Sign In Register SIOUX LOOKOUT — Sioux Lookout has its first official sister city Sioux Lookout officially signed a sister city agreement with Vashkivtsi with representatives from both communities having met in an introductory meeting on Zoom earlier this week Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance said the meeting was very friendly and convivial noting it was conducted with the help of excellent translators “A great introduction learning a little bit about our sister city and them learning a little bit about us,” he said We compared some life stories about the weather and seasons and cultural activities and we also talked a little bit about the heavy stuff that’s going on Ukraine now and how it’s impacting their city.” the municipality's manager for corporate services said they got the idea from Kenora MP Eric Melillo’s office told the House of Commons about a sister city agreement in his riding signed in April between Brantford Ont., with Kamianets-Podilskyi as a way to show support for Ukraine Melillo’s office said “with Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine it is absolutely critical that Canada shows its support for Ukraine and sister city agreements provide the opportunity for municipalities to show their support as well.” MacKinnon said the MP’s office helped narrow down the choices to five communities municipal staff recommended the town of Vashkivtsi because it has almost the same population as Sioux Lookout a famous event with a legacy like Sioux Lookout’s Blueberry Festival and it houses Bukovinian State Medical University which mirrors Sioux Lookout’s role as a medical hub for the area Sioux Lookout council approved a recommendation by administration to approach a city in the Ukraine for a sister city agreement Sioux Lookout and Vashkivtsi then signed the agreement with the date of council approval acting as the start of the agreement Lawrance said Vashkivtsi is appreciative of the sister city agreement which shows support and various exchanges,” Lawrance said “There’s the usual sister city type of activities and then there’s the special situation in Ukraine [where] Vashkivtsi finds itself in right now that we can offer some form of support that is appropriate for the means of the people of Sioux Lookout.” While Vashkivtsi is Sioux Lookout's only sister city the municipality is a signatory to a friendship accord with the communities of Slate Falls First Nation Lac Seul First Nation and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug that was first signed in 2012 Discover the obscure Orthodox New Year festival of Malanka Riding westward on the edge of Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains in a beat-up 80s Volkswagen van with its ancient curtains and four-to-a-room compartments but the previous night’s voyage had been punctuated by an unruly companion returning with yet another bottle of vodka and four female Ukrainian journalists in tow just as I thought we might get some sleep after being voted only the second-most handsome of our group I petulantly sent our newfound friends back to their berths and tucked in for a few hours My bleary-eyed group of five (four journalists one with a brother in tow) arrived in the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi at dawn After a stop at a characterless fast-food restaurant and a short rest in the cavernous bunkroom of our $2-per-night hostel As I slowly regained consciousness in the van masked faces floated by the window in the thickening snow Some of the figures held rifles and were trying to block our car by standing in the road Checkpoints are frequent occurrences in Ukraine’s war-torn east and these men weren’t separatists or government troops They were taking part in a festival of the Orthodox New Year so obscure that most of my Ukrainian friends weren’t aware of it Malanka is an ancient holiday of disputed origin now celebrated primarily in western Ukraine but also observed in parts of Russia it has pre-Christian origins and begins on the evening of Orthodox New Year’s Eve Things were just getting started when we arrived in the tiny town of Vashkivtsi having paid our minimal bribes at each improvised “checkpoint” (roughly $.05 – $.40 at each stop) where we were promptly adopted by babushkas who served us bread and salo (pork fat) rounds of snacks were interspersed with alcohol of questionable provenance While each village has its own take on the celebration singing and playing practical jokes on their neighbors as others prepare a feast for the following day villagers dressed in handmade costumes take on the role of specific characters that recur each year; in others As the village exploded into a sort of Eastern-European take on Halloween I was shown further hospitality by a group of young men dressed as bears who insisted that drinking any less than three shots from their vat of homemade liquor was bad luck Vehicles converted into floats wove laps around the village and men dressed in drag aggressively flirted with onlookers to peals of laughter where someone’s drunken father emotionally insisted that I stay with them (for the night forever?) as they plied me with plates of food only a clandestine SMS from my dying phone with the directive “come save me” ended my detention two of my compatriots came crashing into the apartment quickly spiriting me to safety via a farewell toast and an eastbound bus out of my Ukrainian dream Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel Smart travel along a legendary Asian trade route that takes you to noodles in Sichuan An incredulous Canadian eats and drinks his way through the 2016 Republican convention Morocco’s Gnawa Music Festival is a melee of dreadlocks and drumbeats Heroes of the Neighborhood: Can an uneven second-division club save Hamburg’s leftist St