The Price of Immigration

By: Spencer Wojcichowsky

Last year we all witnessed Russia invade Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022. Since the original invasion of Ukraine, over 167,585 Ukrainian refugees have come to Canada. Immigration has been a normal and encouraged action in Canada since 1967, but we have rarely seen this large an influx of a particular group. Immigrating into a new nation is a difficult process and often has a level of culture shock incorporated into the process. This raises the question of how the Ukrainian immigrants in Canada dealt with immigration, preserving their culture, and finding hope in a new country.

Daryna Kolalenko is a recent Ukrainian immigrant who has made a life for herself in Canada; she recently found a place for herself in the local Ukrainian orthodox church. Daryna Kolalenko has found keeping in touch with Ukrainian culture increasingly difficult as she tries to adapt and immerse into the infrastructure of Canada. It is no secret that Canada’s western values are not shared with many parts of the world, and new immigrants often find it difficult to adapt to the current social structure of Canada.

“I often feel out of place in Canada, an outsider to the culture; because of this I have taken a lot of efforts to preserve my own cultural practices. However, I fear that this will take me out of the culture completely,” said Daryna in a recent interview.

This recent influx of Ukrainian immigrants has made us see first-hand how the culture of Canada often excludes others. In the past when immigrants had come to Canada, that would mean that you would cut off all routes with your homeland because there were very few cost-effective ways to communicate with family back home. Historically, immigrants would have no contact back to their homeland and would have to abandon their cultural routes. Today, we have the luxury of telephones, other ways of communication, and travel, so immigrants have the option to return home and keep in touch with their culture. Canada’s immigration policies have greatly improved and become more open to people from all ethnic backgrounds. However, after interviewing Daryna, I noticed that Canada often struggles with other problems regarding immigration. Canada often expects immigrants to assimilate to their culture when others do not want to or are not in Canada by choice. Many of the Ukrainian immigrants did not have choice when coming to Canada to escape Russia’s invasion, and instead came because this was their only option. As a Canadian society, we must stop expecting others to immediately leave their own culture and assimilate into ours. Oftentimes, immigrants don’t want to let go of their culture and Canada must stop expecting this from them. Holding onto what is familiar to you is one of the things that allows you to feel secure in unfamiliar and intimidating situations, such as moving to a new country.

Canada is one of the most diverse nations with over twenty percent of the population being immigrants. Canada’s population cannot function without immigration. This begs the question of why as a society we do not allow people from different cultural backgrounds to immerse themselves in Canadian setting while still holding on to their personal beliefs and tradition. One of the beautiful things about Canada is the way we all belong to different backgrounds and yet still come together. Being a part of Canadian culture does not mean you need to remove yourself from your own culture, but rather embrace and acknowledge it altogether.