For a Ukrainian family living in Winnipeg, staying in Canada is a must.
Oleksandra and Roman Boris have been living in the country for two and a half years, and are still waiting to find out if their family qualifies for the Regional Nominee Program.
The family came to Winnipeg from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and Oleksandra said the contrast couldn’t be starker.
“It’s really unsafe there now because Russia is bombing Ukraine every day,” she said. “Every day. Every day someone dies (there), it’s like a lottery — you never know if you’re going to be the next one or not.”
“You feel good (in Winnipeg) with all these friendly people. You feel respected and cared for by people.”
The family applied for the Provincial Nominee Program two years ago, but their application remains in limbo. Many of their friends, who applied around the same time, were approved.
The couple has two daughters, ages 9 and 18, and the youngest, Juliana, has special needs and uses a wheelchair. Oleksandra said the education system in this country has been a revelation and one of the main reasons they hope to stay in Canada.
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“The most important thing is that she can get some education here in Canada, and she didn’t have that choice before in Ukraine,” she said.
Roman added that the roots the family left here are too strong to leave, even if the war ends. He feels their daughter has more support and acceptance than she ever had in Ukraine.
“When we came to Canada, I saw that all the doors could be opened with one button. So if you are in a wheelchair, you can open any door. It is open to anyone in a wheelchair,” Roman said. “You don’t have that in Ukraine.”
A statement from Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino described the situation as worrying, and said she had directed her staff to look into long delays “that appear to be outliers than standard processing times.” The province says it aims to process applications within months, but they often take longer.
Cuts to the Provincial Nominee Program could mean challenges for potential immigrants to Manitoba, as well as certain labor markets, a Winnipeg immigration lawyer says.
“There’s no easy solution to this,” Alistair Clarke of Clarke Immigration Law told Global Winnipeg.
“In our work, a lot of what we do is trying to manage people’s expectations and trying to deal with high levels of anxiety and depression. People are very frustrated.”
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