Canada has issued 575,000 temporary resident permits to people affected by wars, natural disasters since 2022, but few have made refugee claim

2026/02/20 Leave a comment

Remarkably low numbers making refugee claims compared to international students and other groups:

Canada has issued 575,025 temporary resident permits to people affected by wars, violence and natural disasters through various special measures since 2022, but only a small fraction of them have made a refugee claim, data shows.

While Ottawa has managed to reduce intakes of new international students and foreign workers, and make it more difficult for those already here to extend their stay, it can’t just banish these migrants with temporary refuge in Canada when it’s not safe to send them home. Many of these migrants found themselves stuck in Canada, unable to plan and move on with their lives.

Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion formed the largest group getting temporary humanitarian resettlement to Canada. They were followed by Iranians seeking safety from a crackdown on protesters following the death of a girl arrested allegedly for not wearing hijab, and Hong Kongers looking for refuge from a new national security law.

Other beneficiaries of these humanitarian policies and measures include: victims of earthquakes in Morocco, Turkey and Syria; Palestinians and Israelis affected by war; people displaced from Gaza; Haitians escaping gang violence and lawlessness; Lebanese caught in regional conflicts; and Sudanese fleeing bloodshed.

Data obtained by the Star showed that 1.5 per cent or 8,465 of these humanitarian migrants had sought asylum in Canada up to the end of November, including 1,150 Ukrainians, 205 Gazans and 135 Sudanese. The remaining 6,975 came from the rest of the programs.

These migrant groups make up a chunk of the estimated 2.85 million temporary residents in Canada, a number that Ottawa is struggling to reduce as many of the crises see no end in sight. The government’s goal is to cut the number to under five per cent of the country’s overall population by 2027, from seven per cent in 2024. It was at 6.8 per cent in December based on Statistics Canada estimates.

Ottawa’s international crisis response in recent years, while seen as well-intended, has been under scrutiny as some of these temporary migrants have grown frustrated in prolonged limbo, unable to return home and without permanent residence here.

Meanwhile, Ottawa has reduced its annual humanitarian permanent resident intake from 10,000 in 2025 to 6,900 this year, and 5,000 for 2027 and 2028, leading to a 10-year wait for permanent status; many are ineligible for the increasingly competitive economic immigration streams with overall immigration level cut by 20 per cent.

Migrant groups and experts have criticized the government for the lack of planning and transparency in its crisis response…

Source: Canada has issued 575,000 temporary resident permits to people affected by wars, natural disasters since 2022, but few have made refugee claim

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Canada can offer comfort to Ukrainians with a path to permanent residency

2026/01/20 Leave a comment

Not unexpected call:

…Canada should establish a targeted, time-limited pathway to permanent residence for eligible CUAET holders, a focused pilot program delivered federally, under existing ministerial authority, without the need for new regulations.

Such a program should be disciplined and defensible. Eligibility would be limited to Ukrainians who entered Canada under CUAET by March 31, 2024; maintained legal status; and can demonstrate at least six months of full-time work, or its equivalent. Modest language thresholds would apply. Applications would be accepted only within a fixed intake window, underscoring that this is an exceptional response to exceptional circumstances, not an open-ended program.

This initiative should be carried out federally, not by provincial nominee programs, which would add complexity, delay and political friction. Quebec’s distinct immigration jurisdiction would require consultation and co-ordination….

John Weston is a government relations and communications expert, former member of Parliament, and president of Pan Pacific Solutions Ltd.

Source: Canada can offer comfort to Ukrainians with a path to permanent residency

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Ukraine names first countries eligible for simplified multiple citizenship

2025/11/10 Leave a comment

Not surprising, Canada on the list among others:

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) welcomes the decision by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers to approve a list of countries whose citizens will be able to acquire Ukrainian citizenship through a simplified procedure.

According to Resolution No. 1412 of Nov. 5, the list includes Canada, the U.S., Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

The resolution will take effect simultaneously with the law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine to Ensure the Right to Acquire and Retain Ukrainian Citizenship” that was adopted by Ukraine’s parliament on June 18.

This decision marks an important step toward implementing the right of Ukrainians abroad to hold multiple citizenship. The adoption of this resolution not only strengthens the bond between Ukraine and the global Ukrainian community but will also help engage Ukrainians worldwide in the country’s post-war reconstruction.

