Ukraine, carried with you: How Oksana Marchyshyn built a Ukrainian world in Quebec

“Being Ukrainian means your children are Ukrainian. It’s not just about who your parents were,” this statement by Oksana Marchyshyn best reflects the philosophy with which she arrived in the Canadian province of Quebec a little over two years ago.

For many people, Canada is synonymous with well-established Ukrainian community life. Wherever you go, there seems to be a Ukrainian church, a Saturday school or a cultural center. But Quebec is different. It is a deeply French-speaking province. When Oksana arrived, she found an active community sincerely committed to promoting Ukrainian culture. At the same time, newly arrived Ukrainian families had no shared physical space or institution to bring them together. There was no Ukrainian school, no church and no place where children and young people could learn, meet and feel part of a community.

That is why Oksana Marchyshyn, together with a group of like-minded volunteers, built something from the ground up. They founded the Ukrainian Children’s Culture and Recreation Center, and she went on to become Vice President of the Quebec Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC).

A second immigration

Oksana’s story is one of adapting twice and remarkable inner strength. In 2015, she, her husband and their two sons left Ukraine for France. The family settled in Paris and built a life there, but later made another radical decision – to move across the Atlantic.

“It’s really not easy,” Oksana admits. “You feel like you’ve already chosen your country, but then you have to change everything all over again.”

For thousands of Ukrainians who arrived here after Feb. 24, 2022, the main challenges were the French language and the absence of familiar support structures. But Oksana brought her own “Ukrainian world” with her.

When she arrived in Quebec, her first priority as a mother was to enroll her child in a Ukrainian school and attend a Ukrainian church. Since neither existed, they had to create them themselves.

The first meetings of the activists took place in each other’s homes. They later officially registered a nonprofit organization, which will celebrate its second anniversary in Canada this September. Today, the Ukrainian Children’s Culture and Recreation Center has 43 official members and board representatives, including School Director Vira Hostra, Vice Presidents Alina Lionha and Anna Nilohova, Secretary Olena Kozhukhar and Finance Director Anastasiia Ivasiuk.

Instead of a traditional school with classrooms, they created age-based groups where children study the Ukrainian language, the history of Ukraine and Ukrainian traditions. One of the center’s greatest achievements is Espace ado ukrainien, a dedicated space for children aged 12 and older who urgently needed a circle of friends after being forced to relocate. While the children attend classes, the space becomes a family center, with parallel French language courses offered to parents.

Moreover, the community has also laid the foundations for church life. The organization rents a chapel from a local Catholic parish, where prayer services are now regularly held in Ukrainian.

“Everyone says, ‘Just go to a Ukrainian church – they’ll give you space.’ But we had nowhere to go! To this day, we rent everything ourselves with our own resources. We’re looking for spaces that are affordable and conveniently located so mothers from the small towns around Quebec can bring their children,” Oksana says.

Diplomacy and support for Ukraine

Today, Oksana Marchyshyn’s organization operates under the umbrella of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and is built around three pillars: community building, promoting Ukrainian identity and supporting Ukraine.

In practical terms, this means daily work. On one hand, the center helps newly arrived Ukrainians with paperwork, health insurance and finding employment through a special project supported by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and Desjardins Ukrainian Credit Union.

On the other hand, Ukrainians actively introduce themselves to the local community. They organize large Independence Day celebrations in downtown Quebec City, celebrate Vyshyvanka Day near the Citadel of Quebec and introduce Canadians to Ukrainian Christmas traditions.

The community’s work is not limited to culture – they are also active on the political front. Activists regularly organize demonstrations outside Quebec’s National Assembly, particularly after Russia’s large-scale attacks on Ukraine. Oksana personally takes part in hearings at the National Assembly. For the fourth consecutive year, a Ukrainian delegation has participated in a session of Quebec’s parliament during the adoption of a resolution recognizing Russia’s actions as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

In addition, every major event is turned into real support for the front line. The community works through official Canadian-Ukrainian charitable foundations or supports volunteer medics on the ground. Donations are raised through charity concerts, the sale of borshch and varenyky, children’s handmade crafts and the traditional Christmas nativity play prepared by students of the Ukrainian Center.

The children enthusiastically take part in these initiatives, knowing that all the money raised is donated to support Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

“We don’t have the right to give up”

When asked how she manages to balance raising two children, studying, coordinating the Center and serving as Vice President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Quebec, Oksana simply smiles. She says she doesn’t notice the difficulties because she doesn’t know how to complain, and sincerely thanks her husband, her children and the team of leaders who have formed around her. The hardest thing for her is the news from home, where her parents remain.

Her greatest source of motivation is responsibility for the next generation. Children integrate quickly into Canadian society, and if adults do not make the effort, the language and culture can fade away.

“We are living in good conditions. Our children are safe, and the local community has welcomed us warmly. That’s why we simply don’t have the right to live any other way. We have to live in a way that helps our children understand that one day they will help build and rebuild Ukraine. Sometimes people think, ‘What can one person do in such a big world?’ But everything starts with one person. The Ukrainian World Congress often says that we are Ukraine’s voice abroad. That’s true. It starts with each of us.”

Today, Oksana Marchyshyn dreams of Ukraine’s great victory and of something much more down-to-earth, but equally necessary – a permanent home for the Ukrainian community in Quebec where meetings, workshops, classes and other events can be held. Then children will no longer have to search for a new place to rent every time.

And looking at everything this woman has built in just two years, there is no doubt that this home will become a reality.