Saskatoon group hopes to bring the magic of summer camp to displaced Ukrainian children

Kevin Kardynal, past president of the Saskatoon UCC. (Carla Shynkaruk/CTV Saskatoon)

With the number of displaced Ukrainians increasing daily in Saskatchewan, a local organization is hoping to help the youngest newcomers get acclimated.

Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Saskatoon Branch is putting on a day camp in July for the first time. While it didn’t start as a program for displaced Ukrainian children, they’re seeing a lot of interest from those new families.

“There are some opportunities to have children integrate into our culture a little bit here, and see what we have here, and meet other Canadians and kids coming from Ukraine,” Kevin Kardynal, past president of the Saskatoon UCC, told CTV News.

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The organization has received calls about funding assistance from displaced families who can’t afford the camp but want to have their kids attend, he said.

That created an opening for the group to help. They put out a call for sponsors to help send kids to camp with a donation of $200.

"We’ve heard that people are excited to see the direct impact of their donations,” Kardynal says.

The benefits of having newcomer children involved in a camp experience are invaluable, according to the head of the Saskatoon Open Door Society.

“I can’t stress it enough for newcomers because they are coming to a new country and learning about the new setting, new culture and this gives them a chance to meet others and have an opportunity to practice the new language,” Ali Abukar said.

The Open Door Society also operates summer camps. Abukar said they’re increasing the number of spots in the upcoming overnight camps with a large number of Ukrainians expected along with Afghan refugees who arrived last summer.

They're trying to secure resources for transportation for those campers, he said.

UCC Saskatoon is also letting families know about other summer camps, both Ukrainian-based and city or community-run camps.

The group estimates the number of displaced Ukrainians in Saskatchewan this week to be around 400 — and expects that number to grow to 1,000 in the summer.