The road from Ukraine to Revelstoke . p

Jenny, Artem and Timur: Artem Rusiev, Jenny Rusieve and their son Timur arrived in Revelstoke in April 2022. Photo: Nora Hughes

THE ROAD TO REVELSTOKE:

STORIES FROM FIVE UKRAINIAN FAMILIES

SEVERAL UKRAINIAN FAMILIES NOW CALL REVELSTOKE HOME AFTER FLEEING FROM WAR. IN THIS ARTICLE, FIVE OF THEM SHARE STORIES OF WHY THEY’VE DECIDED TO CALL REVELSTOKE HOME AND WHAT THEIR EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN LIKE SETTLING IN.

By Nora Hughes.

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and caused Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. The impact the war has had on Ukrainians is unfathomable.

Several families have fled to Revelstoke, seeking refuge from the war. I sought them out and sat down with five Ukrainian families and listened to their stories.

As a reporter in a small town, I rarely interview someone on such a sensitive topic. Many of our new Ukrainian residents’ homes have been destroyed, have left loved ones behind, and have had to give up life-long careers. Still, my conversations with Tanya, Denys and Victoria, Artem and Inna, Jenny, Natalia and her son were very open.

The veterinary technician, Tanya

Tanya was the first Ukrainian person I interviewed, and I didn’t know what to expect. She’s kind and funny and told me her story in great detail. Tanya moved to Canada after getting a job offer at the Revelstoke Veterinary Clinic. She’s a dedicated professional and a loving mom to four children. Following the invasion in February, Tanya, her husband, and their children fled to Poland. She travelled to Revelstoke alone in May before being joined by her family in July.

Despite being in a foreign place, Tanya felt nothing but welcome. Her employer, Rob Sidjak from the Revelstoke Veterinary clinic, picked her up from the airport and helped her settle in.

When I asked Tanya what’s weird about Revelstoke compared to her home in Ukraine, she said, “How Canadians spend free time. A lot of sports, a lot of activities. A lot of my coworkers after work go hiking and biking.” She says that a child’s English fluency still surprises her even though she’s been here for a few months now. She’s also surprised that Canadians don’t lock their doors at night. School in Revelstoke is different for Tanya’s children too. She says the school is very low-stress here and that her children can come home and be kids without worrying about mountains of homework.

The biggest challenge Tanya encountered was securing long-term housing before her family arrived. Another challenge she faced was learning new words involved in the technical nature of her work. At first, she didn’t understand terms like vomit but told me that, in her line of work, some words are learned quicker than others.

She finds joy in watching the seasons change. When she first arrived, Mount Begbie was covered in snow, and then it melted. Her children are excited to see the snow cover the mountain as winter creeps in again.

The store owner, Jenny

Jenny is bubbly and so easy to talk to. Jenny, her husband Artem and their son Timur arrived in Revelstoke in April. In Ukraine, Jenny was a business owner. She owned a retail store that sold supplements and cosmetics. Now, she works at Kat Cadegan Jewellery. Five months ago, she would freeze if someone asked Jenny a question. Now she’s cracking jokes in a language

that is not her native tongue. “It’s so important for me,” she says. “I was born in the south of Ukraine, and this is like the capital joke city in our country. Everybody knows who lives in Odesa: it’s comedy people.”

Jenny and her family moved to Revelstoke after Artem got a job at Revelstoke tech company, Cronometer. When they first arrived, Artem’s friend Dylan Hardy let them stay with him until they found a house. Jenny says that Dylan and all the team members at Cromometer were extremely helpful in making them feel at home.

What surprises Jenny the most is the kindness and honesty of people in Revelstoke. It shocked her to see a Facebook post on the Revelstoke Community page trying to reunite a Dimond ring with its rightful owners. She says this would not happen in a city in Ukraine. She’s getting used to living in a small town with no skyscrapers, no horizon line and bears in her backyard.

Some of Jenny’s most significant challenges were finding a house to rent, securing a credit card, and scheduling a driving test. Jenny has overcome a lot in the last few months, one of the biggest being her ability to engage in small talk through a language barrier. She calls it small talk that is not so small.

