NUYC – CUAET – Resilience Research Centre

NUYC - CUAET

The Impact of Temporary Status on the Settlement Experience of Newcomer Ukrainian Youth in Canada (NUYC) Arriving under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) Visa

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 forced over 14 million people from their homes, with 8 million Ukrainians crossing Ukraine’s borders into neighbouring countries. The CUAET program is a unique and rapid approach in Canada to an international humanitarian crisis, but its potential impact on young people’s psychological wellbeing, coping strategies, educational and career pathways, and overall settlement experience is not known.

Under the auspices of the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) visa program, Ukrainian newcomers to Canada have been given an alternative to refugee status, one which provides temporary residence based on 3-year work or study permit with access to health, education, and social services (the scope varies by provinces), settlement services, and federal one-time financial support.

Project Overview

The Impact of Temporary Status on the Settlement Experience of Newcomer Ukrainian Youth in Canada (NUYC) Arriving under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) Visa is a longitudinal study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and led by Dr. Michael Ungar at the Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

NUYC-CUAET aims to understand which Promotive and Protective Factors and Processes (PPFP) at multiple psychological, social, institutional, and built environment levels are most likely to influence positively the settlement patterns of diverse Ukrainian youth arriving in Canada under the CUAET, a temporary visa program. This is a longitudinal study using multiple qualitative methods to engage youth in two different provinces (Alberta and Nova Scotia). As part of the project, researchers in Alberta and Nova Scotia will engage 25 newcomer Ukrainian youth, aged 12-19, in each province, totaling 50 participants. This age range represents the full spectrum of adolescence and will allow us to track developmental issues affected by the temporary visa status. While Alberta has been historically one of the main destinations for Ukrainian migrants to Canada with access to a large diaspora Nova Scotia has a smaller diasporic community formed in the 1950s.

NUYC-CUAET also contains a policy analysis goal to understand and compare the development of temporary visa policies inside and outside Canada and how they have been implemented. This part of the study includes comparative analyses on three levels: temporary visa policies at the international level for Ukrainians and other people escaping hardships, temporary policies for Ukrainians (i.e. CUAET) at the Canadian national level, and a focus on how three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Alberta, Nova Scotia) implemented the CUAET and related services.

Project Partners

This research is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from across Canada, including faculty and staff at MacEwan University, University of Alberta in Edmonton, McMaster University, University of Winnipeg, and Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. The research has received ethics board approval at Dalhousie University, MacEwan University and Saint Mary’s University. Further, the study receives support through partnerships with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) (UCC Nova Scotia, UCC Alberta Provincial Council), the YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth in Nova Scotia, the Free Store for Ukrainians, Ukraine’s Kitchen (Alberta), the Ukrainian Store initiative in Halifax and other. Two Provincial Advisory Committees were established in Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Research Team

Michael Ungar, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience and founder and Director of the Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University

Elizabeth Burgess-Pinto, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor Faculty of Nursing, MacEwan University

Jeffrey Stepnisky, PhD, Associate Professor and Kule Chair of Ukrainian Community and International Development Department of Sociology, MacEwan University

Larysa Hayduk, Director of the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre, MacEwan University

Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, PhD, Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Professor and Huculak Chair of Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta

Victor Satzewich, PhD, Professor, Acting Chair Department of Sociology, McMaster University

Lyubov Zhyznomirska, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science, Chair of Political Science Department, Saint Mary’s University in Halifax

Ray Silvius, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and a political economist, University of Winnipeg

Nick Martino, PhD, Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University

Oksana Tashkinova, PhD, Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University

Mariia Vitrukh, PhD, Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University