Ukrainians in Canada

The Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre’s backyard was transformed into a sunflower-filled Ukrainian Village with Baba’s House, traditional costumes, and colourful decorations made by the residents. Yvan Baker, MPP for Etobicoke Centre opened the event for over 270 family members, residents, volunteers, staff and the community who enjoyed the strolling musicians, food, music, games and prizes, donated by over 30 local businesses and volunteers. The BBQ kicked off the Care Centre’s participation in this year’s October 19, 2014 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, our largest annual one day fundraiser, sponsored by Cardinal Funeral Homes Ltd. The afternoon created awareness and sparked interest in those who want to have fun and walk or run to raise funds for the quality of life for our seniors. Contact Anna Denkova at 647-725-0843 to...

Meeting in conclave in Banff, Alta., on Oct. 19, members of the executive of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) discussed a wide range of projects it recently completed or will be moving forward with in the year ahead. After first noting the successes of Project CTO, which saw the simultaneous unveiling of 115 plaques across Canada recalling the internment operations of 1914-1920, the group noted the opening of the "Enemy Aliens" exhibit the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) helped curate at the Canadian War Museum. This exhibit will, it is hoped, travel to a number of cities across Canada during the next several years, bringing further attention to the experience of Ukrainians and other Europeans unjustly imprisoned and forced to do heavy labour for the profit of their jailers during...

You just couldn’t miss them on the street. Some 250 individuals each wearing a vyshyvanka marched in the North End in celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day. Their route took them from Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral (McGregor & Stella) to the Shevchenko Park (McGregor and Burrows), then to St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (Burrows & Sinclair), finally ending at the Institute Prosvita Hall (Pritchard & Arlington). A vyshyvanka, the familiar dress code for many Ukrainian celebrations, is a Ukrainian top (e. g. shirt, blouse, T-shirt, hoody) with Ukrainian embroidery ornamentation. Based on the traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt of rural folk apparel, it has been successfully adapted to...

On Saturday, September 20, 2014, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress - Manitoba Provincial Council (UCC-MPC) held the inaugural Bulava Award Recognition Luncheon at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg before a sold-out crowd. The Bulava (pronounced boulahvah) was a type of mace consisting of a handle and sphere-shaped head. It was widely used in Ukraine, first as a weapon and then as a symbol of authority. In the 16th–18th century Cossack officers bestowed the bulava on the elected leader or hetman. More recently, the Bulava has come to be seen as an enduring symbol of leadership and commitment in the community and, hence, the aptly named Bulava Award. In Canada, a ceremonial mace is the symbol of the authority of the...

On September 23, 2014 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre over 500 people gathered to witness the world premiere of the long-awaited film - Music of Survival, The Story of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chrous. The 60-minute documentary film was produced and directed by Emmy and Genie award winning Canadian filmmaker, and Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus alumnus, Orest Sushko. Through Mr. Sushko’s powerful and reverent lens, the film tells the story of seventeen members of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus who survived the most horrific times in the history of the modern world – World War II. Their story of defying the odds to carry their gift of music across the ocean to freedom is revealed, often poignantly, by the two surviving...

A Canadian postage stamp to honour Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko has been issued in March by the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Toronto. The Government of Canada in the 1980s appointed Andrew Gregorovich to the Postage Stamp Design Committee of Canada Post. This inspired him in 2013 to propose the Canadian Government issue a Shevchenko stamp to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the poet. The Government declined because he was not a citizen of Canada. As President of the Taras Shevchenko Museum Mr. Gregorovich, together with Museum Director Lyudmyla Pogoryelova, designed and organized a postage stamp issued by Canada Post which can be used...

A civic committee broke with policy this morning and opted to designate an honorary street name change for a 200-year period. Members of the property and development committee unanimously agreed to have the one-block stretch of Aberdeen Avenue, between Main Street and the Red River, to be known as Honorary Taras Shevchenko Way. The honorary designation was made at the request of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate, an Ukrainian Catholic order of nuns, which owns all the private property on that portion of Aberdeen, including the...

In 2013 the third Holodomor Writing Competition was held under the auspices of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). This year’s competition, advertised across the country resulted in 26 accepted submissions from many parts of Canada including Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, North Battleford, Ottawa, Yorkton and Mississauga. This was also the first time that the competition was promoted in Canadian school boards, and the Toronto Holodomor Education Team is pleased to announce that some of the entries from non-Ukrainians received honourable mentions. The Holodomor Writing Competition was open to high school students 14 to 19 years of age. Using historical facts of the 1932-33 Holodomor in Ukraine, students were able to choose to submit an entry in any of the...

The Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union (SUSK) supported an English language education program in Ternopil, Ukraine, led by SUSK alumnus Taras Maluzynsky (Vice-President Prairies, 1981-1983). Taras is an experienced teacher from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over the last two years, Taras has been spending part of his summers in Ternopil, Ukraine, where he teaches children English. This year’s course ran from July 14 through to August 1. As a side-project of the SUSK “Hope/Надія” Shevchenko t-shirt initiative, we partnered to ensure SUSK Shevchenko t-shirts were part of Taras’ English language program. Children aged 6-15 participated in the English language program, which is offered free-of-charge at the Ternopil Children’s Library #5. Participants learned English through interactive lessons, including speaking, listening, reading...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the War Measures Act — adopted on August 22, 1914 during the First World War. It was used to imprison Ukrainian-Canadians and other ethnic groups into one ofCanada’s 24 internment camps. Today we are marking 100 years sinceCanada’s first national internment operations began with a "wave" of plaque unveilings. Starting in Amherst, Nova Scotia, and ending in Nanaimo, British Columbia, two of the 24 sites where Ukrainians and other Europeans were imprisoned as "enemy aliens" during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920, this is the first-ever time in Canadian history that 100 plaques have been unveiled on the same date and time across the country...