REGINA — A second humanitarian flight of Ukrainian refugees to Saskatchewan will be coming to Regina August 10.
That was confirmed Tuesday by Minister of Trade and Export Development - Immigration and Career Training Jeremy Harrison at a media availability at the legislature, in response to the news report last week that a second flight was indeed a go.
Harrison told reporters that 240 Ukrainians will be coming to Saskatchewan on that next flight. This will be the second humanitarian flight of Ukrainians to Saskatchewan. The first was a Boeing 787 direct flight from Warsaw, Poland that landed in Regina July 4, with 230 passengers on board.
There are differences with the second flight. Harrison told reporters the plan is to have the 787 plane arrive at another airport that is equipped to handle that size of aircraft, and then charter another flight to Regina from wherever that destination is.
The newly arrived will then be located at a concentrated location, likely the University of Regina again where the first batch of refugees were housed.
There are also plans for future flights. Harrison said to reporters there will be “more into the future on that front as well,” though there was nothing to announce as of yet.
He said they were “working with our settlement agencies to make sure they have capacity, to make sure that we have capacity as far as housing, all of those things.”
Harrison indicated to reporters the arrival of the first Ukrainian refugees in Saskatchewan has gone well. It was his understanding the first batch of Ukrainians had moved out of the University of Regina residences to permanent housing, and he indicated they have been getting placed in jobs as well.
Harrison said it has been a “remarkable all of government effort” through various ministries, and it has been made a top priority in his own ministries. He said he thinks it has “worked remarkably smoothly.”
