Three years after the war with Russia, Ukrainians continued to settle in Manitoba – Winnipeg
Since leaving Ukraine in August 2022, Mila Shykota has built a new life in Winnipeg.
Her daughter is in school. She and her partner bought a house. Last year, she even went to Kiev to visit her family and brought her beloved cat home.
“I can say I’ve been integrated into Canadian life, but of course I’ll miss my home and I’m worried about it,” she said.
“I read the news every day and I’m staying in touch with my mom and relatives.”
Shykota is one of 298,128 Ukrainians who came to Canada through the Canadian-Ukrainian Emergency Travel Authorization (CUAET), a federal program proposed in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Joanne Lewandosky, president of the Manitoba branch of the Ukrainian Congress of Canada, said about 30,000 Ukrainians were heading to Manitoba.
“People are still coming here regularly,” she said. “Just last week, we got calls from Tennessee … we got regular calls from Europe, and these people are probably in Poland or Italy now.”
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Lewandosky said the UCC also saw people who initially settled in other provinces and chose to move to Manitoba because of the cost of living and the Ukrainian population in the province.
The Manitoba government has provided support to Ukrainian refugees, including child care and reimbursement of immigration medical examinations. Lewandowski said that since these procedures are no longer available, the UCC’s goal is to fill the remaining “blanks”.
“We still have a help center here. People are still bringing things, people are taking them away,” she said.
Due to provincial funding, the organization also offers English courses in Gimli, Brandon, Winkler and Winnipeg. Nine hundred students will start classes in the fall.
“This is definitely a very prominent gap in Manitoba right now,” Lewandowski said.
Shykota has been granted permanent residence, but the future is not so certain for some other Ukrainians in Cuaet. Those arriving on or before March 31, 2024 can apply for a job or study permit through temporary immigration measures, but those arriving must apply for a job or study permit through the regular Canadian procedures for immigration, refugee and citizenship. The federal government announced last year that it would cut immigration targets.
“I know a lot of people go back to Europe from Canada and even to Ukraine,” Shykota said.
Shykota said that as she advanced through her life in Winnipeg, the war continued to be “psychological stress” for Ukrainians who claimed to be victims every day.
She said: “Ukraine is a very brave country. Our people are indeed heroes, but we need help and we need support because it is not just a war in Ukraine, but a war against the whole world, and you can support us.”
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