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Trofim Modlyi breathed a sigh of relief.
The 19-year-old, who is from Khabarovsk in eastern Russia, near the border with China, received word in late 2022 that his claim for refugee status in Canada had been accepted.
“I don’t need to worry anymore about going back to Russia. Obviously I feel, like, safe that I don’t need to go to Ukraine and participate in this war,” said Modlyi.
Modlyi was visiting his sister, Valeriia Granillo, in Grande Prairie, Alta., when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Granillo, who moved to Canada in 2012 in search of better opportunities, now works in cancer treatment and is a Canadian citizen.
While he was in Canada, his parents received mandatory notice for him. That’s when Modlyi said he decided to apply for refugee status.
“No chance for me [go] home because I will be planned [into] war, and I don’t want to take part in it. I don’t want to kill innocent people in Ukraine,” he said.
Simon Yu, an immigration and refugee lawyer in Edmonton, worked with Modlyi on the claim. Modlyi was determined by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to be a Convention refugee – a status given to people who are outside their country and cannot return due to “fear of persecution.”
“He and his brother and his parents returned home strongly believing that if he returned there, there would be a strong chance that he would be sent to a conflict zone – he would fight in Ukraine,” the lawyer said.
Yu said the family provided newspaper articles that soldiers were sent to the front line and atrocities committed in Bucha, Ukraine, against civilians at the beginning of the war involving soldiers from the Modlyi region, all in support of the refugee claim.
“It’s a relief for me – and for both of them – because now we know that they don’t need to go back and face the dangers that will come, whether it’s criminal prosecution by the government or being sent to fight in Ukraine,” said Yu.
Claims are back to pre-pandemic levels
The number of refugee claims from people from Russia is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics from the Canadian IRB show that 115 people applied for refugee status between February 24, 2022, the start of the war, and November 30, 2022.
At the same time in 2021, the claims of 47 people were referred to the council, compared to 24 in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and 96 in 2019.
Maria Popova, an associate professor at McGill University in Montreal who specializes in Russian politics, said Russia has had an oppressive regime for at least 10 years targeting political dissidents and LGBTQ individuals.
But he was surprised that the number of refugee claims for 2022 was not higher.
“Launching a war of aggression like the Russian state is doing against Ukraine, I would think that more people would want to leave Russia as a sign of protest,” Popova said.
‘I miss my family’
Granillo, Modlyi’s younger sister, said the decision in favor of her brother’s refugee claim took a lot of weight.
“All this time I thought he was coming back. What would he do?” she said.
But Granillo is clear that’s not how he expects his sister to stay in Canada.
“The price we pay as human beings is too high,” he said, referring to the war. “Now how many people are losing their lives every day?”
As for Modlyi, he has adapted to his new life in Canada. She started working at the local McDonald’s, played volleyball and wanted to go back to school to become a pharmacist.
However, now that his claim has been accepted, Modlyi cannot return to Russia, despite the regime change.
However, Granillo hopes that, one day, he will be able to sponsor his parents to come to Canada so that the family can be reunited.
“I miss my family. My mother and father are still here,” Modlyi said. “That’s the only thing I miss about Russia, but I hope to see you somewhere else.”
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