The UWC has for years consistently supported legislative initiatives aimed at recognizing multiple citizenship, and the government’s decision today represents a historic moment for millions of Ukrainians abroad who seek to maintain a strong connection with their homeland.

The introduction of a simplified procedure for citizens of friendly nations sends a poignant  signal of unity among Ukrainians worldwide and represents another step toward Ukraine’s deeper integration into the Euro-Atlantic community.

As a reminder, on Oct. 8, Ukraine’s government adopted a resolution that set out the criteria for foreign states with which Ukraine can introduce a simplified process for acquiring citizenship.

In August, during a meeting with the UWC leadership, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first named the countries that would be included in this simplified citizenship process.

Source: Ukraine names first countries eligible for simplified multiple citizenship

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Ukraine Approves Law Allowing Dual And Multiple Citizenship Amid Ongoing War

2025/06/20 Leave a comment

Of note:

Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday passed legislation permitting dual and multiple citizenships, to address the country’s deepening demographic crisis caused by the prolonged war with Russia. The new law also aims to strengthen connections with Ukraine’s sizeable global diaspora.

Previously, Ukrainian law did not recognise dual or multiple citizenship, meaning that ethnic Ukrainians living outside the country and holding other passports had to renounce their other citizenship if they wanted a Ukrainian passport.

Government officials estimate Ukraine’s diaspora at some 25 million people. They put the current population in Ukraine at 32 million, down sharply from 52 million in 1991 when Ukraine became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“This decision is an important step to maintain and restore ties with millions of Ukrainians around the world,” Oleksiy Chernyshov, minister for unity, said in a social media post on Facebook after Wednesday’s vote.

The issue of multiple citizenship has become even more pressing since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, exacerbating a demographic decline that had started years before.

Millions Of Ukrainians Fled Due To War

Ukraine saw several large labour migrations in the early 1990s. With the start of the invasion, millions of Ukrainians fled the fighting. With the war now in its fourth year, data shows that more than 5 million Ukrainians live in Europe, while tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

“Since the situation in Ukraine is unstable, people… do not know whether to return or not…,” said Natalya Kostyk-Ustenko, who fled Kherson in southern Ukraine in June 2022 and lives in Lithuania with her two children.

“Our roots are Ukrainian, we love our country, we support it as best we can. This (move on citizenship) is significant support for us as refugees, we are all scattered around the world,” she said.

Lawmakers said the new law would simplify procedures for children born to Ukrainian parents abroad and also for Ukrainians who obtain other citizenship by marriage.

It will also make it easier to obtain Ukrainian citizenship for foreigners fighting for Ukraine on the frontlines.

The law does not directly ban Russian citizens from obtaining Ukrainian passports but says the government will be able to implement restrictions related to the armed aggression against Ukraine.

Foreigners would have to pass a test to prove their knowledge of the Ukrainian language, history and constitution.

Source: Ukraine Approves Law Allowing Dual And Multiple Citizenship Amid Ongoing War

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Snyder: Antisemitism in the Oval Office

2025/03/08 Leave a comment

Interesting and credible take:

..And so I can’t escape that first reflexive response to that scene in the Oval Office: here is a person of Jewish origin being treated in a very particular and familiar way by non-Jews. I get the dissidents’ comparison to an interrogation or trial, and can imagine the cell or the courtroom. But what struck me was the circle of bullying gentiles — as in Europe in the 1930s, and in other places and times, at the particular moment when the mob felt that power was shifting.

But is it? In writing about antisemitism here I am obviously making a moral point. I am asking us, Americans, to think seriously about what we are doing, about Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine, in which we are now becoming complicit. That Russia’s war is antisemitic is one of its many evils; taking Russia’s side in that war is wrong for many reasons, including that one. At a time when antisemitism is a growing problem around the world, I would like for us to be able to see the obvious examples, especially when we Americans are so closely involved in them. There is a certain mobbish mindlessness in the growing circle of American voices calling for Zelens’kyi to leave office, and I think it has a name and a history. I would like for us to recall that history and remember that the name can apply to us.

