The Archprest Cornell Zubritsky sometimes hears the noisy groans of air raids thousands of kilometers in Ukraine.
The sirens scream mobile phones of the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Edmonton.
“Many of them have the application of Siren Air Raid on their phones here in Canada, and this will be triggered. They do it so that if it is their city, they immediately take the phone to see if their loved ones are fine, “said Zububitsky in a recent interview.
“For them, it’s real. And then it makes things real for me because they are connected. They fight war every day.
ZUBRITSKY said most of its congregation of 150 people are immigrants from Ukraine. The members of the church decreased during the cocovio-19 pandemic, but again grew up with families in Ukraine.
Monday has marked three years for the Russian invasion. Tens of thousands were killed.
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About 300,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada on emergency visas since 2022.
Zubritsky said that some who frequent his weekly religious service have been Losing hope, and they don’t want to hear him about what’s going on in their homeland.
“For at least a few hours, they can come … and have a little suspended daily stress to tear your country,” he said.
“They don’t need reminders. We remind them every day. They receive SMS, they receive telephone calls. »»
Sitting in the church, Snizhana Kshetska said she hadn’t thought about the birthday much.
She and her three children, aged 10, 14 and 18, have been in Canada since the start of the war. Her husband was in the Ukrainian army but was released last year and joined the family in Edmonton.
“I do not measure my life as if I were here in Canada for a year or three years. For me, it’s horrible every day, not like a third anniversary from the start of this horrible war, “she said.
“I think every day, it is difficult to realize that it happened with us, and no one helps us to stop this.”
Kshetska said she would like to return to Ukraine one day and be with the friends and the family she left.
“Of my children, I’m not sure,” she said. “I think I’m going to ask them and it will be their choice.”
Zubritsky said that he no longer provides tissues and emotional support to those of Ukraine. He helps them find jobs, facing owners and sorting immigration problems.
“As if they did not have enough things to manage, with an authorized immigration reduction this year, they panic that Canada will expel them,” he said.
“I come home for a few days and I have a good cry during the day that I have on the general fate of all these people who are here.”
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press