7,000 more Ukrainian newcomers expected to land in Manitoba before emergency visas expire

Thousands of Ukrainian newcomers are expected to fly to Manitoba before Canada's temporary emergency visas expire at the end of March.

The federal government has issued nearly one million of the visas for Ukrainians fleeing the war since March 2022, though about 200,000 people had used the visas by the end of last November.

Applications for the visas closed last July, but those who have one can still use it until March 31.

The visas, which were available to an unlimited number of Ukrainians, allow them to work and study in Canada for three years while they figure out their next steps. Those who have come to Canada using the emergency visa aren't given refugee status in Canada, and instead are considered temporary residents.

While Manitoba has already welcomed more than 20,000 Ukrainians since the start of the war, it is expecting to welcome thousands more, said Joanne Lewandosky, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Manitoba Provincial Council.

"They're running from a war. It's traumatic … They're leaving their friends, they're leaving their home," she said following meetings with federal minister of international trade and economic development Mary Ng and local business leaders on Friday.

"We must work with integrating them and making them feel that they are at home."

Surveys by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Operation Ukrainian Safe Haven suggest up to 90,000 visa holders could come to Canada before the visas expire on March 31. Manitoba could see another 7,000 Ukrainian newcomers, Lewandosky said.

But Emily Halldorson, the Ukraine response co-ordinator for the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO), said it's unclear how many visa holders will actually make it here.

"I think one of the big things that limits people's ability to travel here is just commercial flights," she told guest host Emily Brass on CBC Radio's Up to Speed Friday.

"They basically have to contend with the number of flights available. So my feeling is that the number won't be that high."

Halldorson said Canada saw this happen around the same time last year, when the country saw an increase in arrivals of Ukrainian newcomers, but the number of flights available prevented that number from being even higher.

However, she said Manitoba is still prepared to welcome any new Ukrainians that come.

"Our settlement sector and all of the newcomer organizations in the sector are much more prepared for Ukrainian translation, for service providers that speak Ukrainian," she said.

"And we're just very well aware of a lot of the different challenges that these folks are facing."

Halldorson encouraged landlords to reach out to MANSO if they have suites available.

'A very welcoming province'

Many of the roughly 20,000 Ukrainians who have come to Manitoba have settled in rural towns, "bolstering their economic well-being," said Lewandosky.

But some who came after the start of the war have returned to their home country.

"They're finding it difficult — they can't make it," said Lewandosky. "And there are people that are coming with no English skills and no set skills for jobs."

She'd be in favour of extending the visa program, since many have the visas but don't plan on using them yet.

"Manitoba's been a very welcoming province. They've opened their hearts, their wallets, their homes," she said.