'Such a difficult life in Canada': Ukrainian immigrants leaving because it's so expensive | Canada News Media
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‘Such a difficult life in Canada’: Ukrainian immigrants leaving because it’s so expensive

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Not long after Russia began bombing Ukraine, Oleksii Martynenko packed his bags and fled Kremenchuk, a once-tranquil but now war-torn city roughly 190 miles (300 kilometres) from Kyiv. He moved to Stockholm and took a job as a line cook. One year later, as his work visa approached expiry, he relocated to Canada’s largest city.

The continental change of scenery proved challenging for the Ukrainian immigrant. It took Martynenko about two months to find a comparable job in Toronto’s bustling downtown, about an hour’s commute from his apartment in the city’s suburbs. It wasn’t enough to pay the bills, so he soon took a second job, also as a line cook, and now works seven days a week in fast-paced kitchens.

The strenuous work and high cost of living has taken its toll. Martynenko, 44, is now planning a return to Sweden. His monthly expenses in Toronto include roughly $100 for a phone plan , $150 for public transit, $400 for groceries, and $1,000 for a room in a rooming house, where the kitchen and bathroom are shared among four tenants. Any money left over is sent back to family still in Ukraine. At least in Stockholm he earned enough to have savings, he said.

“I’m tired all the time now,” Martynenko said in an interview. “I want to go back to Europe because it’s such a difficult life in Canada.”

Canada has long been a choice destination for newcomers seeking a better life in a prosperous nation. Nearly a quarter of all Canadians are immigrants and the country has welcomed nearly 200,000 Ukrainians since the war’s outset. But the daily grind of life in Canada’s busiest metropolises — not just Toronto but also Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary — along with soaring costs is making it increasingly hard to get by.

Trudeau’s ambitious plans

Social service organizations have warned that the country’s most vulnerable citizens — often newcomers — are affected most by higher prices, especially in housing. Andrei Zavialov, a settlement worker with Ukrainian Canadian Social Services Toronto, said he knows of at least 15 Ukrainians who have returned to their home country from the Greater Toronto Area since the war broke out. There isn’t one predominant reason for leaving, he said, but expenses are among the most cited factors.

“An individual becomes unable to find money, but they need to pay for very high rent, groceries,” said Zavialov. “And such expenses hit an immigrant’s pocket strongly. No job, no money, they return to Ukraine where everything is familiar.”

Anecdotal stories like these are supported by new research suggesting that more newcomers have chosen to leave Canada in recent years as worsening housing affordability, a strained health-care system, and underemployment spark disillusionment with the opportunities the country offers.

An acceleration of that trend would undermine Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambitious plans to stave off economic backsliding through relaxed immigration policies. Like many developed countries, Canada’s birthrate is declining and the population would shrink were it not for new arrivals. Real gross domestic product per capita has stagnated over the past decade, while soaring home prices have far outpaced disposable income.

The Trudeau government’s solution is a target of roughly half a million new permanent residents a year, on top of a recent boom in arrivals that pushed Canada’s annual population growth rate to 2.7 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace among advanced economies.

The challenge now is retaining them. Newcomers have to navigate a web of problems, starting with housing costs. Even smaller Canadian cities are facing tight rental supply as higher interest rates have discouraged would-be buyers, creating fierce competition for rental units. The average cost of rent in Canada hit a record $2,149 in September, up more than 11 per cent from a year prior, according to research firm Urbanation. In Toronto, it was $2,614, which represents almost the entire pretax income of a person working full-time for minimum wage.

Other costs are also rising. While inflation is decelerating, it’s still running at 3.8 per cent, “much too high for comfort,” according Benjamin Reitzes, a rates and macro strategist at the Bank of Montreal. Grocery costs increased 5.8 per cent annually in September, while gas prices jumped 7.5 per cent.

To be sure, many newcomers are keen to stay in the country. Zavialov said most Ukrainian newcomers he’s interacted with have expressed strong admiration for Canada — its diverse population, socialized health-care system and fraying but still-strong social net. The decision whether to return to Ukraine or stay in Canada is also inspired by factors beyond expenses — proximity to war, safety, or a sense of patriotic duty.

 

‘Want to help my country’

A combination of those considerations prompted Anna-Maria Lyakhovetska to plan a return to Ukraine as soon as it’s safe. The 17-year-old moved to Germany after her father died in the war, and then relocated to Canada, arriving in Toronto just seven months ago. Now she wants to go back, in part to escape the hurdles of life in a new country and in part to aid the war effort. Russia’s invasion, she said, encouraged her to pursue a career in political organizing.

“It’s expensive living here,” she said. “But I also want to go back to help my country.”

The bulk of Canada’s Ukrainian immigrant intake is clustered in Ontario, the country’s most populous province, according social services group Operation Ukrainian Safe Haven. Based on financial assistance data, 40 per cent of recent Ukrainian immigrants have settled in Ontario while 21.4 per cent landed in Alberta and 10.3 per cent went to Manitoba.

Oleksandr Halyk, 50, arrived in Canada with his 25-year-old son in March, directly from Ukraine. An engineer back home, he took a job as a cabinet maker in north Toronto because he lacked a convertible degree. His son, meanwhile, found a better paying job at an airport.

 

“For my son, I think that he will stay here for a long time and probably build his future,” Halyk said. “But for me, to tell the truth, a life in Canada is much more expensive than in Ukraine, or in Europe. There, I have experience, and I can find work with a good salary.”

— with assistance from Randy Thanthong-Knight.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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