Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
Zelensky is just doing his job, urging help from wherever.
But this is Canada. We dont even help ourselves, the best we were ever going to do for Ukraine was 'thoughts and prayers' and some materiel.
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That is the sad brutal truth. Canadians will wear pins, turn on blue and yellow lights, play the UA anthem before our hockey games, and buy more pierogis. But as for actually physically helping actual Ukrainians on the ground? Not a JT hater, but I LOL every time Trudeau speaks about stepping up to help in this crises.
For me the big test to see how Canada offers aid will be the new
Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel. I am keeping an eye on this, as my wife's cousin is a refugee living with us and if she cannot find a way to support herself here in Poland over the next 6 weeks before we move back, we want to look into this program to bring her to Canada as we don't want to abandon her here.
However I am not holding my breath that it will be anything substantial other than the very lucky few/privileged who are able to get approved. I've read stories on various immigration forums recently about Ukrainians attempting to do visa applications and IRCC still has not cut the red tape. Asking them to send photocopies of documents, print such and such documents, get certified translations, etc. Who the #### is able to do those kind of things while cities are getting shelled? The only way that IRCC has stepped up is prioritizing UA sponsorship applications that are already in the queue. But that really only works for Ukrainians living OUTSIDE Ukraine, as the final step is a passport submission request. Nobody inside Ukraine is going to be able to courier their passport to the visa center and back.
Canada loves to say we are an open, welcoming country to all who want to come. That couldn't be further from the truth. The red tape to enter Canada, even on a TRV , is extremely difficult for Ukrainians. I know this from personal experience and based on the reasoning given to me by IRCC in the refusal letters I requested. It's hilarious how we all love to trot out the stat that Canada has the 3rd largest Ukrainian population in the world, but we sure make it impossible for them to even come visit
. Even the Polish PM was saying that his country cut the red tape for Ukrainians to enter Poland and that he wants Canada to do the same to
help relieve some of the pressure.
So ultimately I will judge how well Canada helps refugees by how this Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program works out. It should be online this week. I will be impressed if Canada actually steps up and somewhat cuts the red tape and opens the door for refugee to help alleviate some of the pressure the Eastern EU countries are dealing with.