Life in a Suspended State: Belonging and Uncertainty of Ukrainian Migrants in Canada

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24^th, 2022 displaced millions of Ukrainians. Over 200,000 – roughly 5% of all those displaced, but 53% of all those who ended up outside of Europe – sought refuge in Canada, via the CUAET (Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel) program. The program was intended to offer them temporary asylum, which would end when the war in Ukraine ended. As the war dragged on, however, Ukrainian migrants in Canada found themselves in a sort of “suspended state” of prolonged uncertainty. Many of them may be unable to secure a more permanent legal status and may be told to abruptly leave the country, even as more time passes and they form attachments to Canada. This thesis asks what impact the CUAET program and the uncertainty it results in has on the migrants’ transnational connections to Ukraine and sense of belonging in Canada. Using data from interviews with ten Ukrainian migrants in and around Vancouver, the thesis explores how migrants fleeing war and transfixed in prolonged states of uncertainty experience the balance between maintaining transnational connections to Ukraine and establishing a sense of belonging in Canada. As Canada’s migration policies increasingly move toward temporariness, documenting migrants’ accounts is essential for understanding how such policy shifts affect these vulnerable communities.

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