Alberta landscaping company gives deaf Ukrainian refugees a fresh start

An Edmonton-area landscaping company is hoping to encourage other businesses to hire Ukrainian refugees and people living with a disability.

An Alberta landscaping company, based in Stony Plain, is hoping to encourage other businesses to hire Ukrainian refugees and people who are living with disabilities.

The Jansen Group hired five Ukrainian refugees, four of whom are deaf. Volodymyr Tymchuk applied in June.

Through Google Translate, he told Global News he came to the job interview with a friend who knows English, and the company hired him.

“I do not regret that I applied for this particular job,” Tymchuk said.

The Jansen Group president Adam Jansen said he wasn’t sure what it would be like to communicate. He first thought he should learn some American Sign Language, but realized because Tymchuk speaks Ukrainian  — it wouldn’t all translate.

“Some things can be communicated with gesturing or hand movements, things like that, for more complicated things that require a little more detail, we just use our phones and Google Translate,” Jansen said.

That said, there have been some challenges to having hearing-impaired workers on staff.

“Getting their attention on site is not as simple as just yelling, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ You have to make physical eye contact.”