The federal government says around 60,000 Ukrainians have applied to enter Canada in an effort to escape the crisis in their country.
An employer registry has been set up to assist them in finding employment when they arrive.
CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton John Wishart says they’ll be coming in waves, “This initial phase of arrivals, most of the Ukrainians will be mothers, wives with children and maybe some of the elderly because the men are back in Ukraine fighting. So we have to understand what their skill sets are and where they can be best placed in the employment system.”
These individuals can stay for up to three years, if not longer, and will be able to work for the duration.
“They’ve identified 67 Ukrainians that are coming to Greater Moncton so far and I think that represents about 28 families and that’s just in the next three or four weeks. So, a lot of children who will need childcare, be entered in the school system, that sort of thing. So we’re working with the city, Ukrainian club, MAGMA and others to try to determine how best the business community can play a role other than arranging possible employment for the newcomers,” Wishart says.
The federal government says of the applications they’ve received, they have only processed around 3000 so far.
The registries, created by the federal and provincial governments, will help identify opportunities in the province and match skills sets.
“They (employers) can register their business and what opportunities they have and maybe the skill sets that they’re looking for. And the the province will take lead provincially on trying to do that matching. We have been talking with the Ukrainian club representatives, and they even identified the skill sets of those first 67 who will arrive. There’s a broad range of skills everything from a university professor to an engineer to a hairdresser, so we think there is an opportunity to do some of the matching and once we get things like language and obviously there’ll be a transition because these people are escaping war so we’ll need to take care of their their health needs as well,” Wishart says.
For more information, visit the provincial and federal registries.
