A large contingent of Ukrainians and Canadians lined Massey Drive this afternoon (Saturday) to mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Charles Scott, a volunteer with Prince George for Ukraine called the rally a heartening sight.
“It’s important because this is not a short conflict, this conflict is not going away, we are seeing a number of conflicts in the area,” Scott said.
“Our response to it as a country is one thing, but we can also respond as citizens to help the people that are trying to navigate difficult times.”
Scott said with other conflicts ongoing in the world there is a fatigue of hearing about war.
“You have a tendency to pay attention to the thing that’s in front of you, and we’ve had a lot of things going on,” Scott said.
“It is on the one hand, you want to let people know that they can do something to make a difference and you want to let people know that a difference is being made. You don’t want them to get fatigued of ‘stop talking to me about war,’ but at the same time, you can make a big difference that will last a lifetime, and this is happening now, Prince George is a good news story.”
In the past two years, Share Hope has helped 314 displaced Ukrainians within 126 families settle across the North.
Scott added there are many ways to help in Prince George.
“If there are people that are willing to take a family into their home as a host family for a little while to help them get started until they can get their feet under them, that is an enormous help. There are people that, for example, need to get groceries but are taking them all home on the bus, so if they are available to drive them to the grocery store, that’s great as well. We’ve had very generous donations of household furnishings and those kinds of things, these are all ways in which people are helping and it is making a huge difference.”
The number of Ukrainians in the North is expected to increase to 350 by the end of March.
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