New Brunswick man gets ready to head back to war-torn Ukraine

In less than three weeks, Samuel Sutherland is planning to be back on Ukrainian soil for the second time since the war started. 

“I’m not a very religious man, but I’ll tell you one thing, when I was on that front line there, or even close to the front line, I was praying every day,” he said. “It’s scary.”

Sutherland already spent nearly four months in the war-stricken country earlier this year. He came back with two concussions, but says he’s ready to get back at it.

“Anybody with a military background is going to know this here, it’s not always about you,” he said. “It’s also about your friends that are over there still in danger, and the people that you left behind.”

Sutherland was born on Eel Ground First Nation in northern New Brunswick before he was adopted and moved to Miramichi, N.B. He joined the military in 2004 until 2008 and currently has a family of his own, including three young children.

“My daughter, she kind of gets where daddy’s coming from,” he said. “I sat down and had a talk with her and she asked me, ‘Daddy, are you going back to Ukraine?’ And I said, ‘Yes dear.’ She goes, ‘You going to keep the bad people away?’ I said, ‘Daddy’s going to try to keep the bad people away,’ and she says, ‘Daddy, will you be safe?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to promise you that, but daddy’s going to try.’ She gives me the biggest hug ever and she goes, ‘You promise to come home?’ and I go, ‘I promise I’ll come home.’”

But for Sutherland, it feels like he has family in Ukraine now as well.

“They treat you like family to be honest with you and can you leave that behind? Can you let that family stay in the danger zone? No you can’t,” he said.

With lived experience of what’s happening on the front line, he’s hoping to return with more supplies, specifically two sets of night vision goggles that are valued at just under $3,000.

“We can do a lot more at nighttime. It’s a lot safer for us to conduct operations at nighttime compared to the daytime. The problem is, with the daytime, you’ve got drones up there, the ones that you can buy at any store that have the little cameras and then you have artillery on you,” he said.

Sutherland is currently fundraising and collecting donations ahead of his trip to hopefully bring this valuable equipment to his battalion.

Meantime, as people like Sutherland and so many others continue their efforts to help Ukraine in anyway they can, there’s also an effort for displaced Ukrainians to find safety and comfort here in the Maritimes.

“We do have them covered by all the safety procedures that we have here,” explained Vova Ievets with the New Brunswick Multicultural Council. “We’re engaging social development department, we’re engaging Red Cross, so whether they bump into something and they need support, those procedures are already in place.”

So far, more than 1,300 Ukrainians have found shelter in New Brunswick since the war began through the Ukrainian Settlement Initiative.

“New Brunswick is very alike Ukraine in terms of nature and environment,” he said. “Since displaced Ukrainians are coming to Canada as temporary foreign workers, we do have jobs for them and the New Brunswick Multicultural Council is leading in the role of proceeding with this project that has a lot of concentration on employment.”

Levets adds the Multicultural Council is ready to help even more people if needed.

“The situation in Ukraine is evolving rapidly. For example, after recent bombings, we see the spike in visa applications,” he said. “We’re definitely ready.”