Applications now open for Ukraine refugees

Canada will allow unlimited number

OTTAWA • The federal government has begun accepting applications from Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression who want to come to Canada while they decide their next steps.

The program to allow an unlimited number of Ukrainians to come to Canada was announced two weeks ago, marking a major departure from this country’s typical refugee policy.

At the time, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser suggested Ukrainian citizens would be allowed to stay for two years before deciding whether to apply to stay permanently.

The government has since extended that period to three years, and offered eligibility to family members of Ukrainian nationals, regardless of their own nationality.

They will be allowed to live, work and study in Canada before they decide whether to stay or return to their home country. The government expects applications will take about two weeks to process for standard, non-complex cases.

Fraser has so far not released any more information on a promised program to bring Ukrainians with family to Canada on a permanent basis. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the government is open to the idea of chartering planes to bring Ukrainians to Canada once their applications have been approved.

“If there is sufficient demand that requires us to do more, like sending airlift, we will look at that,” Trudeau said Wednesday in Alliston, Ont.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is opening an office in Poland to help Ukrainian refugees relocate to the province.

Premier Andrew Furey announced the plan Thursday in St. John’s, saying the Warsaw office will work in tandem with the Canadian Embassy and be staffed by members of the provincial Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism who speak the languages in the region.

Provincial Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne joined Furey for the announcement and said the initiative is unique in Canada.

Byrne said there is a Ukrainian diaspora in Newfoundland and Labrador, with about 1,400 people in the province who identify as being of Ukrainian descent.

He says a team is already on the ground in Warsaw to gather information and figure out how the province can best serve Ukrainian refugees. Furey and Byrne said the Warsaw office is an extension of the province’s Ukrainian Family Support Desk that was launched on March 2 to help residents bring loved ones in Ukraine to the province.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s attack on the country began, and the vast majority are women, children and older adults.

When Trudeau met Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, Poland, last week, many told him they wanted to stay close to home while they wait for the outcome of the war.