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Alberta has welcomed many Ukrainians since February 2022. Many have worked, enrolled in school, filled labour shortages and rebuilt lives under strain. They deserve a serious discussion about permanence — because temporary status is a shaky foundation on which to raise children, buy a home or plan a career.

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But a proposal to loosen permanent residency rules for Ukrainians by reserving a share of provincial nominations for one nationality moves Canada in the wrong direction. It risks undoing a reform that made our immigration system more legitimate, more competitive and less discriminatory.

Canada deliberately left “country-first” selection behind. Before the 1960s, immigration rules openly allowed officials to prefer some nationalities and exclude others. In 1962, regulations shifted selection toward skills rather than origin.

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