In writing about antisemitism I am also making a political claim. The antisemite really believes that the Jew must defer, that the Jew cannot fight, that a state led by a Jew must duly crumble. This was one of Putin’s mistakes, two years ago. And now, I suspect, it is also Trump’s, and Musk’s. America does have the power, of course, to hurt Ukraine. Just as Russia does. The combination of American and Russian policy is killing Ukrainians right now. The costs of the emerging Russian-American axis will be terrible for Ukraine. But Ukraine will not immediately collapse, nor will the Ukrainian population turn against Zelens’kyi. What he will personally do I couldn’t say and won’t try to predict: and that, of course, is my point.

In the world of the antisemite, all is known in advance: the Jew is just a deceiver, concerned only with money, subject to exclusion, intimidated by force. As soon as he is humiliated and eliminated, everything else will fall into its proper place. Consider the smirks in the Oval Office last Friday: the antisemite thinks that he has understood everything. But in the actual world in which we actually live, Jews are humans, perilous and beautiful like the rest of us. The United States has never elected a Jewish president, and perhaps never will. But Ukraine has; and that president represents his people, facing challenges that those who mock him will never understand. Those Americans have chosen to add their own to the evil he must confront. But that does not mean that they will control what happens next…

Source: Antisemitism in the Oval Office

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Ukrainian Parliament passes multiple #citizenship bill in first reading

2024/12/19 Leave a comment

Of note:

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has passed the first reading of a bill allowing multiple citizenship, with 247 lawmakers voting in favor of the legislation on 17 December 2024, according to Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak.

The bill, initially submitted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August, aims to establish a framework for multiple citizenship in Ukraine while setting clear restrictions on who can qualify.

According to MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the bill will undergo further revisions before its second reading, incorporating suggestions from organizations including the Ukrainian World Congress. In a separate vote, 150 MPs supported requesting a Constitutional Court opinion on the legislation.

The proposed law would allow multiple citizenship in several specific cases:

  • Children acquiring dual citizenship at birth
  • Ukrainian children gaining second citizenship through foreign adoption
  • Automatic acquisition of second citizenship through marriage to a foreign citizen
  • Automatic acquisition of foreign citizenship by an adult Ukrainian citizen due to the application of another country’s citizenship laws
  • Simplified acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship for foreigners who are citizens of countries included in the list of those eligible for simplified citizenship procedures
  • Ukrainians acquiring citizenship of countries that offer simplified procedures to Ukrainian citizens

Importantly, the law explicitly prohibits multiple citizenship for Russian citizens or citizens of any country that does not recognize Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The legislation aims to facilitate the return of Ukrainians who left the country due to the war while allowing them to maintain any additional citizenships they may have acquired. It also seeks to expand opportunities for certain categories of foreigners and stateless persons to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.

Source: Ukrainian Parliament passes multiple citizenship bill in first reading

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Lederman: Russians at War is an exceptional documentary and needs to be seen

2024/09/14 Leave a comment

Of note, joins the genre of movies such as Das Boot, Los Chicos de la Guerra, and All Quiet on the Western Front, albeit all of these were made after the wars ended, not during hostilities. Interesting question, will this film be shown in Russia or not?:

…The feature film All Quiet on the Western Front, which also humanized the “wrong” side of the First World War with its devastating portrayal of a young German soldier’s experiences, won four Academy Awards last year, including best international feature film.

Russians at War, which dispels the myth that there is any glory involved in war whatsoever, deserves similar recognition. It certainly deserves a chance to be seen.

Of course, Russians is much more sensitive. It is a documentary to begin with, but also because this catastrophe is happening right now. It is bringing agony to Ukrainians at this very moment. Nobody should have to experience what Ukrainians are suffering through at the hands of Russia.

This film in no way discounts that. If anything, it emphasizes it.

It does not disregard the inhumanity of war to humanize the low-level members of the aggressor’s army: Russian soldiers and medics as young as 20 who are sent to the front lines along with their hopes and dreams – and their not-quite-yet-fully-developed prefrontal cortexes. The opposite, in fact.

Russian fighters – some drafted, some indoctrinated, some there to keep their families fed back home or a friend company at the front, some there because they don’t know why – are also victims of this war. As one notes in the film, they are at war with themselves. “Slavs against Slavs.”

Thousands and thousands of people, Ukrainian and Russian, have been ripped from their lives to further a madman’s dream.

And a talented filmmaker, without an official posting or even a press pass, followed them almost all the way to the front so that we could know about it. And be outraged. Not at the film; at the war.

