Alena Matushina
Macleans, May 25, 2022
“My biggest fear right now is that I will be going through this whole application for permanent residency, which takes about a year, and I’ll pay over a thousand dollars for it, only to then apply for jobs and get a refusal letter because I can’t speak fluent French. I’m worried.”
Unable to return to her studies in China due to COVID-19, Russian native Alena Matushina, 27, found a new home in Montreal. But her plans of settling in the predominantly French-speaking city may have to change with the implementation of Quebec’s Bill 96, which was passed by the provincial legislature on Tuesday. The bill will make far-reaching reforms to various publicly owned sectors in an effort to affirm French as the province’s official language. The bill will also force immigrants to communicate with the government solely in French six months after they arrive in the province. With the current political climate in her home country, neither Russia nor Quebec appear to be viable living options for Matushina.
—As told to Tara De Boer
I left Russia in 2013 to study in England, then I went to China in 2014, which is where I met my boyfriend, who is from Montreal (we were both international students at the time). When the pandemic started, I decided to come to Montreal in 2021 and stay with him and his parents. Having not been able to go home to Russia, I started to consider Montreal as a place to build a home.
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