Quebecer helping Ukrainian refugees in Poland, works to bring wife’s family back to Canada
Posted March 17, 2022 1:00 pm.
Last Updated March 17, 2022 7:16 pm.
After the war broke out in Ukraine, André Rossin-Arthiat, an emergency response veteran made the decision to head into the war zone to help the family he has in Korosten, Ukraine escape. In an interview with the only light source being a flashlight, he explains, “my in-laws were trapped in their city home in Korosten, and they were really worried about getting bombed.”
Leaving Quebec on March 7, Rossin-Arthiat confirmed he had gotten some of his family members to safety in Poland including his mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and her two sons, but adds getting them out was “quite emotional.”
His nephew, father-in-law, and sister-in-law’s husband were forced to remain in the country, due to the declaration of martial law that bans men aged 18 to 60 from leaving Ukraine.
#WATCH: “They don’t have access to that,” says André Rossin-Arthiat, a Quebec Emergency Response Veteran who initially went to Ukraine to get his in-laws out of the war zone. pic.twitter.com/zmCRw1vjmR
— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) March 17, 2022
On the ground
“My wife who is Ukrainian made me also promise that I will help other Ukrainians after I get her family to safety and offer our medical services at the border or in Ukraine,” says Rossin-Arthiat on the daily updates he provides through an online fundraiser he setup.
Alongside three veterans, and doctor Julien Auger, a Montreal-area doctor who came to Poland to join in on the humanitarian effort to help refugees, Rossin-Arthiat has committed to helping as many Ukrainians as he can out of the country and into safety.
“People call us, they want to secure their families on the other side, or they need to bring medical supplies.”
He adds the journey in and out of Ukraine is never easy “the crossing could be quite horrendous, it’s five hours to get back into Poland. It’s just insane. It’s not easy, there’s a lot of roadblocks.”
Rossin-Arthiat, working alongside NGOs to bring medical and food supplies into Ukraine, making a trip into the war zone every day, “we’re making sure that convoy operations are safe. It’s not an easy thing.”
He adds there is also a growing problem.
“There’s a lot of people here trying to help, but are not actually helping at all.”
Once Rossin-Arthiat arrived in Poland with his family, he says he noticed while many NGOs were on-site and active in bordering countries, there was no help for those within Ukraine. “You’ll find bananas, you’ll get coffee, people will give you food, but once you go across the border in a war zone, nobody wants to do that because they’re afraid.
Quebecer André Rossin-Arthiat is in Ukraine to try and bring his wife’s family back to Canada. (Photo Courtesy: André Rossin-Arthiat)
“Transport and logistics is what’s needed now.”
For him, getting people out of Ukraine is what is most important, adding that only a few volunteers are playing a part in that effort.
“People like us to go in and out of the country, but people don’t want to do that because they’re scared.”
Many in Ukraine are forced to wait in gymnasiums or other bomb shelters, for rescue. “So they’re just playing the waiting game and just wait for us to bring them across.”
For those who choose to walk over, Rossin-Arthiat says they are vulnerable, “people are getting abused. People go over the border and people offer rides, but they don’t even know who they are, they don’t even vet them.”
Adding that people are disappearing from their journeys into neighbouring countries, some walking eighteen to twenty hours, “who’s going to say no?
“They target women and children who are single moms or grandmas with their daughters.”
Getting Ukrainian refugees to Canada
For those hoping to enter Canada, they must book an appointment online with the Canadian embassy in order to complete their Biometrics to obtain a visa.
“They don’t have anything and they don’t work, and they don’t have access to the internet, they don’t even speak English. And then you want them to put metrics online. They don’t have access to that.”
The nearest Canadian embassy to Poland is nearly a three-hour journey to Warsaw, something Rossin-Arthiat says is another obstacle in the way of people getting out of the war zone.
“You need to get the process simplified here.”
He is calling on the Canadian Government to help those trying to enter the country and calling on more volunteers to join in the effort in getting Ukrainians out safely. As boarding countries like Poland are becoming overwhelmed, he says, putting Ukrainians in refugee shelters will not help in the long run. “…keeping them safe and warm at night is great, but it doesn’t accelerate the process of getting them out.”
