Photo from left to right: Filip Stec, Tetyana Stec, Lidiia Stec and MP Chery Gallant.
The Ottawa Valley has welcomed a new Ukrainian refugee. Member of Parliament (MP) for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Cheryl Gallant, welcomed Lidiia Stec to the region on Friday (May 20th, 2022). Lidiia comes from Sumy, Ukraine, and is the mother of Tetyana who is married to Filip Stec, the owner of Mobile One on Mary Street in Pembroke.
Tetyana tells myFM she went to visit her father who was very ill on February 7th, 2022. The war between Russia and Ukraine broke out on February 24th and all flights were cancelled three days before she was scheduled to come back. Tetyana’s father passed away on March 6th and the family took a humanitarian corridor on March 10th from Sumy, Ukraine to flee the country. Tetyana talked about one part of the trip where they needed to turn off all the lights in the train because of nearby bombing.
Tetyana and Lidiia took buses and trains from Ukraine to Poland and once they arrived they were given free food, coffee, tea and phone sim cards for showing their Ukrainian passports. Tetyana says it was hard to believe what was happening.
Tetyana and Lidiia were supposed to fly from Poland to Germany to Canada. Once in Germany, their cards were declined, likely from using them in so many different countries and they were not allowed to board the plane, even though they were vaccinated, they needed a PCR test. After a long journey out of Ukraine, they had to sleep in a German airport.
Filip also talked about how difficult the immigration process is for people coming into Canada. He says details on temporary Visas and Canadian passports were found in their spam email folder.
While Filip and Tetyana have been living in the Pembroke area for a few years now, they worry about their mother Lidiia who has spent her whole life in Ukraine.
(written by: Rudy Kadlec)
