Sick Ukrainian children are set to arrive in Canada thanks to this organization

Brian MacDonald spends his days on his phone and laptop in Fredericton, coordinating evacuation efforts a world away.

"Our operations in Ukraine are just beginning,” says MacDonald, executive director of Aman Lara, a Canadian organization working to bring sick Ukrainian children to Canadian hospitals.

“We have sent a team out there to do reconnaissance and to judge the situation. We're now planning for an evacuation of children who are cancer sufferers, and we're hoping to bring them to a hospital in Toronto, Sick Kids," said MacDonald.

The organization is an NGO made up of veterans and former interpreters who have helped people get out of Afghanistan,

“We began over the midst of the crisis in Afghanistan, and over the last seven months we've evacuated over 2000 people," he said.

The department of immigration has created a new category to allow an unlimited number of Ukrainians to come to Canada for up to two years — eliminating most of the normal visa requirements.

"We sat down in the middle of January when we realized that this was going to be a potential influx of people seeking to come to Canada,” said Sean Fraser, Nova Scotia MP and federal minister of Immigration, refugees, and citizenship.

“We tried to set out the course for the fastest and safest way to get as many people here as possible who might be fleeing this unnecessary war.”

Organizers with Aman Lara say they’re committed to getting 10,000 people out of Afghanistan, but at the same time, say they can still help Ukraine.

"We have a group of 10 children and their families that have been evacuated out of Ukraine and are now in Poland,” said MacDonald.

“We think there are more children we can help but we're going to get to these 10 first and their families, and we're going to see who we can help after that.”

Aman Lara hopes the Ukrainian children will be in Canadian hospitals by next week.