Saskatoon bakery sees business rise after hiring newcomers from Ukraine
A willingness to hire newcomers to Canada has brought new business to Nestor’s Bakery.
For 25-year-old Vlada Botomna, moving to Canada was a big adjustment but a necessary one.
Her English is limited, but she says she had to leave because of the Russian takeover of her city of Lysychansk in Eastern Ukraine. The city of about 100,000 is severely damaged she says.
Her parents are still in Ukraine but had to move from their home city. She misses them a lot.
“Yes, very much,” Botomna told CTV News. When asked if they are safe, she hesitates and answers “maybe,” while holding back tears. She says she does speak to her parents everyday.
She’s only been here a month, but quickly learned Nestor’s Bakery was hiring.
Oleg Kravesov who helped translate the interview with Botomna, has been here for five months and has good things to say about Saskatoon and colleagues at Nestor’s.
“It’s a very friendly community here. When I started the job Ukrainian women who worked here longer than me helped me,” Kravesov says.
He lives near the bakery and appreciates the chance to work with other Ukrainians, something Nestor’s owner Keith Jorgenson has been committed to since Ukrainians started arriving in Saskatoon last year.
“We hired one person from southern Ukraine then that lead to a couple from western Ukraine. We now have 13 Ukrainian nationals who work at the bakery,” he says.
With a labour shortage in the province, Jorgenson’s problems were solved thanks to the Ukrainian help.
“We did a large fundraiser selling 35,000 donuts in a couple weeks in the colour of the Ukrainian flag and our business and store has doubled since then,” he says.
Jorgenson has Ukrainian ancestry through his grandparents. He doesn’t speak Ukrainian, but says he’s learned the odd word. He enjoys seeing English staff using Ukrainian words, and vice-versa.
“Really pleased and kind of proud at how the dynamic has developed in the bakery. We have people who don’t speak any English and are tutored and translated by those who don’t and you’ll often see when they leave at the end of the day, give each other a hug,” he says.
Staff at Nestor’s generally make more than minimum wage, according to Jorgenson, who is committed to providing a living wage. He gets calls almost every day from Ukrainians looking for work.
Kravesov worked in Poland while waiting for his Canadian visa and says, he much prefers his job at the bakery.
“I worked in Poland for two months. It was very hard, 12 hours a day, five days a week. It was much harder than here and lower salary,” Kravesov says.
Botomna spoke mostly Russian, which is common in some parts of Ukraine, but now she is boycotting the Russian language, sticking to Ukrainian and of course English, which she is working hard to learn.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.