By O. Kondrashov and J. Crego
Image link: All Welcome Terrace image (City of Terrace)
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has caused immense suffering and displacement of millions of Ukrainians. Many countries around the world have stood in solidarity with Ukraine and opened their borders to welcome Ukrainian refugees. The small city of Terrace in northwestern British Columbia is one community that has reached out to support Ukrainians impacted by the war. This article explores the efforts by Terrace residents to aid Ukrainian refugees, including through century-old familial ties and providing scarce apiary supplies, demonstrating the capacity of even remote towns for meaningful humanitarian assistance.
Family Reunification After 124 Years
In late June 2022, Ukrainians Larysa Brusanovska and her two children, Darina and Bohdan, arrived in Terrace to a tearful and celebratory welcome by Peter and Christina Bruce and friends at the airport (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). This reunion marked the culmination of a remarkable transnational family history spanning over a century. Peter Bruce’s great-grandparents had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine 124 years prior, changing their name from Brusanovski to Bruce upon arrival (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). In 1997, Peter and his wife Christina travelled to Ukraine seeking to connect with this ancestral heritage. Through a series of coincidences, they met and befriended long-lost relatives including Larysa Brusanovska, forging an abiding bond despite geographical separation (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022).
When war erupted in Ukraine in February 2022, Peter and Christina resolved to assist their Ukrainian relatives, offering their Canadian home as safe refuge. While her husband remained to fight against Russian forces, Larysa fled to Canada with her children and became the first Ukrainian family resettled by the Terrace community (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). Kindness from strangers facilitated the family’s adjustment, including the save-on-foods manager providing three jobs, while Peter Bruce provided active support through his Ukrainian language skills and moral encouragement (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). This story epitomizes how global crises manifest at personal levels, but also how ordinary people can respond with humanity. That a tiny town in British Columbia could reunite and shelter a Ukrainian family after 124 years signifies deep reservoirs of goodwill flowing across cultures and generations.
Apiary Aid
Amidst the turmoil of war, Ukraine’s $150 million honey industry and 600,000 beekeepers face ruination from displacements, habitat loss, equipment shortages, colony collapse and more (Szeto, 2023). Terrace again extended goodwill by importing 200 Carpathian queen bees and 1000 attendant workers from Ukraine in summer 2022 (Szeto, 2023). Rushing River Apiaries owner Christine McDonald explicated that these “rugged” mountain bees are ideally suited for novice beekeepers in northern British Columbia through their gentle temperament and hardy winter survival capacity (Szeto, 2023). By incorporating the Ukrainian queen bees into 130 local bee colonies for hobbyists, Terrace apiaries enabled future honey harvesting and supported Ukrainian beekeepers robbed of livelihood (Szeto, 2023).
This small material donation held deeper significance as well. Queen bees birth and sustain entire colonies, granting them heightened symbolic importance (Government of British Columbia, 2023). That Terrace welcomed displaced Ukrainian queens intimates a broader communal reception for Ukrainian refugees themselves. Moreover, successful integration of foreign queen bees implies how Ukrainian families like the Brusanovskis can similarly thrive when embraced by empathetic communities. Ultimately, through this apiary aid, little Terrace aligned itself with the plight of Ukrainian people and ecosystems uprooted by unjust violence.
Terrace’s Stand
Why does tiny Terrace, nestled in remote northwestern British Columbia mountains, exemplify such spirited support for Ukraine? Firstly, the Ukrainian heritage of numerous prairie settlements (like Peter Bruce’s ancestral Smoky Lake) that also populated Terrace cultivates an inherited empathy (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). Secondly, the kindness of individuals (Peter, Christina, Gary the grocery manager, Christine the apiarist) cohered into impactful collective action. Finally, small towns may foster tighter communal bonds that translate easily into humanitarian responses. Regardless of exact reasons, Terrace’s Ukrainian assistance illuminates how ordinary citizens through everyday decency can alleviate global suffering.
Peter Bruce relayed how Terrace residents directly assisted the displaced Brusanovskis while also respecting Ukrainian sovereignty and condemning Russia’s fraudulent moral rationale for invasion (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). His indictment of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s negation of unique Ukrainian identity vitalized ongoing debates within Canada regarding appropriate support for Ukraine (Bramadat-Willcock, 2022). Terrace reinforced Ukrainian resilience not just through material aid but also rhetorical solidarity. Perhaps local experiential wisdom contributes sorely lacking nuance to geopolitical discussions dominated by elite posturing.
Of course, Terrace constitutes one minor municipality within an enormous country now harboring upwards of 200,000 Ukrainian refugees (Government of Canada, 2023). However, widespread grassroots efforts by countless small towns to assist fleeing Ukrainians compounds into Canada’s reputation as a haven, thereby attracting more refugees. Similarly, modest apiary donations coalesce into substantial future honey production and ecological regeneration for Ukrainian bee populations. Everything starts small – a family reunification here, a queen bee rescue there. But many tiny acts of kindness accumulate into stronger communal bonds between Canada and Ukraine.
The courageous Ukrainian spirit perseveres from the frontlines in Ukraine to the northern British Columbian apiaries. Terrace and its residents deserve commendation for supporting this determination in myriad ways, demonstrating the resolve of quiet mountain towns. However the russian assault concludes, Terrace’s assistance shows the world that goodness and moral clarity exist in the most unexpected places.
References
Bramadat-Willcock, M. (2022, July 13). Ukraine to Terrace: A modern day wartime reunion. PQB News. https://www.pqbnews.com/news/ukraine-to-terrace-a-modern-day-wartime-reunion-1204801
Government of British Columbia. (2023). Honey Bees. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/animals-and-crops/animal-production/bees
Government of Canada. (2023). Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel: Key figures https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures/key-figures.html Szeto, W. (2023, June 8). Sweet story from a war-torn country. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/terrace-apiary-queen-bee-ukraine-1.6869156