Anne Stalzer had a busy Feb. 24. The Morinville woman marked the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine by welcoming another group of Ukrainian newcomers into her home — the sixth time she’s done so since the war began. It’s a task that involves countless hours of shopping, cooking, driving, and translating, all to help complete strangers find a new life in Canada.
“Because I can,” she replied, when asked why she does it.
“I’ve got the room. Why wouldn’t I do it?”
Staltzer, 61, is one of a growing number of super-hosts in the St. Albert and Sturgeon County region who have gone to extraordinary lengths to help newcomers from Ukraine.
The St. Albert and Sturgeon County region has hosted a disproportionate number of Ukrainian newcomers, being the fourth most common destination for them in Alberta, said Cheryl Dumont, executive director of the St. Albert and District Further Education Association (which has worked with many of those newcomers through its Newcomer Connection program). Some area residents have hosted three or four families in a row.
“We were on the ground very early,” Dumont said, with community organizations and the local Ukrainian community stepping up to co-ordinate relief efforts.
Hosts in demand
Demand for hosts in the Edmonton region has doubled or tripled since Christmas because of a surge in Ukrainians arriving in Canada, said Cherilyn Michaels, the St. Albert resident who founded Edmonton Hosts Ukrainians.
She and other area host groups suspect the surge is related to the one-year anniversary of the war, which prompted fears of a spike in attacks by Russian forces, and the potential end to the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET) program, which will expire March 31 unless renewed.
Michael said she has been working seven days a week since April to find hosts for newcomers across the greater Edmonton region, with about 300 families placed so far.
“Today was a record,” she said on Feb. 16, with some 144 new families requesting help.
Roughly 700 Ukrainian newcomers were arriving in Alberta each week as of Feb. 22 compared to the pre-Christmas level of 650, said Orysia Boychuk, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Alberta Provincial Council. About 80 per cent of these newcomers have no family here to support them, and need the help of host families on arrival.
Hosting those newcomers is easier now with the rise of organized supports, said Janet Bertsch, who runs the St. Albert Hosts Ukrainians Facebook group. Ukrainians can get a one-time payment of $3,000 from the federal government, for example, while institutions such as the Free Store for Ukrainian Newcomers have popped up to offer free clothes and household items. Instead of needing months, as most hosts expected earlier in the war, most newcomers have been able to find their own places to live after a few weeks. What is needed now is more hosts.
“There definitely is a very urgent need for people to help out,” Bertch said.
How to host
Stalzer has set up three rooms in her house for newcomers and stocks each with a basket of toiletries prior to their arrival — a practice she said she learned from her parents. Her shelves, closets, garage, and den are all crammed with clothes, chairs, tables, couches, mattresses, and other items donated by Morinville residents for her incoming guests.
Stalzer said she typically chats with incoming families online before they come to Canada. When they arrive, there are hugs all around.
“They’re so thrilled to be in Canada,” she said.
Stalzer said the families she has hosted have stayed with her anywhere from a few weeks to a month. Many arrived with little more than carry-on luggage.
Stalzer said she typically spends five to eight hours a day driving newcomers to appointments to find jobs, homes, schools, driver’s licences, and bank accounts, often communicating with them through Google Translate. Her cats and dogs help too, lavishing her guests with affection.
“Every time they come, my animals, they abandon me!” she joked.
Stalzer said the families she has hosted have been amazing guests. One family insisted on cleaning her house top to bottom every week, while another gave her a handcrafted plate. She had fond memories of seeing one family scoop out a pumpkin and dress up to trick-or-treat during their first Halloween, and the screams of amazement another made as they went for a wintertime swim in her backyard hot tub.
Even though she keeps in touch with the families she hosts, Stalzer said it feels like seeing the kids off to college again every time one of them leaves.
“You just wish them well and hope for the best.”
With some 560,000 visas approved under CUAET and just 180,000 Ukrainians having arrived in Canada since January 2022, Michaels said Alberta would likely see many more newcomers in need of hosts in the months to come.
“Fundamentally, this is going to keep on going until the situation in Ukraine changes.”
Stalzer encouraged anyone with the room and time to host Ukrainian newcomers to do so.
“If you have the time and money available, why would you not do it for people coming and fleeing from a war-torn country?”
