Ukrainians say there are boundaries to beginning new life in Canada

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OTTAWA — The lunchtime chatter amongst a small group of workers within the crowded breakroom of a big company workplace in Markham, Ont., is more and more edged with nervousness.

After fleeing the struggle in Ukraine final yr, Stella Vitiuk and Nataliia Vabiak obtained a jobs as accountants at a enterprise that employed a handful of Ukrainian newcomers.

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As their colleagues discuss weekend plans, Vitiuk and Vabiak swap notes on their efforts to remain in Canada. Every day brings their emergency visas nearer to expiry, ad infinitum to the struggle that introduced them right here.

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“I’m a robust particular person, however I really feel burdened,” mentioned Vitiuk. “It’s painful for everyone.”

She made the tough determination to go away her husband and fogeys and produce her two daughters to Canada in the summertime of 2022 and mentioned she desires to remain for her children’ sake.

“I need to give them one thing new, one thing good.”

As of Oct. 14, greater than 198,600 Ukrainians have come to Canada on a three-year emergency visa program that allowed a vast variety of folks to flee the Russian invasion.

It’s a one-of-a-kind program that allowed many Ukrainians to come back to Canada rapidly, however doesn’t provide the identical long-term prospects and helps of a refugee program or a everlasting immigration stream.

Many are ladies and youngsters as a result of males of combating age are barred from leaving Ukraine whereas the nation is underneath martial legislation.

A few of these folks, like Vitiuk and Vabiak, really feel that they’re unlikely to qualify for everlasting residency with out a focused immigration pathway.

Pathfinders for Ukraine is a Canadian group that has helped Ukrainians navigate the immigration system for the reason that struggle started. It surveyed 922 households in Canada who obtained an emergency visa and one other 272 overseas.

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The group discovered that 90 per cent of the folks surveyed in Canada need to pursue everlasting residency, however solely a 3rd of them really feel assured they’ll be capable to get it underneath present applications.

Although the federal government is providing everlasting resident standing to those that have Canadian kin, Randall Baran-Chong, the group’s founder, mentioned only a few folks will qualify for that assist.

“We discovered that it was solely seven per cent of individuals,” Baran-Chong mentioned.

With some visas set to run out in 18 months, he mentioned the uncertainty is weighing on many individuals.

There are additionally sensible issues, together with questions of whether or not employers or landlords will need to tackle folks whose allow is time-limited.

“They know that open work allow solely has a bit longer, so why would they need to provide them a promotion or a greater job and even rent them fully?” he mentioned.

Discovering work was one in all Vitiuk’s high issues when she was selecting the place to relocate to. She selected Canada partly as a result of she speaks English and hoped that might assist her get a job.

However her language abilities don’t meet the bar for many financial immigration streams. One other barrier is price.

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“It’s an enormous distinction when persons are planning to immigrate to Canada. They put together, they study English earlier than, they accumulate some cash,” she mentioned.

“I (didn’t) put together, I don’t have some huge cash. I simply took $5,000 and got here with two youngsters.”

Immigration Minister Marc Miller mentioned of all of the applications his division gives, emergency visas for Ukrainians fleeing struggle have been extraordinary each in quantity and within the scope of safety they provide.

“However it was all the time meant to be short-term in nature,” he mentioned in an interview on Nov. 6.

Miller mentioned the federal government will stay versatile because the struggle continues, however there are diplomatic and geopolitical elements to think about.

“I feel if I had been ready of a pacesetter in Ukraine at present, that I’d need to see a few of their folks again to assist rebuild Ukraine,” he mentioned.

“You wouldn’t need Canada to face in the way in which by creating some unintended penalties.”

Nonetheless, Miller mentioned he expects Canada must be aware of particular person circumstances as nicely.

“If somebody is right here and so they have a child … and so they’re all Canadians for all intents and functions, that’s a dialogue we’re gonna have,” he mentioned.

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“It isn’t one thing that I’m able to sort out within the close to time period.”

He acknowledged that leaves some folks in a precarious place within the meantime, however mentioned the federal government doesn’t plan to ship anybody again to Ukraine whereas the struggle is ongoing.

Residing with the uncertainty whereas supporting three youngsters alone is tough, Vabiak mentioned, and she or he finds it onerous to seek out alternatives to enhance her English.

She additionally fears her husband, who needed to keep in Ukraine, could also be known as upon to struggle at any second.

“If he goes there I don’t know if he shall be alive,” she mentioned. “It’s actually aggravating.”

With no readability about her future, she mentioned she’s centered on the alternatives for her youngsters in Canada.

“Generally you’re crying, typically you must perceive that you must be so sturdy,” Vabiak mentioned. “You don’t have a alternative. I’ve youngsters, I’ve to consider them. That’s why I’m right here.”

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