Schmidt-Rempel appointed to provincial Ukraine task force

The province has established the Premier’s Advisory Task Force on Ukraine in an effort to help newcomers arriving in Alberta.

The Task Force will engage with Alberta’s Ukrainian community, not-for profits and organizations that will assist with Ukrainian newcomers to make sure the appropriate settlement supports are available.

City of Lethbridge Coun. Jenn Schmidt-Rempel is a member of the Task Force and wants the southern Alberta voice heard and was the reason she was asked to join.

“Well it’s certainly something that we’re seeing as a need in our province,” said Schmidt-Rempel. “We know that the doors have opened up for Canada because we’ve heard about that from our prime minister. And what I’m particularly interested in is what we in southern Alberta can do to be supporting these newcomers coming to our city and our area in general.”

Schmidt-Rempel has noticed a number of new Ukrainian newcomers coming in as a result of the conflict in their country.

“So certainly we have seen an increase of newcomers coming in and I perhaps have been more aware of it because I’m working on this particular portfolio,” she said. “So we know that those numbers are going to increase though because of the policies that the prime minister has put in place about the numbers we are prepared to start welcoming.”

The Task Force is in the beginning stages of identifying the challenges Ukrainians and other newcomers are facing coming to Canada.

“We’re seeing some trends in English language learning,” said Schmidt-Rempel. “So certainly that, and then making sure we’re connecting them with jobs in a short period of time because they come here wanting to work. And some of those barriers are English language learning, some of those barriers are transportation — so making sure we’re overcoming those. We’re seeing those all over but I’m focused specifically on Lethbridge.”

Schmidt-Rempel has been going out and meeting with specific groups, gathering information and getting a list of service providers and sending those to a central point in Edmonton.

Roundtable discussions began Wednesday across the province to hear from Ukrainian communities.

“Those groups in southern Alberta, as well as groups throughout Alberta, are going to start seeing themselves invited to roundtables where they’re going to be able to address specific concerns, bring those forward, and we’ll be able to build a position of it,” said Schmidt-Rempel.

A final report will be gathered and put together with both immediate and long-term recommendations to the legislature and Premier Danielle Smith. The study is estimated to take a couple of months.

The Task Force includes chair and MLA for Fort-Saskatchewan-Vegreville Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, former premier Ed Stelmach, Sally Mansour, non-profit executive and emergency management specialist in the non-profit sector, Firefighter Aid Ukraine firefighter and project director Kevin Royle, Helping Ukrainians in Fort Saskatchewan founder Carol Slukynski, and Vitaliy Milentyev, chairman of the supervisory board at the National Depository Ukraine.