Nearly three-and-a-half years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Canadians stay broadly supportive of taking in Ukrainian migrants fleeing their war-torn nation, though there was a drop in help.
A brand new ballot carried out by Leger for the Affiliation for Canadian Research and the Metropolis Institute finds that 23 per cent of Canadians consider extra Ukrainians must be dropped at security, whereas 40 per cent consider proper quantity are coming. An extra 23 per cent of ballot respondents say that fewer Ukrainians must be dropped at Canada.
In
February 2023, polling discovered
that 43 per cent of Canadians mentioned the nation ought to hold doing what it’s doing with regards to welcoming Ukrainians, and 29 per cent mentioned Canada ought to do extra to resettle Ukrainian refugees. Simply 16 per cent mentioned Canada ought to do much less.
“What you’re seeing now’s that a few of the pushback on immigration that we’ve seen … can be impacting help for Ukrainian migration to Canada,” mentioned Jack Jedwab, president of the Affiliation for Canadian Research.
The struggle between Ukraine and Russia is properly into its third 12 months, regardless of stress from U.S. President Donald Trump for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hammer out a ceasefire settlement. Trump has set a deadline of Friday for Russia to conform to peace, or else face a spherical of American sanctions.
Whereas ceasefire talks grind on, preventing continues throughout Ukraine. Russian missile strikes on Kyiv final month killed and injured dozens of Ukrainians. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Putin intends to seize the Ukrainian areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson earlier than severely participating in any peace talks.
The variety of Ukrainians in search of shelter in Canada has declined significantly, in response to information compiled by the Affiliation for Canadian Research. Within the years main as much as Putin’s February 2022 invasion of his neighbour, there have been round 2,000 Ukrainians emigrating to Canada every year. That elevated significantly after the invasion. In 2022, 78,360 got here to Canada. In 2023, it was 103,350 and in 2024, 111,960 moved to Canada below the Worldwide Mobility Program.
Within the first quarter of 2024, 66,720 Ukrainians got here to Canada. However within the first quarter of 2025, solely 21,110 Ukrainians arrived — an almost 69-per-cent drop in comparison with the primary quarter of 2024.
These aged between 18 and 24, at 13 per cent, are the least prone to consider that Canada ought to lower the variety of Ukrainians coming to the nation, whereas 30 per cent of these between the ages of 35 and 64 consider there must be fewer Ukrainians coming to Canada.
Thirty-three per cent of these in Manitoba and Saskatchewan consider fewer Ukrainians must be given non permanent visas — the very best proportion within the nation. In neighbouring Alberta, solely 22 per cent maintain that view, as do 25 per cent of British Columbians, 23 per cent of Ontarians, 21 per cent of Quebecers and 18 per cent of Atlantic Canadians.
These in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, at 17 per cent, are least prone to say Canada ought to settle for extra Ukrainians, whereas 32 per cent of Atlantic Canadians consider we must always.
Canadians are considerably extra skeptical of non permanent employees; solely 12 per cent say Canada ought to enable extra non permanent employees into the nation, whereas 41 per cent say the numbers ought to keep the identical and 34 per cent mentioned fewer must be allowed into the nation. Short-term international employees, in response to Statistics Canada, could maintain permits for work, research or different functions; as of 2021, there have been roughly 845,000 non permanent international employees in Canada.
Those that favour will increase in non permanent international employees usually tend to help extra Ukrainians coming to Canada, the polling discovered. Forty-nine per cent of those that help extra TFWs additionally help extra Ukrainians, whereas 48 per cent who say they need fewer TFWs additionally need fewer Ukrainians.
“(The) web which means of that is or web implication is a few of the pushback we’re seeing in immigration, each everlasting and non permanent, is spilling over,” mentioned Jedwab. “Earlier than the pushback on immigration, there was actually, actually giant scale help throughout the nation for admitting these Ukrainians. Now, you’re seeing some slippage, as a result of it’s kind of aligning a bit with the general pushback on immigration.”
Help for accepting Ukrainians into the nation is increased amongst those that say they’ve a superb understanding of the battle. Forty-one per cent of those that say they’ve a “superb” understanding of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine say Canada ought to enhance its consumption of Ukrainians, whereas 36 per cent of them say the quantity ought to stay the identical. Simply 18 per cent of those that say they’ve an excellent understanding consider that fewer Ukrainians ought to come to Canada.
In distinction, those that say they’ve “barely any” understanding are way more prone to help reductions within the numbers of Ukrainians coming to Canada: 34 per cent say there must be fewer, in comparison with simply 10 per cent who mentioned Canada’s consumption must be elevated.
“There’s an essential relationship between folks being sensitized to what really is occurring proper now and their openness to Ukrainian migration,” mentioned Jedwab.
Those that consider that Canada is just not doing sufficient are additionally extra prone to say Canada ought to take extra Ukrainian migrants. Fifty-one per cent who say Canada’s help must be elevated additionally say Canada ought to soak up extra Ukrainians, and 38 per cent say the consumption ought to stay the identical. Simply seven per cent say there must be fewer Ukrainians coming to Canada. In the case of those that assume Canada is placing the precise stability on Ukraine, 52 per cent say the variety of non permanent permits issued ought to stay the identical, whereas 26 per cent say extra must be introduced in and 15 per cent say there must be fewer.
Greater than half of those that consider Canada is doing an excessive amount of to help Ukraine — 55 per cent — say that fewer Ukrainians must be allowed into Canada, whereas simply 11 per cent say extra must be dropped at Canada and 27 per cent say the numbers ought to stay the identical.
The web ballot was carried out by Leger Advertising amongst 1,511 respondents in Canada between June 6 and June 8, 2025. A margin of error can’t be related to a non-probability pattern in a panel survey for comparability functions. A chance pattern of 1,511 respondents in Canada would have a margin of error of ±2.5 per cent, 19 instances out of 20.
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