Alberta mom celebrates with Haitian daughter

It was a sweet Mother's Day for Bonnie Winarski Matichuk of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., who celebrated the holiday for the first time with her adopted Haitian daughter Sarah-Marie.

Winarski Matichuk adopted the two-year-old from Haiti  late in January after a two-year wait.

The Canadian government fast-tracked about 100 Haitian adoptions that were already underway before the deadly earthquake hit Jan. 12.

About two dozen Alberta families were in the process of adopting at the time.

"I can't believe it, you know," Winarski Matichuk told CBC News on Monday.

"It's kind of like that 'pinch me, I must be dreaming' [feeling]."

She said her daughter is just like any Canadian toddler - with a few exceptions.

"She didn't really like the snow at first," the girl's mother said. "She didn't like touching it. She still doesn't like touching it because we saw a bit of snow yesterday and we tried her to get her to touch…but no she hated it."

Winarski Matichuk said she wants Sarah-Marie to remember her past. The child spent the first two years of her life in a Haitian orphanage before being adopted.

The Winarski Matichuk family is planning to travel to Haiti once it is rebuilt to show Sarah-Marie where she came from.

"Because I want her to remember and I want it to be something we really talk about," Winarski Matichuk said.