OTTAWA—In the week since Valerii and Olena Zolotukhin arrived in Kelowna, B.C., the couple have moved into a new apartment, started looking for a used car, and are thinking about launching a food processing business that would employ Ukrainian newcomers just like them.
They landed in Montreal at the end of March, passing through New Brunswick and Alberta before settling in Kelowna, where they hope to live permanently. That meant that even without jobs, the pair were forced to pay out of pocket for hotel rooms, car rentals and flights when needed. But none of those federal measures are up and running, something community groups say is unacceptable given that more than 56,000 applications have been greenlighted through Canada’s primary pathway for bringing displaced Ukrainians into the country.
While Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada could not say how many people have arrived in the country through the program, the number of applications, along with Canada’s commitment to accept an “unlimited” number of Ukrainians, means groups supporting newcomers may soon need to contend with a swell of arrivals.
“It’s a huge number that we won’t be able to deal with, and we don’t have any financial resources and volunteers for them. So obviously, we do need support,” said Storozhuk, who is now working to ensure he has enough help, donations and job opportunities to handle an increase in newcomers. What’s more, both Shalewa and Storozhuk said it’s not clear whether the $500 per week in temporary income support is per person or per family, information that would significantly help people plan their first weeks in Canada and reduce the strain on community groups.
What do you expect. It was only an announcement. Follow up action will not be forthcoming. But the announcement was very well crafted and bought by MSM
Is anyone surprised? Trudeau makes all manner of pronouncements of zero substance.
Its because they are not brown, bringing them here would delay the racial cleansing of Canada.