Iryna
Iryna hard at work at her welding job at C&A Group of Companies. Photography by Tanya Plonka.
Iryna hard at work at her welding job at C&A Group of Companies. Photography by Tanya Plonka.
Prior to moving to Canada from Ukraine, Iryna and her husband, Ruslan, had a quiet life in a city of 500,000 people. They had a band, and loved performing, with Iryna on vocals and Ruslan on piano. But then the war started. Music became a lower priority, and they had less opportunity to perform.
"I had a good life in Ukraine. A really good life. But when the war started, you don't know what to do. You don't have a job," Iryna says.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Iryna asked in a Facebook group about moving to Canada, and some friendly strangers from Project Sunflower stepped up to help her family settle in Lethbridge. She’s also lucky to have a friend in Picture Butte who has lived there for three years. With the help of these folks and Lethbridge Family Services, integrating into Lethbridge was much easier. The family arrived on Canada Day, July 1st, 2022: Iryna and Ruslan, with their two sons, Ostap, age 9, and Vladyslav, age 7. A generous local farmer paid for their housing for the first year.
But then there was employment. Ruslan is blind, so employment options are somewhat limited. Iryna started looking for work almost as soon as they landed, with help from LFS. She had previous welding experience working in Czech Republic and thought that would be her best shot. Despite only starting welding in 2020, she has a very impressive grasp of the craft.
She sent her resume to several companies but wisely paid an in-person visit to C&A Group of Companies. She dropped off her resume on a Friday and received an email for an interview the following Monday. To work around the language barrier, she impressed them by showing pictures of past welding work on her phone.
C&A Group of Companies, itself a company founded by immigrants, immediately recognized Iryna's skill, knowledge, and ambition. They were amazed at the calibre of her past work, and it took just one interview for her to land a job.
Andrew Potts, Business Development Manager and Co-Owner at C&A Group of Companies, remembers the first day of working with Iryna. "Her first day of employment here, we put her with one of our best welders. We asked him how she's doing, he said 'Well, she's teaching me.’"
Kris Williams, who conducted her initial interview, remarked that she’s one of the best TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welders he’s ever worked with; “Her skills are incredible. It's not a skill set that walks in the door every day."
"She's focused, she's driven, she wants to be here," says Andrew. On top of her commitment to work, Iryna worked hard learning English at Lethbridge College in the evenings. She spoke no English before moving here, and her progress has been remarkable.
Iryna’s family was able to bring their traditional Ukrainian clothing with them, but most of their belongings had to be left behind. Her mother, two brothers, and one sister are still in Ukraine. She says it was difficult to leave them, but fortunately, they live in a relatively safer area of the country.
Iryna remarks, "When we moved to Canada, we knew we wanted to live here. We don't want to return. But I don't know what will happen in the future. For now, we have plans to stay here."
They are a very musical family. Ruslan currently has an accordion as a substitute for his usual piano, their oldest son plays trumpet, and their youngest plays the Sopilka, a traditional Ukrainian woodwind instrument. Both boys are in school and doing well.
Ruslan was a massage therapist in Ukraine and wants to take courses in Lethbridge to get the proper certification. With Iryna as the sole breadwinner, funds are tight for the family, so the cost of further training and education isn't possible yet.
When asked about her dream for the future, Iryna said that first and foremost, she would like the war in Ukraine to end. Beyond that, she wants her family to be happy and successful in Lethbridge.
