‘You cannot pour from an empty cup.' Immigrants sending money back home face financial and emotional stress

Globe and Mail

27-05-2025

When Eliz Maiboroda came to Canada, she was already used to living far from home.
The Ukraine-born marketing executive started her career helping Ukrainian businesses establish trade relationships with China, travelling around Asia, Europe and North America in the process. She was living in Prague, just about to expand her business across central Europe, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
'I could let the pain consume me completely, or turn this pain into purpose,' Ms. Maiboroda says of the emotional impact of the devastation in her native country.
Today, Ms. Maiboroda is chief marketing officer at Sunrise Neuro Acupuncture Integrative Clinic in Ottawa and provides marketing consultation services to other businesses. Her paycheques don't just go into her own bank account, however. Ms. Maiboroda sends money back home to Ukraine, helping her family buy things like medicine – the prices of which have hiked up since the war – supporting friends who are fighting on the front lines and donating to animal shelters.
'You cannot think only about yourself,' Ms. Maiboroda says. 'You always have to think about the local Canadian community – the country that's now my home – and of course, the family that is left behind.'
Ms. Maiboroda is not alone in sending money abroad; in 2024, one in five Canadians sent money internationally. And while these funds are typically sent with love and care, it can be logistically difficult, financially challenging and emotionally stressful. A 2023 study by Western Union found that nearly two in five migrants living in Canada believe their friends or family would be in poverty if it wasn't for them sending regular payments back home.
Hanna Zaidi, vice-president of payment strategy and chief compliance officer for payments at Wealthsimple, sends money to her family abroad almost every month. Born and raised in Mississauga, Ms. Zaidi's mother is Pakistani and her father is Iranian. She also provides for loved ones in Canada.
'There's this unspoken responsibility not just to succeed in your career, but to lift others up as you do, especially as a woman,' Ms. Zaidi says.
Growing up, Ms. Zaidi witnessed her parents grapple with sending money internationally, from high transaction fees to a lack of certainty about whether the money would be received. 'It's complicated, it's unreliable, and it's often unsafe, depending on the political tensions in countries like Pakistan or Iran,' she says.
Currently, Canadians can transfer funds to other countries through banks or money transfer companies. Depending on the organization, costs may include flat fees, percentage fees or foreign exchange markups, which can add up.
It's a challenge that inspired Ms. Zaidi to pursue a career in financial technology. She says that she and her Wealthsimple team are working on a new product with more competitive rates for sending money back home. 'This work is personal – the system we're trying to challenge is not built for families like mine.'
She adds that while there is a career 'inflection point' after which you can financially support others, 'you need to focus on furthering your career and your needs first – otherwise you're not going to be able to help anybody.'
Ms. Zaidi points to career mentorship as one way to help first and second-generation immigrants support themselves and their families. A 2020 report by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council found a gap in mentorship opportunities for Canadian newcomers – something that Ms. Zaidi says she has experienced as the child of immigrants.
'Most immigrants don't have established networks to fall back on, which makes financial security and career growth harder to achieve,' she says, which in turn makes supporting dependants back home more difficult.
Prominent mentorship programs created specifically for immigrants include the Mentoring Partnership at the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) and MentorConnect at the Immigrant Employment Council of B.C.
Aronke Emmanuel is the co-lead of Nigerian Mums in Ontario, a non-profit organization supporting Nigerian immigrant mothers and children (part of Carleton University's Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub). With around 1600 members, Nigerian Mums in Ontario offers in-person and digital community events and networking opportunities, information sessions on everything from career growth to government grants and business loans, as well as mentorship and investment opportunities.
Ms. Emmanuel says many of her organization's members send money home to their parents monthly. '[It's] why some people have taken on extra business or jobs, just to make sure that they have extra income to give away.' After paying bills and sending money abroad, she says, some members may not have savings left over for themselves.
It's essential that people stabilize themselves and their immediate families before supporting family abroad, she says. To help members do that, Nigerian Mums in Ontario offers rotational savings: a form of peer-to-peer banking where members pool money together – for example, $200 a month each – and take turns withdrawing the total accumulated sum.
Since starting rotational savings in 2023, Ms. Emmanuel says the community has transacted around $2-million in financial relief, supporting members with everything from down payments to medical expenses.
She adds that financial and emotional self-care is essential when supporting loved ones far away.
'If you must provide support, make sure that you yourself are very well supported,' Ms. Emmanuel says. 'You cannot pour from an empty cup.'
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