Censoring art is never a good idea. But keeping this film under wraps is denying the public of more than the experience of seeing an excellent movie. It is restricting access to a vital message: an unforgiving indictment of war.

Peace.

Source: Russians at War is an exceptional documentary and needs to be seen

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Zelenskyy submits draft law on multiple citizenship to parliament

2024/08/08 Leave a comment

Of note:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted a draft law on multiple citizenship to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament).

Details: The explanatory note states that the adoption of this law will help ensure conditions for the return of citizens who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the full-scale war and their retention of Ukrainian citizenship.

In addition, it will expand opportunities for certain categories of foreigners and stateless persons to acquire Ukrainian citizenship.

Zelenskyy proposes that multiple citizenship (nationality) should be allowed in the following cases:

  • simultaneous acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship and citizenship of another state by a child at birth;
  • acquisition by a child who is a Ukrainian citizen of the citizenship of their foreign adoptive parents;
  • automatic acquisition of another citizenship by a Ukrainian citizen as a result of marriage to a foreigner;
  • automatic acquisition by a Ukrainian citizen who has reached the age of 18 of another citizenship, as a result of the application of the legislation on citizenship of a foreign state, if such a Ukrainian citizen has not received a document confirming the citizenship of another state;
  • acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure by citizens of other states who are included in the list of those who can obtain Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure;
  • acquisition by a Ukrainian citizen of citizenship of states from the list of states whose citizens acquire Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure.

Moreover, multiple citizenship will not be allowed for people who have citizenship of Russia (i.e. a country recognised as an aggressor/occupying state by the Verkhovna Rada) or a state that does not recognise the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. 

The draft law also aims to simplify the procedure for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship and improve the regulation of the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons who are or were on active military service under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, the National Guard of Ukraine, or are married to such persons, or are their children.

This document has several functions, here are the most important ones: 

  • it clarifies the conditions for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship by birth, by territorial origin, and the conditions for admission to citizenship;
  • it revises the grounds for the loss of Ukrainian citizenship;
  • it regulates the possibility of submitting an expired passport by foreigners and stateless persons who served in the military to obtain a temporary residence permit; and
  • it regulates the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons who, during martial law, provide or have provided fire support, tactical, medical, radio engineering, bomb disposal and other kinds of assistance to the army directly in the areas of combat actions.

Source: Zelenskyy submits draft law on multiple citizenship to parliament, record sheet for draft law no. 11469

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Ukraine Introduces Citizenship Exams on Constitution and History

2024/06/01 Leave a comment

Of note:

From now on, individuals seeking Ukrainian citizenship must pass exams on the fundamentals of the Constitution of Ukraine and Ukrainian history. The Ministry of Education and Science reported this following a government meeting.

This decision was made by the Government and applies to:

  • foreigners;
  • stateless persons;
  • those who have acquired citizenship but have the right to take the exam within two years (this is due to deferment related to military service under contract, outstanding services to Ukraine, etc.).

Importantly, the implementation of the exams requires further adoption and implementation of a series of orders and provisions, organizational measures; currently, only a fundamental decision has been made.

To register, it is necessary to create an electronic account and submit an application electronically; a detailed algorithm will be published later.

The exam will consist of:

  • 20 questions on the fundamentals of the Constitution of Ukraine;
  • 25 questions on Ukrainian history.

To ensure transparency, the exam will be recorded on video.

Upon successful completion, participants will receive corresponding certificates.

Source: Ukraine Introduces Citizenship Exams on Constitution and History

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War-displaced Ukrainians call on Ottawa for a simplified pathway to permanent residency

2024/05/16 Leave a comment

Hard not to see this coming given the ongoing situation in Ukraine:

Ukrainians living in Canada who fled from war are urging the federal government to create a streamlined pathway to permanent residency, saying that they do not qualify for many of the existing programs.

Those programs include ones tied to jobs and education, humanitarian considerations and the presence of family in Canada – but all have caveats that make it a difficult fit for many.

In March, 2022, Canada put into place the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel program (CUAET), which allowed Ukrainians to temporarily come to Canada. Over the course of two years, 286,000 people arrived through the program, but it officially ended on March 31, leaving Ukrainians who fled the war, and whose homes have been destroyed, with no way of staying…

Source: War-displaced Ukrainians call on Ottawa for a simplified pathway to permanent residency

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