Anastasiia Romashko, assistant producer and social media supervisor at Kontakt Ukrainian Tv Community, mentioned the challenges and dynamics of the Ukrainian-Canadian media panorama. She highlighted difficulties refugees face, together with language limitations for older generations and academic changes for youthful ones. Cultural integration stays complicated, with Ukrainian-Canadian media largely remoted from mainstream retailers, aside from restricted collaboration with Omni TV. Struggle-related tales dominate pursuits, typically interwoven with private hardships. Romashko famous variations in protection, emphasizing Ukrainian media’s sharper, extra direct strategy in comparison with Canada’s broader, much less detailed perspective. Regardless of challenges, cultural upkeep and storytelling are important for the Ukrainian diaspora.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What’s your position within the Ukrainian-Canadian media panorama?
Anastasiia Romashko: I’m an assistant producer and social media supervisor at Kontakt Ukrainian Tv Community.
Jacobsen: What does being an assistant producer for media contain?
Romashko: Normally, I contact completely different individuals. If we’re on the lookout for people for our supplies, they might be Ukrainian personalities or Canadians related to Ukraine or doing one thing for Ukraine. It varies. We often prepare interviews with them or set up some stories that we will movie for our content material community.
Romashko: What are probably the most troublesome tales to report on? And what are the best?
Jacobsen: The simplest tales are undoubtedly about hobbies. It’s simpler if they aren’t doing one thing straight associated to Ukraine or are in Ukraine—akin to individuals who play the violin, ballet dancers, or carry out comparable actions.
Nevertheless, each story carries some stage of ache or disappointment from the person’s perspective, as most fled the Ukraine conflict. Even when we conduct principally lighthearted interviews or report on one thing satisfying, they typically share a narrative concerning the conflict or how they fled Ukraine.
Most of them have been very profitable in Ukraine earlier than they moved to Canada. Now, they’ve misplaced every thing and are now not doing what they have been doing in Ukraine or Europe. That’s laborious to listen to. A few of them start to cry, and we regularly don’t know easy methods to reply as a result of we can not totally perceive their emotions.
Jacobsen: When somebody begins crying throughout an interview, do you interrupt their emotion or give them area to precise it for tone?
Romashko: Primarily based on our expertise with such emotional conditions, we often… I’m not the interviewer. I don’t conduct the interviews myself. I help with the manufacturing or post-production.
Usually, we give them the area to precise their feelings as a result of it will really feel odd to say one thing like, “It’s high-quality, don’t fear, don’t cry.” That’s comprehensible, so we enable them to precise themselves and their emotions.
From an interview perspective, it’s essential as a result of it helps the interviewer join with the particular person on an emotional stage. In fact, there’s a motive for his or her emotions, so you’ll be able to’t cease them. You must allow them to course of and specific themselves.
Jacobsen: Relating to the Ukrainian diaspora, with the massive numbers of Canadians who’ve Ukrainian heritage, what’s the quantity?
Romashko: It’s virtually like 200,000, near 300,000.
Jacobsen: So, an enormous variety of Canadians are Ukrainian. What matters curiosity them? In different phrases, what subject material is pertinent to their issues as Canadians and people with Ukrainian heritage?
Romashko: The principle difficulty that pursuits individuals is the conflict, which remains to be ongoing. Secondly, there’s the subject of individuals lately arriving from Ukraine to Canada.
They face challenges not essentially with communication however integrating right into a society utterly completely different from what they have been used to in Ukraine. This contains variations in behaviour, societal norms, and normal adjustment.
Jacobsen: What about issues like English as a second language? Is {that a} barrier to integration for refugees or asylum seekers?
Romashko: It’s principally a barrier for older individuals. They often had much less publicity to English than youthful generations. For these aged 20 to 40, we had extra English instruction in faculties or alternatives to journey to Europe. Nonetheless, for older individuals, these aged 50 or above, or for somebody’s grandparents, it takes a lot work to study a brand new language.
That’s a giant drawback, and lots of older individuals really feel uncomfortable right here as a result of they can’t join or talk with others as they may earlier than. For instance, a colleague shared a narrative about her dad and mom, who moved again to Poland. They’d tried residing along with her however discovered speaking too troublesome. They felt so alone and remoted as a result of she was the one particular person they may discuss to. They didn’t have associates or family to work together with, which made them really feel misplaced. In the end, they determined to return.
It’s a lot simpler for youthful individuals. Even when they don’t know English initially, it’s simpler for them to study as a result of English audio system encompass them. There’s no approach they received’t decide it up ultimately.
Jacobsen: What are the challenges for younger individuals? What are the challenges for older individuals once they first arrive in Canada in an ongoing conflict exterior of language?
Romashko: The principle problem for youthful individuals is training. As an illustration, if they’re nonetheless at school or college, they have to modify their research once they arrive. They should discover their place in a brand new tutorial surroundings, which might be overwhelming.
One other problem is making associates. Whenever you transfer from your own home nation, you allow behind your mates, faculty, and academics, which makes life snug and acquainted. Right here, they’ve to begin over, constructing relationships in a spot the place they initially know nobody besides their dad and mom. That’s difficult.
The principle problem for older individuals is discovering work. It may be troublesome resulting from language limitations, variations in work expertise, or perhaps a lack of profession alternatives, making integration a lot more durable for them.
That’s the primary one.
Jacobsen: How built-in is the Ukrainian media panorama, particularly the Ukrainian-Canadian media panorama, into the mainstream Canadian media? How is the combination there? Is there an trade of data, tales, and experience? Or are you extra remoted as Ukrainian-Canadians?
Romashko: We’re usually extra separated from Canadian tv and media facilities. The one connection we’ve established is with Omni TV, which is a part of the Rogers Media Group. Omni TV is technically a global channel the place varied nationalities can broadcast their stories or different content material.
That’s the one platform the place we now have some presence. Sometimes, there are conferences like this one, the place we meet individuals from different Canadian media organizations. Nevertheless, there must be a stronger reference to mainstream Canadian media total.
Jacobsen: Do you may have any closing ideas about this conflict, the media, or cultural upkeep?
Romashko: The media, the conflict, in addition to the media in Canada particularly, are fairly completely different right here. Although I’ve realized rather a lot concerning the conflict in Ukraine and attended varied conferences about it, Canadian media approaches it in another way than Ukrainian media.
Ukrainian media tends to be sharper and extra direct in protecting what’s taking place in Ukraine. Right here in Canada, the protection is extra of an outline, specializing in cultural and political occasions quite than straight highlighting the conflict actions.
That’s a difficulty.
Romashko: Thanks very a lot in your time.
Jacobsen: Thanks.
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Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Founding father of In-Sight Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Impartial Interview-Primarily based Journal (ISSN 2369–6885). He’s a Freelance, Impartial Journalist with the Canadian Affiliation of Journalists in Good Standing, a Member of PEN Canada, and a Author for The Good Males Undertaking. E mail: [email protected].
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