by Tom Sasvari
BURNT ISLAND—Purvis Fisheries will be helping two Ukraine families, who fled their war-torn country and have been in Toronto for the past few months, come to live and work on Western Manitoulin.
“I will be picking them up in Toronto (this) weekend,” said Denise Purvis-Sheppard. “They have been here in Canada, in Toronto, for the past few months. I contacted the Ukrainian Society in Sudbury then they connected me with the City of Greater Sudbury, to send information to Toronto to those in charge of helping the people from Ukraine who are looking for a new place to live.”
“Right now they are staying in shelters in Toronto,” said Ms. Purvis-Sheppard. “The families had to consider if they wanted to come up to the Island,” she said, explaining, “we are bringing two families to the Island. We don’t have two homes for them, but the two families agreed they would live together for a while at least.”
“One of the families includes a single father with two children, two girls I think, aged seven and eight,” continued Ms. Purvis-Sheppard. “The other family includes a husband and wife and their four-year-old child. No, I haven’t talked to them in person yet. All the contacts we have had have been through email.”
“We have one house available for them on Burnt Island, (the south shore headquarters of Purvis Fisheries)” continued Ms. Purvis-Sheppard. Along with living in the residence in Burnt Island, “the men will work for us at our fish plant in Burnt Island. One wife said that she will look after all the kids. And in the fall the kids will be able to attend school. Of course, they will need to be trained at working in the fish plant and there is a language barrier that we will all have to overcome.”
“When we were going back and forth corresponding with them, we had to ask them if they were okay coming to live and work in a small area like Burnt Island,” said Ms. Purvis-Sheppard. “They could be coming from a large town in the Ukraine. So, I told them to make sure they looked at a map to know where we are and how small an area it is. One of the men said he was happy to be in area where it is quiet, and he can find silence. With what is going on in Ukraine right now, who knows what they have gone through, but I understand he may have lost a few family members in the war going on over there.”
Along with the housing, Ms. Purvis said she will purchase groceries for the two families before they arrive. “Yes, its not like they are bringing everything they owned in the Ukraine. These families don’t have anything other than their clothes,” said Ms. Purvis-Sheppard.
The two families will be staying in a three-bedroom house on Burnt Island. The Purvis family has another house on the property, but it is used by men from Newfoundland who are employed by Purvis Fisheries to work during the fishing season.
“At least it gives them something for awhile. They will have to decide if they want to stay or move on at some point. Maybe they will want to go back to their home country at some point,” continued Ms. Purvis-Sheppard.
The children will share one bedroom in the house. “We are looking for someone that has bunkbeds they can use, along with a washer and dryer for the house, and maybe even one more couch. If someone has any of these that the family can use, they can contact me,” said Ms. Purvis-Sheppard. “And we could use some toys and peddle bikes for the kids.”
“In the house we have a fridge, stove, beds,” said Ms. Purvis-Sheppard who added, “I think I will be going to Toronto to pick them up on Friday or Saturday. It will give us a chance to get their house ready.”
