This story is a part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC Information collection about immigration advised via the eyes of the individuals who have skilled it.
Oleg Redko got here to Canada in 2022 to flee the battle in Ukraine, whereas Parth Shah moved to Canada from India with goals of prosperity and a specialised training.
Each had a picture of what Canada can be, however quickly after arriving, they’d experiences that shattered their sense of security of their new nation.
“I used to be going to the metro station whereas any person was stabbed after which individuals had been operating out,” Redko stated.
“For me, it was form of surprising as a result of I imagined like for a few years, I knew that Canada is like one of many most secure international locations on this planet, probably the greatest international locations on this planet.”
Shah, who got here from India to check design in Toronto in 2021, says he is additionally had experiences which have shattered his notion of Canada as a protected place.
“I’ve lived in three main cities earlier than this, all of them are in India,” he stated.
“And sadly, that is essentially the most unsafe I felt.”
Whereas many newcomers immigrate to Canada within the hopes of discovering security, a brand new survey has discovered almost a 3rd of Ontario newcomers reported feeling safer of their residence international locations.
A little bit greater than 1,500 grownup Canadian residents took half within the Pollara survey commissioned by CBC Information between Nov. 1 and 18, 2024. All of them arrived in Canada previously 10 years.
Whereas a big majority of Ontario newcomers who took half reported feeling safer right here than again residence, 29 per cent of newcomers in Ontario say they felt safer of their earlier nation of residence than they do in Canada.
Nationally, 23 per cent of whole respondents to the survey stated they really feel much less protected in Canada than they did of their homeland.
Like Redko, Shah says he is witnessed violence on the TTC but in addition had an unsettling expertise whereas learning in a library the place he was threatened by a random particular person.
“This man walks by and he factors at me and says, ‘I do know what you’re and I will beat you up,'” he stated.
Shah stated the person was pointing at a rainbow sticker on his laptop computer.
“He is like, ‘You come right here with this filth and also you spoil our tradition.'”
What was essentially the most surprising for Shah is the truth that nobody within the packed library intervened, till a librarian requested the person to depart.
Whereas many newcomers immigrate to Canada in hopes of discovering security, a brand new survey finds one third of Ontario newcomers felt safer of their residence international locations. CBC’s Talia Ricci spoke to newcomers from Ukraine and India about among the challenges they confronted after transferring to Canada.
Security issues pushed by varied elements
Those that work with newcomers within the Higher Toronto Space say these emotions of worry and anxiousness transcend simply bodily security and are pushed by a wide range of elements, like unsafe housing and financial insecurity.
“Notably final two years we’ve seen many newcomers, particularly asylum seekers, they had been residing in a really precarious scenario,” stated Qazi Hasan, director of newcomer packages at WoodGreen Group Companies.
“They did not have housing, they did not have meals or hygiene supplies and it was actually disaster scenario.”
Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO of Indus Group Companies, which works with South Asian newcomers, stated he is heard from worldwide college students residing in properties with 20 different individuals.
One other concern is “unscrupulous employers” profiting from newcomers’ precarious scenario, forcing them to work with out pay and even withholding their passports, Malhotra stated.
“That is the type of anxieties that we have been seeing, the form of worry that has been generated in that exact newcomer neighborhood.”
When put in these troublesome conditions, newcomers usually really feel like in the event that they converse up, they may lose their housing or employment, which is tough to return by as it’s, he stated.
“Even when they do not occur to you, however they’re identified of or have occurred to a pal or a colleague, you then’re anxious you could’t battle again, push again towards that imply employer, that overly invasive landlord, as a result of what it’s important to lose is so nice.”
Trying to the longer term, newcomers and advocates hope to see higher planning and extra help from all ranges of presidency.
Hasan says that whereas organizations like WoodGreen want extra assets to satisfy the demand, there’s additionally energy in neighborhood.
“Give them the sensation that they don’t seem to be right here alone. You aren’t right here by your self, you’re right here collectively.”
Source link