Woman starts Sask. social media group to help keep displaced Ukrainians safe

Operating a social media page geared toward helping Ukrainians settle in Canada has been challenging for Kelly Lynn.

“Conflict-driven displacement has a lot of complexities associated with it that no one is really talking about it,” Lynn told CTV News in a phone interview.

She’s originally from Saskatchewan and worries about the lack of a government-implemented framework to deal with the latest newcomers. She said it’s a problem that has been left to volunteers like her.

It’s a job that deals with serious safety concerns, according to Lynn.

“I’ve just been referring to them as sexually motivated post offers. I received several complaints and started to do some investigative exploring,” she says.

Lynn, who has a social work background, found numerous inappropriate offer examples – mostly in larger centres.

She decided to leave a Canada-wide group because of frustration with the administration team’s inability to keep people safe.

Lynn started up the Saskatchewan Hosts Displaced Ukrainians Facebook page hoping for better outcomes because of different rules.

“We discourage those photos and have enabled the anonymous tool to post aid requests,” she said.

These changes are just one step to keeping the process safer according to Lynn, who says there haven’t been any reported concerns in Saskatchewan to date.

Saskatoon police told CTV News in an email, “Domestically we know that human trafficking is a crime that disproportionately impacts women and children. Given what we already know about those fleeing Ukraine, it stands to reason there is an increased risk of exploitation. We firmly believe that families coming to saskatoon are arriving to safety, human trafficking is something we need to be cognizant of."

Andrew Allsopp is with Nashi, the Saskatoon group that helps rescue girls in Ukraine from trafficking, and says the threat is here.

“Anywhere would be a target and it’s like anything else, when there are vulnerable people there will be people to exploit that."

The CEO of he Saskatoon Open Door Society says oftentimes those who are new to Canada assume all Canadians are friendly.

“There are a lot of times people are surprised that things can happen here too,” Ali Abukar told CTV News.

Abukar says empowering newcomers with information is key to keeping them safe from danger or crime.

In general, hosts are vetted when arranged through reputable organizations and Allsopp says most offers are well-intentioned.

“There’s a lot of good people offering to host and a lot of good people trying to connect the two, and there’s always going to be people trying to take advantage of that,” he said.

Families, hosts, and volunteers should work together, according to Allsopp, to ensure Ukrainians who are often desperate to flee the dangers of war aren’t being put at further risk by being ill-informed when they arrive in Canada.