A Ukrainian Refugee Opened Up About What Happens When The War Ends & If He'll Stay In Canada
"We will not be quick in our decision."
Semion speaking about Canada and Ukraine on TikTok.
While leaving your home in the midst of conflict is undoubtedly challenging, a Ukrainian refugee named Semion has been making the most out of his unexpected move to Canada by documenting his experiences on TikTok.
On his account called @newcanadians, he has shared his first time trying poutine, BeaverTails, going to Canadian Tire, and a myriad of other uniquely Canuck experiences in his roughly four months of living in the country.
He was recently asked, "Post war, if you had the chance, would you move back to Ukraine with your family, or remain in Canada?" and said it was a pretty hard question to answer.
"From my experience, there's absolutely no point in planning for months and months ahead, or even years ahead in this case, probably," Semion said.
"What we do know is that we have legal right to stay in Canada for three years and we can work here, our kids can study here, we have all these rights available for us, and we're using these rights."
@newcanadians Replying to @Shadow
He added that if the war were to be over soon, they would think about what to do.
"There's no way of saying, you know, as soon as the war is over, we're going back," Semion explained, but due to the current difficulty of attaining permanent residency, he said they might be "forced to go back."
"But at this point, we're honestly not planning anything. We're not planning to move somewhere," he shared, adding that he plans on staying where he is in Ontario for the school year so as to not disrupt his kids' education.
"But what we can say is that even if war is over tomorrow, and we do have a permanent residence here in Canada, we will not be quick in our decision to go back. For sure."
"Because no Russian tanks on Ukrainian land doesn't mean that Ukraine became a safe place for few more years probably," he explained.
While that's obviously an incredibly difficult situation and choice to have looming in the future, hopefully Semion and his family can continue to enjoy Canadian experiences.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.