3 Ukrainian children stranded in Mexico, can’t return to Edmonton | globalnews.ca

Three Ukrainian children who fled the war to Edmonton are now stuck in Mexico.

Their legal guardians were shocked to learn that the children cannot return to Canada and are begging the government for help.

“Now everything is broken again,” said Olga Ostapyev. She adopted children to help them escape war-torn Ukraine.

Ostapiev says she wanted to help them forget about the war and decided to take them on holiday before Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, when it was time to go back to the airport, she learned that the children could not go back to Canada.

Ostapiev is a Canadian citizen, but her three adopted children, Anastasia, Yulia and Maxim, are not.

He has a CUAET (Canada-Ukraine Authority for Emergency Travel), which grants him one-time entry into the country. It is not considered a refugee program.

Ostapiev accepts all responsibility and says it is her fault, but says because her English is not good, she asked immigration officials if the children could travel with those documents and was told yes.

“When I’m making (a) mistake and it only hurts me, that’s fine, but when the mistake[hurts]the kids, and they’re looking at me and saying, ‘Don’t leave us! We need to (come back to Canada),'” she said.

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“They’re such nice, nice kids.”

The three children have been stranded in Mexico for two months now, staying at hotels on a weekly basis and unable to return to Edmonton.

“It’s very difficult to find a location and get out,” Ostapiev said. “Please, if it’s possible, just help me get them back home.”

She explains that the children started school in September and are part of many extra-curricular and clubs and are devastated by the situation.

Ostapiev has reapplied for CUET status and he and Mike Thomas, a Ukraine relief organizer, sent emails to the Canadian Immigration Office as well as the ministry but have not heard back.

Thomas explained in an email to the federal government, “They specifically asked if they could take them to Mexico but were not warned that their entry document was one-time only.”

“We urgently need to issue new travel documents for these children so they can return to Edmonton before this Canadian family is bankrupt.”

He told Global News that he tried to contact other members of parliament as well, but got no response.

Their worry is waiting another six to eight months for new visas to be issued.

In a statement, Minister Rajan Sawhney’s office said it was a serious but federal issue.

“We hope the federal government can expedite their visa extension approval process to assist people evacuated from Ukraine, especially children,” a statement from them read.

Global News contacted Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada several times, but received a general response.

The department would not comment on whether it would help Ostayev and the three children.

Instead, it was explained what is CUET.

“CUATE is a temporary program that takes advantage of our existing temporary resident visa processes, networks and infrastructure to bring as many Ukrainians to Canada as we can as quickly as possible,” the office said.

“The time it takes to process an application varies according to several factors and more complex applications may take longer. We continue to process applications as quickly as possible.”

Global News sought further clarification but did not receive a response.

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