(CANADA) Canadian MP Yvan Baker is pressing Ottawa to create a permanent residence route for Ukrainians who entered under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, a temporary wartime program that brought nearly 305,000 people to Canada. No broad pathway exists today, leaving many CUAET holders on temporary permits as they enter a fourth year in the country and face choices about work, school, housing, and whether they can build a permanent life.

Baker, the chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, said on July 1, 2026 that he has been pushing for “a pathway to permanent residence for people who are already here on CUAET visas.” He added that many have lived in Canada for almost four years, are contributing to communities and the economy, and still cannot secure stable status through existing programs. His case is simple: temporary status supports survival, but permanent status supports settlement.

The proposal has not become government policy. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has instead extended temporary measures and pointed Ukrainians toward standard permanent residence streams that already exist. That leaves a sharp divide between Baker’s one-time regularization idea and the federal government’s current approach, which treats CUAET as a humanitarian bridge rather than an automatic path to remain in Canada permanently.

That distinction matters in practice. Most Ukrainians who arrived through CUAET hold temporary work or study permits, often issued for three years. Those permits allow employment, school attendance, and access to services, but they do not provide the security that comes with permanent residence. Without permanent status, people hesitate before buying homes, opening businesses, taking long training programs, or making other long-range commitments that depend on certainty.

Baker’s public argument has focused on integration. He said many CUAET holders are already established in local labour markets and communities, yet existing permanent residence options shut out a large share of them. Express Entry and Provincial Nominee Program routes remain competitive. They rely on points, job profiles, provincial selection, and other factors that temporary humanitarian entrants often struggle to match after arriving quickly in response to war.

A parliamentary petition sponsored by Baker has gathered nearly 50,000 signatures. It calls for a one-time permanent residence program for CUAET holders regardless of family ties, with eligibility tied to factors such as work, school enrolment, language ability, and integration in Canada. Supporters describe it as a targeted response to an extraordinary displacement crisis rather than a permanent change to Canada’s wider immigration system.

Ottawa’s official position

The federal government has not embraced that proposal. On March 31, 2026, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced a new extension window for temporary status and framed it as continued support while Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. “As Russia’s war against Ukraine persists, Canada continues to support displaced Ukrainians through CUAET, through this extension,” she said. “The program allows this cohort to work and contribute to the Canadian economy while they are here.”

The key date in that announcement was March 31, 2027. Ukrainians who arrived in Canada on or before December 31, 2024 can apply until that deadline for a work permit extension of up to three more years. The move gives CUAET holders added legal time, but it does not convert temporary status into permanent residence. It also keeps the government’s underlying expectation intact: CUAET remains a temporary humanitarian measure tied to a war emergency.

That expectation was stated more directly by Laura Blondeau, communications director for the minister, on February 16, 2026. She said people who came through CUAET already have access to existing permanent residence pathways and that many have used them. She added that IRCC had received thousands of permanent residence applications from Ukrainians across different lines of business. Her comments also repeated Ottawa’s position that CUAET participants are expected to return home once it is safe.

The existing permanent residence options are real, but narrow for many families. A family reunification pathway for Ukrainians with relatives who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents opened in October 2023. Early 2026 changes streamlined processing to reduce legal status gaps. That route helps people with close ties in Canada. It does not answer the problem Baker highlights: Ukrainians who built lives in Canada after arrival but have no qualifying family connection.

Who is left outside the current system

Estimates from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress place that group at more than 100,000 people. Baker’s supporters describe them as workers, students, and parents who are paying rent, filling jobs, and enrolling children in schools while living with an expiry date attached to their status. They can try for economic immigration, but high Comprehensive Ranking System scores in Express Entry make selection difficult, especially for people who fled war and rebuilt their records midstream.

VisaVerge.com reports that this gap between temporary protection and permanent status has become the central issue in Canada’s Ukraine response. CUAET was designed to move fast. It did that. But speed at entry did not solve the later question of settlement. People who arrived in 2022 are now years into Canadian life, and many have moved well beyond the idea of short-term refuge while still lacking a durable immigration outcome.

Baker’s plan is often described informally as a “Baker Pathway.” No legislation or formal program design has been released under that name. What exists is an active political campaign, a petition, and repeated public statements pressing the government to create a one-time route for Ukrainians already in Canada under CUAET. Supporters argue that the standard immigration system was not built for this cohort’s circumstances and should be adjusted to reflect their settlement record.

Developments in the United States

Events in the United States have sharpened the debate. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security extended Temporary Protected Status for Ukraine through October 19, 2026, preserving legal protection for eligible Ukrainians already there. At the same time, official DHS records show the Uniting for Ukraine humanitarian parole program was suspended for new entries on January 27, 2025. Existing parolees have continued seeking asylum, family sponsorship, or other status adjustments.

The comparison is not exact, but the policy pattern is familiar. Both countries created emergency entry tools after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Both are now confronting what happens when a temporary protection model runs into a long war. In Canada, CUAET holders have broader access to work and study permits through extensions. In the United States, TPS offers protection from removal and work authorization, but it does not itself create a green card path.

Cross-border pressure also affects expectations. Some Ukrainians in the United States have looked to Canada as another possible refuge, but the Safe Third Country Agreement largely blocks asylum claims at the land border after entry from the United States. That makes Canada’s internal policy choices for people already admitted under CUAET more consequential. The debate is less about new arrivals now and more about status for the large population already settled inside Canada.

Official pages and next reference points

IRCC’s current Ukraine measures page, available here, remains the main federal reference for settlement support and temporary extensions. The U.S. TPS page for Ukraine is available here. Baker’s petition is listed through the Parliament of Canada petitions portal here. The next test for Ottawa is political, not technical: whether temporary protection for Ukrainians stays temporary, or is recast as a permanent immigration commitment for people already rooted in Canada.