Canada Is So Expensive That Some Ukrainian Immigrants Are Leaving
High housing costs and underemployment are challenges for new arrivals
Oleksii Martynenko, who fled Russia’s war on Ukraine, now works seven days a week in Toronto’s fast-paced kitchens.
Photographer: Chloë Ellingson/Bloomberg
Not long after Russia began bombing Ukraine, Oleksii Martynenko packed his bags and fled Kremenchuk, a once-tranquil but now war-torn city roughly 190 miles from Kyiv. He moved to Stockholm and took a job as a line cook. One year later, as his work visa approached expiry, he relocated to Canada’s largest city.
The continental change of scenery proved challenging for the Ukrainian immigrant. It took Martynenko about two months to find a comparable job in Toronto’s bustling downtown, about an hour’s commute from his apartment in the city’s suburbs. It wasn’t enough to pay the bills, so he soon took a second job, also as a line cook, and now works seven days a week in fast-paced kitchens.