New immigration program worries Ukrainian advocate

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This article was published 18/07/2023 (790 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ukrainians who fled their homes after Russia invaded their homeland and are now hoping to stay in Canada must apply for a new federal program, but a Ukrainian advocate in Westman says she has concerns about the process.

A temporary emergency visa was offered to Ukrainians on March 17, 2022 — about a month after the invasion — called the Canada-Ukraine authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET).

The CUAET gave Ukrainians and their immediate family members the opportunity to come to Canada to live and work for up to three years.

They weren’t given refugee status in Canada — they were considered temporary residents.

The deadline for Ukrainians to apply for CUAET was July 15, and on the same day, the federal government announced a new immigration program.

Ukrainian nationals will be able to apply for permanent residency as of Oct. 23 if they have temporary resident status and one or more family members in Canada.

Qualifying family includes spouses, common-law partners, parents, grandparents, siblings and children or grandchildren of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

While the co-founder of a local Ukrainian Canadian group appreciates what the federal government has done for citizens of her homeland, Julia Krykavska would have liked a little more time.

“People had almost a year and a half to apply for this visa, but we wish that it would have been postponed a little longer,” said Krykavska, who is a co-founder of Tryzub.

“We know that a lot of people didn’t have an opportunity to apply, and there were others who lost everything, so they didn’t have any paperwork that is required. And in that case, they probably would have spent time restoring all that paperwork and lost the opportunity to apply.”

Krykavska estimates about 300 families have come to Brandon since Russia invaded Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, with air strikes, missile attacks and a ground invasion.

More Ukrainians have sought refuge in Manitoba than any other province, according to federal data. About 14 per cent of Canadian arrivals have come to the Keystone province.

When the temporary emergency visa program was launched in March 2022, there were roughly 1.1 million applications, with 800,000 that were granted. About 166,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada.

The new program, or pathway as Ottawa calls it, builds on the country’s commitment to help Ukrainians find a safe haven and provide them with the assistance they need, said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser.

“We continue to extend unwavering support and a lifeline to families separated by this conflict, including through this family reunification pathway that will help Ukrainian families stay together as they rebuild their lives in their new communities in Canada, Fraser said in a statement.

The federal government has not yet announced how people will submit their application to receive permanent resident status, which is something Hannah Holt, community outreach manager at Westman Immigrant Services, said she was expecting.

“We’re very familiar with the different programs and different permits people need to have, who are coming into Canada. It’s just going to be interesting to see what this new pathway to permanent residency will look like,” Holt said.

More details will be made available closer to the launch of the program this fall, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s website.

While Krykavska waits to hear how the new pathways will be made available, she said she has started the paperwork required to bring her parents to Canada from a city not far from Lviv, which is the largest city in western Ukraine.

“I was able to move my sister and her family over here since the invasion, so it’s tough, and we want them to be here. Lviv was hit a couple of times last week, and there were quite a few deaths. So, it’s not safe no matter where you are.”

Any person who has a temporary emergency visa, or CUAET, will be able to travel to Canada until March 31, 2024; which is the same date that those who are already in the country have to extend or adjust that temporary status free of charge.

After that, according to the federal government, they will be subject to the same immigration standards that are applicable to others around the world.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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