After months on P.E.I., some Ukrainians struggling to find jobs despite qualifications
CBC
Tetiana Lysak and her two-year-old daughter arrived on Prince Edward Island in the fall.
At the time, she thought she would have no trouble finding a job. She has two master's degrees, one in linguistics and another in tourism and hospitality. She also had years of experience working as an interpreter in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.
But after six months on P.E.I., Lysak still can't find work. She said she sent her resumé to a number of local employers, but didn't get any responses.
"Now I'm getting desperate," she said.
"I'm getting to a point that I will be happy to take any job, like anything, because I need to feed my daughter."
Lysak is not alone.
Nikita Shupov came to the Island in June with his wife and their four children. They previously had to spend some time in Europe, after Russia's invasion forced the family to flee.
Shupov has about 15 years of experience in motion graphics design, having worked with many Ukrainian television stations.
Soon after arriving on P.E.I., he found contract work in his field with a local company, but that contract ended in October.
Shupov has been looking for work in Canada for the past five months. While he's applied for positions across the country, he said he hasn't heard back about any of them.
"I don't know why," he said.
The issue is not unique to the Ukrainian community, said Yvette Doucette, information services co-ordinator with the Immigrant & Refugee Services Association (IRSA) P.E.I.
"There's a problem finding work across the board," she said.
IRSA clients who landed in P.E.I. in 2022 came from over 50 different countries.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.