A day after an arsonist set his house ablaze and his three daughters’ narrowly escaped by jumping out of an upper-floor window, Yuriy Vyshnevskyy was overwhelmed with emotion.
“We woke up in a different house, but we were together, and we were alive … we have angels,” said Vyshnevskyy, parish priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The family visited the charred home on Thursday because his daughters wanted to see the window where they made their escape. Complete strangers started to appear, said Vyshnevskyy, handing him money, and offering their support and encouragement. Flowers were placed on the burnt door, touching the family deeply, and clothing and toys were delivered by the teachers, parents and students of his daughter’s dance class, said Vyshnevskyy.
“I am so surprised, so filled with gratitude, all I can say is thank you,” he said.
Vyshnevskyy and his family narrowly escaped their home — next to the church at Caledonia Avenue and Cook Street — in the early hours of Wednesday.
Vyshnevskyy’s wife was pulled off an window ledge and their three daughters had to jump out a second-storey window to escape the blaze, with the oldest, age 11, suffering cuts that required surgery. More surgery may be required because of nerve damage in the girl’s arm, which was cut deeply by broken window glass.
Arson at Victoria family home was hate crime, Ukrainian group says
Vyshneskyy said his wife heard someone pouring gasoline through the mail slot into the home and set it on fire, prompting the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on Thursday to urge police to investigate the arson as a hate crime.
The congress said the fire was likely motivated by Vyshnevskyy’s support for Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion of the country.
“We call on law enforcement to fully, promptly and thoroughly investigate this heinous crime against five innocent people,” the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said in a statement.
“Given that Father Vyshnevskyy is a dedicated community leader who, through his work, is strongly supporting the Ukrainian people and their defence of their homeland from Russia’s genocidal war, we call on local authorities to investigate this attack as a hate crime.”
The statement was also sent on behalf of the provincial and Victoria branches of the congress, which represents about 1.4 million Ukrainian Canadians across Canada.
Tamara Krawchenko, a member of the local Ukrainian cultural community and an assistant professor in public administration at the University of Victoria, agreed with the congress.
“We want this investigated as a hate crime because it is attempted murder,” she said.
Krawchenko had tweeted earlier that she had been the target of online threats for supporting Ukraine, but would not elaborate.
She said the local Ukrainian community is “vigilant to violence and they are seeing a high amount of community support.”
Victoria police release video of possible witness in arson
Victoria police’s Major Crimes Unit is investigating the arson and has asked for people to share with them any dashcam or home-surveillance video footage from the area of Cook Street and Caledonia Avenue between midnight and 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
On Thursday, police released a video of a potential witness driving a four-door white or grey vehicle past the home around the time of the fire.
Police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the arson was a hate crime.
“There have been some questions surrounding this, given the proximity to a Ukrainian Catholic church,” said VicPD spokesman Cam McIntyre. He added a motive is not yet known.
Vyshnevskyy believes it was a “targeted” attack. “This didn’t happen by an accident,” he said.
The priest said he has not received any threats and is unsure if the motivation was personal or related to the war in Ukraine.
“I have never had any hate directed at me or my family,” Vyshnevskyy said. “Whether it is someone [acting] on the war in the Ukraine, I just don’t know. That’s a question I just don’t have the answer to.
“The only thing I am thinking about now is my family is safe. I don’t want to go down that road. My focus is I have my family.”
Vyshnevskyy said although his daughters seem to be recovering, he’s worried about future effects of their experience in the fire. “What happens with the kids, how they will cope … that will take some time,” he said.
Rabbi Lynn Greenhough, of the Kolot Mayim Reform Temple, expressed “collective sadness and shock” at the arson.
“As you and your family heal from this attack, we pray that the souls who acted with such pernicious violence will come to recognize a need to make amends for their actions,” Greenhough said.
Vyshnevskyy said his family will likely be out of the home for up to a year as the damage is still undetermined. They are staying with friends.
The home on Caledonia Avenue is on the city’s heritage register. It was built in 1891 by John Teague, a noted architect and former mayor.
B.C. premier says he is shocked by the incident
Premier John Horgan was shocked by the blaze.
“I just can’t imagine how I would have responded if my family was burned out of their home,” Horgan said.
“We don’t know yet as the investigation unfolds whether it was a hate crime or directed at people’s faith, people’s ethnicity. We don’t know. What we do know is that all British Columbians stand with the Vyshnevskyy family today.”
Two fundraising pages for the family have been set up. By Thursday morning, one had raised $28,000 and the other more than $14,000.
Andriy Fabrikov, board member of the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, said the Ukrainian community “is shocked and saddened by the outrageous act.”
They are raising funds, he said, to help buy the family necessities such as food and clothing, and to support the family cat, which was rescued by the Victoria Fire Department and is recovering at a local pet clinic.
Anyone with information about the arson is asked to contact Victoria police at 250-995-7654 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
— With files from Katie DeRosa, Vancouver Sun