The professional basketball player: an interview with Artem and Inna

Artem, Inna and their two daughters moved to Revelstoke in May. Artem is a professional basketball player on the Ukrainian team. His family is used to moving around for his work. Artem estimates that Revelstoke is his daughter’s eleventh or twelfth school. Just three days before the war, the family was in Georgia. While staying with some friends, the family prepared visas to move to Canada. Artem says they chose Canada so that his daughters could have the opportunity to attend post-secondary education.

Their Ukrainian friends Olga and Alex, who lived in Revelstoke before the Russian invasion, helped them settle into their new home. Artem works nights at the Downie Timber Mill, and Inna works at Padrino’s Pizzeria. Inna loves to cook, and Artem says they’re considering opening a Ukrainian food truck in Revelstoke with friends Denys and Victoria.

Like some of the other families, Artem and Inna found their frequent encounters with bears quite surprising. Another thing that will take the family some time is the short commutes. In Kyiv, Artem would sit in traffic for hours to get to work. Here, the five-minute commutes feel strange. It’s something he says he could get used to.

Artem and Inna Family: Artem Butskyi, Inna Butska and their daughters Olha and Yiera arrived in Revelstoke in May 2022. Photo: Contributed by Artem Butskyi

Nataliia and son: Nataliia and her husband made the decision to move to Canada long before the war. She moved to Revelstoke in January and was joined by her son shortly after the war began in February. Photo: Nora Hughes

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Vika Latii and Denys Popov arrived in Revelstoke in September 2022. Photo: Nora Hughes

The boxer and beautician: an interview with Denys and Victoria

Denys and Victoria are an incredibly friendly couple, eager to return the kindness they’ve received since moving to Revelstoke. Denys and Victoria fled to Italy at the start of the war and came to Revelstoke in September with the help of their friends Artem and Inna, who arrived in May. In Ukraine, Denys was a professional boxer and ran a boxing club for children, and Victoria worked in customer service at a beauty salon.

One of the first people to help them when they arrived in Revelstoke was professional skier Christina Lustenberger. Another person to show them extraordinary kindness was Dr. Bret Batchelor, who invited them to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. The day manager at the Ramada Hotel sent Denys a message before they moved and said they wanted to help the couple by providing employment and staff housing. Victoria works at the Ramada now, and Denys works for Jordan Cochrane Construction.

Victoria says one of the biggest surprises for her was coming face-to-face with a black bear on her first day in town. Denys is most surprised by the friendliness of people in Revelstoke. He says the way people who don’t know each other stop and talk in the streets isn’t common in Ukraine.

The couple found that the biggest challenge was finding a place to rent. They’ve secured housing now, thanks to the kindness of community members.

Recently, Denys completed his boxing coaching permits and is an official coach at the Revelstoke Boxing Club.

The tailor: an interview with Nataliia

Nataliia decided she wanted to live in Canada long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before COVID, she worked in Kelowna but lost her job due to the pandemic. She found a job with Shade Sails Inc in Revelstoke and went back to Ukraine to begin the immigration process. Now, she’s officially been in Revelstoke for nine months.

When Nataliia arrived in Revelstoke, her employer and coworkers at Shade Sails helped her settle in. “They gave me information about everything,” she said. Nataliia’s friends from church have also been exceptionally helpful in her transition.

Something that Nataliia finds different about Revelstoke from her home in Ukraine is the lack of good transportation. “I have never used a car because we have a subway and busses; everything is very fast. It’s really different,” she explains. She says she enjoys the slower pace of Revelstoke in some regards. People are incredibly friendly and stop her on the street to say hello.

Nataliia’s biggest challenge was getting her son to Canada after the start of the war. With everything going on in Ukraine, it wasn’t easy to get the information she needed for her son’s visa. It was a scary time for her. The one thing that put her mind at ease was knowing her son was safe with her husband and that he would protect him if anything happened. When she finally got her son into Canada, her husband could not join them. Ukraine is under martial law, and Nataliia’s husband could not leave because he is of military age.

“It’s difficult because we are a family, my husband, my son and me. We are one small Ukrainian family, but in Canada, I’m a single parent, and it’s not my decision,” says Nataliia. “I’m doing everything alone, and it’s really hard.”

Tanya + family