“We are all stressed” | The Press

“I’m stressed, we’re all stressed,” says Kateryna Kotliar, 38, who has lived in Montreal for almost two years with her mother and her children, Mila, 7, and Myroslav, 10.

This stress can be explained by the fact that if the federal government opened the doors to Ukrainians in March 2022, it is now silent on the fate that awaits them, their status, the renewal of their visa, their work permit. And, therefore, about their future.

It was Kateryna Kotliar who contacted The Press to show his concern and that of his family. We met her in February 2023, on the first anniversary of the war. “A lot has happened in the last year,” she explains.

The main problem Ukrainians experience, according to Kateryna, is the uncertainty surrounding the renewal of work permits in Canada.

“It’s the most discussed topic in Facebook groups,” she says.

This work permit, lasting three years, was granted to those who requested it, under the temporary emergency visa program launched at the start of the conflict by the Canadian government.

Last October, a “public policy” was put in place to allow Ukrainian refugees already in Canada to apply for permanent residence. But there is one condition: having family in the country.

Others ? “For the moment, we don’t know,” says Anaït Aleksanian, general director of the Immigrant Community Support Center (CACI), which welcomes and supports many Ukrainians displaced to Montreal. “The government has not yet announced a program. Almost everyone is worried about what will happen next. »

Nationals who do not have family in Canada can apply for permanent residence through another program, but they must meet criteria: master French, have professional qualifications, graduate from a French-speaking establishment, etc.

Kateryna, for example, doesn’t speak French well. The fate of his 66-year-old mother is even more uncertain.

“We have no place to go in Ukraine. Our city is destroyed,” she said.

” It is my family ”

Yuliia Melnyk, 40, is luckier. His town, Obukhiv, 40 km south of Kyiv, was not ravaged by the fighting. Her husband also urges her to “return” to the country, telling her that “it’s not dangerous”.

“People who have been living in war for two years have adapted because they cannot do otherwise. My husband really thinks that it is not dangerous, even if the situation has not changed much since February 22, 2022,” she explains, in the kitchen of the small apartment she occupies with her 8-year-old twins. years old, Nadia and Oksana.

Yuliia arrived in Montreal in March 2022, thanks to the help of a Quebecer, Nathalie Bouchard, whom she met in Ukraine and who became her friend.

“Nathalie and her friends are my family,” she assures. I want to stay here. I find that Canada is a fairer country than Ukraine. It’s safer. I prefer the relationship with people, there is more empathy. At school, for example, my children learn values. In Ukraine, we learn mathematics and other subjects, but we do not learn values. I see the result. »

Back home, Yuliia Melnyk worked as a technology project manager for a cardboard box company. Nathalie Bouchard was an employee of a software company with which she did business. This is how they got to know each other.

“When the war broke out, Nathalie wrote to me every day to say: ‘Come to my house’,” relates Yuliia, showing, on her phone, the video she made about her exile in Canada.

In the background she recorded Do not leave me by Celine Dion and Shooting Stars Cowboys Fringants. Two songs whose lyrics she read and sang “millions” of times to learn French, in addition to taking full-time French courses for a year.

Since September, Yuliia Melnyk has been working as a volunteer for an organization helping newcomers, while trying, without success, to find a job in her field.

The fact that her work permit expires in a year affects her employment prospects, she believes. She was recently contacted for a position in its ranks, but discussions ended when the agency learned that her license expired in April 2025.

One year more

Does she really fear that she will be asked to leave the country in 2025?

“Yes,” replies Yuliia. If I was in a normal situation, I could wait, it would be okay. But we Ukrainians have too much stress. Everything is stressful. I go to bed wondering if tomorrow I’m going to be able to pay for housing and all that, and what I’m going to do if I’m not able to. »

Yuliia wants her permit to be extended for another year, while she finds a job and applies for permanent residency.

Kateryna Kotliar estimates she needs three years.

“In three years, I am sure that I will have time to learn French,” she explains. Because right now, I can’t do it. I work, I study, I have children. It’s impossible. I’m going to be crazy. I’m so tired… ”

Anastasia Kurchenko, 31, also wonders if she will be able to stay here after her work permit expires. She arrived in Quebec with her husband in May 2022. The couple, new spouses, were in Budapest when Russia attacked Ukraine.

After working as a hairdresser in Montreal, Anastasia opened her own salon in March 2023 on Décarie Boulevard. “We want to stay here,” she assures us. But the problem is French. It’s very difficult. It’s a big problem because I work, big, big work, and I’m tired in the evening. I am not able to concentrate and I do not have time to study. It’s stress, a lot of stress. »