Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A Ukrainian family says the agony of the war in Ukraine was made worse by what they call "impossible" requests from Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), including a demand for their daughter's birth certificate just days after she was born in the bomb shelter of a maternity hospital in the ravaged city of Chernihiv.
Serhii Levchenko is sharing his family's harrowing journey exactly one week after eventually landing in Toronto with his wife and two daughters. A third daughter was already away, studying in Moncton, N.B.
Most men Levchenko's age are banned from leaving Ukraine to participate in the war effort. But fathers with three children or more -- or those with medical exemptions -- are permitted.
In the hours before March 6, when baby Sophie was born, Levchenko and his wife, Anna, were forced to separate: she was at the maternity hospital and he was stuck at his apartment with his four-year-old daughter Alisa.
That's when his neighborhood was being battered by Russian bombs.
"It felt like a horror," Levchenko said.
He immediately grabbed his daughter.
"I just covered her because in that period the bombing was huge. Just praying that it's not going to pass to our building."
Anna had heard about the attack but had no way of getting through to her husband.
"Up to the morning, she doesn't know if we were alive or not," Levchenko said.
Phones had to be shut off at night so they could not be traced by Russian intelligence.
She immediately suspected the worst.
Fortunately, they survived, but the family says they weren't ready for the next battle: coming to Canada.
They had already started the process, but needed a visa for baby Sophie, born in a war zone. The family says Canada demanded a birth certificate for the child.
Thousands of kilometres away in Toronto, Nick Zotkin – originally from Ukraine - and his partner, Rob Esselmont, heard about the Levchenkos’ struggles through an online network and immediately jumped in to help.
"How a birth certificate can be issued when she gave birth in a shelter?" said Zotkin.
Zotkin and Esselmont, who have already spent $20,000 of their own money, are working on their own time to bring a total of 17 Ukrainians in seven families to Canada, and describe the bureaucracy as "a nightmare."
"The right hand does not talk to the left. And it's so infuriating," Esselmont said.
"It's like a circle," Zotkin added.
Serhii Levchenko is sharing his family's harrowing journey from Ukraine after eventually landing in Toronto with his wife and two daughters.
Inside their condo in what they call their "mini immigration office," the couple has hung passport photos of the families they are trying to bring to Canada.
"It makes you feel insignificant. Like these people don't mean something. And they do," Esselmont said, pointing to the picture of the Ukrainians he wants to help.
"They're still sitting, sitting and waiting to get here. We have a job for her. We have a place for her to live. Her son created this shirt," he adds, explaining that the child created the artwork for a T-shirt fundraiser the couple started to help Ukrainian families.
CTV News' Omar Sachedina speaks to Rob Esselmont and Nick Zotkin, who are working to help Ukrainians come to Canada.
While most of the people Esselmont and Zotkin are trying to support are still waiting abroad, the Levchenkos are trying to start a new life in Canada before Serhii, who is a seaman, has to leave for Japan at the end of the month.
The family spent two months collecting the necessary paperwork, travelling to five different countries on their way to Canada. Most recently they were in Istanbul, Turkey waiting for baby Sophie's visa.
Zotkin knew an Airbnb host there who offered a cut rate on an apartment. The issues around the baby's birth certificate were eventually resolved, allowing the family to come to Canada.
Serhii said the journey to Canada would not have been possible without the support of the two men he didn't even know.
And now, he says he has the freedom to dream again, explaining that one day he would like to have "a big house with a swimming pool, nice business... up to the end of our days" in Canada.
But in the short term, there will be other priorities: baby Sophie.
Serhii says at just two months old -- born three days after his birthday -- his daughter symbolizes the resilience of the Ukrainian people.
"She's a warrior," he said.
"The kids who were born in this period, I think this is the strongest people in the world."
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.