B.C. woman helping Ukrainian family flee to Canada says system too complicated

A B.C. woman says she's desperate to bring family members fleeing from Ukraine to B.C., but that the federal process is confusing and cumbersome.

A British Columbia woman who is scrambling to get her Ukrainian family members to Canada says despite federal promises to streamline the process for refugees, the system remains cumbersome and confusing.

Michelle Petrusevich’s seven-year-old nephew Tymur and his mother Lina are currently in Poland, after fleeing eastern Ukraine amid intensifying Russian attacks.

“He’s so young, he thinks he’s on a trip,” she said.

“But when they were saying goodbye … he said, ‘Daddy we’re going on a trip, why are you not coming with us?’ And (his father) said, ‘Because I am a man, I have to defend my country,’ and (Tymur) said, ‘I want to stay too.'”

The pair are currently relying on the kindness of Polish strangers, who opened their home to them, but Petrusevich has vowed to bring them to Canada.

But she says she’s having trouble figuring out how.

Getting any kind of usable information from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has proven a challenge, she said.

“You can go on the website, it’s very confusing. I’ve signed up for things but … it’s very cumbersome to navigate,” she said.