Allowing Ukrainians who fled war to settle in Canada not off the table, Immigration Minister says

Not unexpected:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he is not ruling out allowing Ukrainians who fled the war in their homeland to settle here eventually and has no plans to send them back to a war zone.

In an interview, Mr. Miller said granting permanent residence to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians is not “off the table,” although he said it is not a priority for the government.

“It isn’t on the front burner for a variety of reasons, not that I don’t take it seriously. Because as time goes on, people have kids and families, integrate to Canada, and so there’s obviously a want and a need to stay and in many circumstances, we shouldn’t say no,” he said.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, the Canadian government enacted the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel, allowing an unlimited number of Ukrainians fleeing the war to work, study and stay in Canada for up to three years. In August, the government allowed Ukrainians who came here on the program to apply for new three-year permits to stay in Canada.

Of the 1.2 million Ukrainians who applied to come to Canada, 298,000 arrived here, a few thousand of whom are believed to have since returned.

More than 90 per cent of the Ukrainians with special temporary visas want to settle here, according to Pathfinders for Ukraine, an advocacy group for Ukrainians displaced by the war….

Source: Allowing Ukrainians who fled war to settle in Canada not off the table, Immigration Minister says