This is part of the story Welcome to CanadaA CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of people who experienced it.
Oleg Redko came to Canada in 2022 to escape the war in Ukraine, while Parth Shah came to Canada from India with dreams of prosperity and special education.
Both had an image of what Canada would be like, but soon after arriving, they had experiences that shattered their sense of security in the new country.
“I was going to the metro station when somebody got stabbed and then people were running away,” Radko said.
“For me, it was kind of a shock because I imagined for many years, I knew that Canada was one of the safest countries in the world, one of the best countries in the world.”
Shah, who came from India to study design in Toronto in 2021, said that he too had an experience that shattered the perception of Canada as a safe place.
“I've lived in three big cities before, all of them in India,” he said.
“And sadly, it's the most insecure I've ever felt.”
As more newcomers immigrate to Canada in hopes of finding safety, a new survey reports nearly a third of newcomers to Ontario report feeling safe in their home country.
1,500 adult Canadian residents participated in the Pollara survey commissioned by CBC News between November 1 and 18, 2024. They all arrived in Canada within the last 10 years.
Most of the newcomers to Ontario who participated said they felt safer here than back home, with 29 percent of newcomers to Ontario saying they felt safer in their previous country of residence than in Canada.
Nationally, 23 percent of all survey respondents said they felt less safe in Canada than in their homeland.
Like Red, Shah says he's seen violence on the TTC but also had an uncomfortable experience studying in a library where he was bullied by a random person.
“This guy walks by and he points at me and says, 'I know what you are and I'm going to beat you up,'” he said.
Shah said the man was displaying a rainbow sticker on his laptop.
It's like “you come here with this rubbish and ruin our culture”.
What was most shocking to Shah was that no one intervened in the packed library, until one of the librarians told the man to leave.
As more newcomers immigrate to Canada in hopes of finding safety, a new survey finds one-third of newcomers to Ontario feel safe in their home country. CBC's Talia Ricci spoke with new artists from Ukraine and India about some of the challenges they faced after moving to Canada.
Safety concerns driven by various factors
Those who work with newcomers to the Greater Toronto Area say that feelings of fear and anxiety go beyond physical safety and are fueled by factors as diverse as unsafe housing and economic insecurity.
“Especially in the last two years we've seen a lot of new arrivals, especially refugees, they were living in very precarious conditions,” said Kazi Hassan, director of newcomer programs at Woodgreen Community Services.
“They didn't have housing, they didn't have food or hygiene materials and it was really a crisis situation.”
Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO of Indus Community Services, which works with South Asian newcomers, said he has heard from international students living in houses with 20 others.
Another concern is “unscrupulous employers” taking advantage of the precarious situation of newcomers, forcing them to work without pay or withholding their passports, Malhotra said.
“That's the kind of anxiety that we're seeing, the kind of fear that's generated in that particular new community.”
When placed in those difficult situations, newcomers often feel that if they speak out, they could lose their housing or employment, which is hard to come by, he said.
“If they are not with you, but they are known or have been with a friend or colleague, then you are worried that you cannot fight back, push back against that mean employer, that is too aggressive. The landlord, because what you have to lose is too big .”
Looking to the future, newcomers and advocates hope to see better planning and more support from all levels of government.
Hassan says while organizations like Woodgreen need more resources to keep up with demand, there's also power in the community.
“Give them the feeling that they're not here alone. You're not here alone, you're here together.”
