, were seen around the world, personifying the horror of an attack on civilians. She was one of at least three preg- nant women tracked down by AP from the maternity hospital that was bom- barded Wednesday in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The other two sur- vived, along with their newborn daughters. In video and photos shot by AP jour- nalists after the hospital attack, the wounded woman stroked her bloodied lower left abdomen as emergency work- ers carried her through the rubble, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had just happened. The woman was taken to another hospital, closer to the front line, where doctors tried to save her. Realizing she was losing her baby, medics said, she had cried out to them, “Kill me now!” Dr. Timur Marin said Saturday that the woman’s pelvis had been crushed and her hip detached. Her baby was de- livered via cesarean section but showed “no signs of life,” he said. They tried to save the woman, and “more than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn’t produce results,” Marin said. “Both died.” Accused of attacking civilians, Rus- sian officials claimed the maternity hos- pital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base, and that no patients or medics were left inside. Associated Press journalists, who have been reporting from inside block- aded Mariupol since early in the war, documented the attack and saw the victims and damage first-hand. They shot video and photos of several blood- stained, pregnant mothers fleeing the blown-out maternity ward as medical workers shouted and children cried. — The Associated Press Pregnant woman, baby die in bombing EVGENIY MALOLETKA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The injured pregnant woman, photographed being carried away after a hospital was struck in Mariupol March 9, has died along with her baby. A_08_Mar-16-22_FP_01.indd 8 2022-03-15 9:11 PM ;