Olga Shmelova at her Winnipeg home on Jan. 27. Back in Ukraine, she said her family feels like they are just surviving, not living.Shannon VanRaes/Globe and Mail
There was enough standing in the way of Olga Shmelova’s wedding. The pandemic restricted her fiancée’s ability to travel from Kyiv to Winnipeg, and same-sex marriage is not allowed in Ukraine, so they couldn’t marry there.
Now, Ms. Shmelova can add the threat of war to her concerns.
“People would typically get excited when they talk about a wedding,” she said. “But it’s just so scary … we have to be worried if a war is going to start in Ukraine and close off the country or something like that. There’s a lot of fears that are in the way, so we can’t be happy.”
Ms. Shmelova is one of many Canadians with deep roots in Ukraine who now fear for their friends and families back home as Russia ratchets up its military presence on the border.
The Ukrainian government has said it believes an outright invasion is unlikely, even though Western countries have said an attack could be imminent. One of Russia’s main demands is that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO, but the U.S. – the alliance’s de facto leader – has repeatedly said it will not change the open-door policy for countries wanting to join the pact.
Ms. Shmelova is no stranger to such tension. She fled to Winnipeg from Crimea in 2014, a few months after Russia invaded and annexed the peninsula. Her daughter, who was five at the time, was able to follow shortly afterward.
It took some luck and foresight to make it to Canada. She had already applied for a student visa and withdrew all her money from her bank when the annexation took place. Many of her friends and family found themselves stuck when their accounts were frozen during the unrest.
Ukrainian civilians train to defend their northern border with skills learned from Canada
Now, with her wedding planned for March in Denmark, she gets harrowing updates from her family in Crimea, such as word that women too could be conscripted if war breaks out. She said her family feels like they are just surviving, not living.
Her fiancée wonders if she will have to evacuate her home and if her rights will be protected under Russian occupation.
Watching people back home deal with the unrest reminds Ms. Shmelova of her own rush to leave Ukraine in 2014.
“It’s very triggering because it brings memories of when annexation was happening,” she said.
Petro Skirchuk moved to Saskatoon with his wife and child last year from the Ukrainian city of Lviv because he no longer felt safe in the country.
Mr. Skirchuk said his friends and family back home simply feel a sense of resignation.
“After years of thinking about what to do if Russian soldiers will come to your house, you’re not scared anymore … you’re prepared mentally,” he said, adding that his family was trying to live their lives as normally as possible.
He believes Russia poses an existential threat to all countries in the region – that what is happening in Ukraine could happen elsewhere.
Not all Canadians with connections to Ukraine share the same political views though.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress supports the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and has asked the Canadian government to increase its military assistance to the country.
“The community, as far as the mainstream community is concerned, is pressing the government of Canada to take more action and understands our role as part of NATO, as part of G7 leadership and as a strong ally of Ukraine,” said the UCC’s CEO and executive director, Ihor Michalchyshyn.
But Glenn Michalchuk, president of the Winnipeg branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, says some Ukrainians would like to see the country become closer with Russia.
“There’s a general divide between various regions and how they view relationships with the European Union vis à vis relationships with Russia,” said Mr. Michalchuk, who explained that some people believe closer ties with the West mean selling off national assets and cutbacks to social security programs in Ukraine.
“The division and the debate is at the political level within the community here, about what is the best way forward.”
He said the AUUC as an organization does not support Ukraine joining NATO, and he criticized the Canadian government’s response to the conflict, saying Ottawa is only aggravating the situation.
But the two sides have a mutual concern for family and friends back home, Mr. Michalchuk said, and some in the community are prepared to receive family members here in Canada if the situation worsens.
Ms. Shmelova says the way forward is becoming less clear. Her fiancée would like to withdraw all her money from her accounts now, but that could hinder any attempt to get a Canadian visa because she would have to show bank statements to prove she can support herself.
In the meantime, she’s looking forward to her wedding. The date was just confirmed last week, and she is simply hoping for the best.
“That’s all we have left – hope that we’ll be able to do it,” she said.
“We have to be positive. What else can we do?”
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