The Ukrainian Migration

In the late 1890s through to 1914, overpopulation and an overbearing government stimulated Ukrainians to consider Canada's offer of $10/160 acres in the prairies. The soil was fertile and profitable, though the winters were bitter.

Through that period, 170,000 Ukrainians emigrated to Canada. Virtually all lived in rural sections of Canada's west.

Ukrainian pioneer settlers Semen Yanick and his wife, Tatiana, surrounded by their children in Oakburn, Manitoba, c. 1895. 

Many of those immigrants had escaped the Austro-Hungarian Empire when coming to Canada. But, because of their association with the Empire, 80,000 people were forced to register as Enemy Aliens, requiring them to report to police regularly and carry government papers. More than 8,500 of them--women, men, and children--were interred. Those naturalized for less than fifteen years lost their right to vote.

Of the remains, though, many became soldiers to protect Canada, many with distinction.

Their bilingual schools, English and Ukrainian, were also closed to encourage assimilation.

After the war, private schools were created to support the language and the retention of their culture: literature, folk and church music, and dance became robust. Leaders became members of parliamentand publishers, and participated in the country's higher leadership.

Morrissey Internment Camp, BC, c. 1916-18

An apology for the internment was made in 2005 by the Canadian government, and a fund was set up to support the ongoing support of Ukrainian heritage in Canada.

A second wave of immigration came after the Great War, when the country's western section was divided and placed under Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovakian rule. The neighbouring Russia was unstable and threatening, then invaded.

Another 70,000 Ukrainians emigrated to Canada, this time a more varied assortment of families, including both farmers and professionals.

Michael Luchkovich ran as a UFA candidate and was elected to the House of Commons in the 1926 federal election in the riding of Vegreville, becoming the first Ukrainian-born Member of Parliament.

Though first chased out by the Germans in 1941, Russia returned and annexed western Ukraine after WW II. That caused a third wave of political refugees to Canada, though these divided more between rural areas the cities. More settled in Ontario and Quebec.

Ukrainian Performers in Canada, 1918.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, causing disruption, tens of thousands of highly educated Ukrainians fled to Canada.

Alas, the current war with Russia has displaced more than seven million residents, the largest number of refugees fleeing Europe since World War II. Canada has opened its arms to the fleeing Ukrainians, welcoming more than 100,000 in the first ten months of 2022. And they keep coming.

Now in 2026, more than four per cent of Canada's population is of Ukrainian descent.

Dutch or Ukrainian - All the same in new school.

Representing The Netherlands, six-year old Betty Luiting (left) shows off her Dutch wooden clogs to Natalie Krispinovich, dressed in Ukrainian costume.

The girls took part in ceremonies marking the official opening of Old Orchard Public School, Toronto, March 4, 1957.

Find more detail about the migration in The Canadian Encyclopedia.

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