Sask. woman facing challenges finding home for Ukrainian refugee with disability

A Saskatoon woman is working to bring her friend with cerebral palsy to our city from Ukraine, but there are obstacles in her path because of his disability.

He needs a host with accessible housing before his application expires at the beginning of July.

“I’m very scared because if bombarding will start, there’s no one who will take him out,” Viktoriia Marko told CTV News.

Marko has been friends with Mykola Kopchyk for about 14 years. They’re from the same city of Sambir in western Ukraine. Marko’s been in Saskatoon for six years and talks to Kopchyk on the phone often.

She worries for the 41-year-old who lives on the second floor of an apartment building with no elevator and he can’t walk without help. He lives with his mom who has increasing mental struggles. Marko says, she’s learned that his immediate neighbourhood hasn’t been bombed yet, but shelling is happening just 10 kilometres away.

Marko secured her friend an electric wheelchair from Holland and while he did use it a few times, it’s not practical on the uneven streets of his city. Also, getting down two flights of stairs is difficult.

Marko and friend Deborah Larmour are racing against the clock to try and arrange accessible housing in Saskatoon for Kopchyk, which is a requirement for the Canadian government to let him stay she said.

“We need to provide the embassy with the documentation by July 2,” Marko says.

That documentation needs to detail plans for accessible accommodation and care.

After that date, she said his application will be cancelled. It’s frustrating because once Kopchyk is here they’re confident he’ll be taken care of with great social programming.

“All of the programs are available, but one has to be present in Canada to apply for them,” Larmour said.

Marko is also confident that many displaced Ukrainians already in Saskatoon who are also from Sambir, will step up and help with his care, like bringing him food or social outings.

Marko was prepared to let Kopchyk live with her, but because she is not set up for a wheelchair in her home, she can’t according to accessibility rules.

While Kopchyk gets around his apartment mostly by crawling on his hands and knees or with the help of his mother, Marko said his mind is still sharp. He writes poetry and even puts the words to music.

“He’s very intelligent and he knows how to read and write. He listens to the radio a lot and knows what’s going on in the world more than I do,” she said.

He travelled to Poland and has all his biometrics to come to Canada, but just needs accessible housing and is realistic about his chances to get to Canada. In phone conversations with Marko, he has simple requests when he arrives.

“I don’t eat much, I can be on my own in one room, you can visit me from time to time,” he told Marko on the phone.

“I said, ‘but Canada is not ok with that’. Canada wants to have people that feel themselves human and we want to provide you with wheelchair accessibility because it’s a requirement,” she said.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress Provincial branch tells CTV News that, about 500 displaced Ukrainians have now arrived in Saskatchewan and Kopchyk’s disability is the first case of its kind that they’ve heard of so far.

Marko asks anyone who can help her friend to contact her at: [e-mail]