A tough turn after four years in Ottawa
Ottawa welcomed thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion starting in 2022, many arriving through the federal Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. Families settled in neighbourhoods across the city, kids enrolled in local schools, and parents found jobs and apartments while trying to build something resembling normal life. Now, according to a recent Ottawa Citizen column, some of those same young Ukrainians are hitting a wall just as they try to take the next step: getting into university.
Why the roadblock now
The issue traces back to the temporary nature of the status many Ukrainians hold in Canada. CUAET was designed as an emergency measure, not a permanent immigration pathway, and its temporary residency status doesn't always align neatly with the requirements universities and provincial student aid programs use to determine who qualifies for domestic tuition rates or financial assistance. For students who've spent years in Ottawa classrooms, made friends, and planned their futures here, discovering that their status doesn't check the right administrative boxes for post-secondary access can feel like a bait-and-switch after being told they were welcome.
The Ottawa angle
This isn't an abstract policy story for the capital — it's playing out among real families in Ottawa neighbourhoods. Local Ukrainian community organizers and settlement agencies in the city have spent years helping newcomers navigate housing, employment, and schooling, and now some of that same support network is being pulled into a fight over access to higher education. For a city that positioned itself as a landing pad for Ukrainian evacuees early in the war — with local businesses, churches, and volunteers organizing donation drives and host-family networks — the prospect of those same young people being locked out of university after four years of building a life here lands as a particularly frustrating twist. It also raises broader questions for Ottawa's postsecondary institutions, including Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, about how they classify and support students whose immigration status sits in this in-between category.
What comes next
As Canada's approach to Ukrainian arrivals continues to evolve — including debates over extending or converting temporary programs into more permanent status — the students caught in the middle are left waiting for clarity. For many in Ottawa, the last four years were about survival and adjustment; now the challenge is proving that the life they've built here is enough to earn a shot at higher education, rather than starting over yet again on paperwork technicalities.
Source: Ottawa Citizen
