Opposition MPs Criticize Cuts at Kyiv Embassy

By Olena Wawryshyn

The Conservative Government has cut 30 per cent of the staff at the Canadian embassy in Kyiv, prompting criticism from opposition MPs and Ukrainian- Canadian organizations.

The cuts came to the Ukrainian-Canadian community’s attention on October 5 when Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj issued a press release  condemning the government’s decision to eliminate three of ten embassy staff positions.

“This summer I was receiving increasing numbers of calls and e-mails from frustrated constituents and Canadians across the country who were unable to get their relatives and friends to come to Canada for family visits, weddings, christening and, regrettably, even funerals. It turns out that this is a consequence of aggressive cuts to the staff at Canada’s embassy in Ukraine by Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government,” said Wrzesnewskyj.

“The cutting of three immigration officers further demonstrates Immigration Minister Solberg’s attitude when it comes to potential immigration from Ukraine,” Wrzesnewskyj added.

NDP MP Park Peggy Nash, who is the Vice Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Committee, also criticized the cuts. “It’s a step in the wrong direction,” said Nash.

“When I have met with the Ukrainian community in Canada they have told me they would like to see more resources at the Canadian embassy, not less.  And, because there were so many years when there were very few immigrants coming to Canada from Ukraine, that there hasn’t been a normal period of immigration, and there is a desire to increase immigration,” she said.

Nash said that the cuts are something that “we would like to see reversed” and the issue “will be on the agenda” at one of the upcoming meetings of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Committee.

When asked why the cuts were made, Melanie Carkner, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said: “Each year, CIC evaluates its network of visa offices and makes staff adjustments as needed.” 

“[The] application process [for visas] should not be affected, because cuts were made according to productivity studies, positions could be realigned without a significant change or drop in service standards,” she said.

The President of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, Michael Wawryshyn has, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Monte Solberg, questioned how staff cuts could result in anything but a decline in service.

“We were informed that even though the staff cuts were indeed taken, the efficiency in processing both visa and immigration applications would actually increase in spite of the reduction in staff. We find this explanation difficult to comprehend, since a similar cut in personnel at the Kyiv office seven or eight years ago resulted in a decline in service,” Wawryshyn said in the letter.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) is another organization that is questioning the cuts.  “While the UCC has not made a formal statement on the cuts specifically, UCC maintains that the staffing at the embassy is inadequate to the work that needs to be done there,” said UCC Executive Director Ostap Skrypnyk.

In June 2006, a delegation, consisting of the UCC President Orysia Sushko, UCC Ontario Provincial Council President John Pidkowich and Toronto broadcaster Jurij Klufas, met Solberg to discuss various issues, including problems with visa and immigration processing at the Kyiv embassy.

According to the UCC, at the meeting with Solberg, they urged “the Government of Canada to provide the necessary staffing and resources to alleviate the administration bottlenecks at the Canadian embassy in Kyiv, so that applications currently in the system, as well as new ones, can be processed efficiently and without delay.”

Despite the recommendations made by the UCC in June, the staff cuts were made in July and September of 2006.