Ukrainians in Canada

Blood of Our Soil, by Edmonton’s Lianna Makuch and presented by Pyretic Productions in association with Punctuate! Theatre at the Tarragon Extraspace, is based on her grandmother’s journal accounts of fleeing Ukraine during the Second World War. Like a carefully-preserved box of mementos, the play feels like a discovery of buried treasure. It has been in development for years, and the writing and production have been meticulously, finely honed in that time by the playwright/director Patrick Lundeen, and dramaturg Matthew Mackenzie (writer of the Dora-winning Bears, currently at Factory)...

The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium’s (HREC) Director of Education, who is also the Chair of the National Holodomor Education Committee (NHEC) of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Valentina Kuryliw, is an honoree of the Ukrainian World Congress’s (UWC) highest accolade – the St. Volodymyr the Great medal. The medal was introduced in 1988 to acknowledge individuals for their special and significant contributions to the development of the Ukrainian community in the diaspora and/or Ukraine. Kuryliw was amongst 8 Canadians honoured “for a special contribution to promoting the image of the UWC, the development of Ukrainian community life in the diaspora, and support of Ukraine...

Many of today’s Ukrainian customs come to us from ancient times. In fact Ukrainian customs date from pre-Christian days. When Ukraine accepted Christianity in 988 AD, it was much simpler to incorporate the ideals of Christianity into the existing way of life, a life that was based on agriculture. After the official introduction of Christianity by Prince Volodymyr the Great, many of the folk customs and rites have been accepted by the church, and adapted to the spirit of the Christian religion. The most important and colourful part of Ukrainian Christmas traditions is the actual Christmas Eve, or Sviat Vechir, which revolves around the twelve course Lenten supper. This is a family affair or...

The boards of three Ukrainian Canadian foundations and Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies are proud to announce the Professor Manoly R. Lupul Endowment to Advance Ukrainian Language Education, co-founded to support programs in Alberta and beyond through the activities of the Ukrainian Language Education Centre (ULEC) at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta. This unique initiative has been undertaken jointly by the Alberta Foundation for Ukrainian Language Education Society (AFUES; Vlodko Boychuk, President), the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS; Olga Kuplowska, President), and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF; Victor Hetmanczuk, President)...

On Saturday, September 1, 2018, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) together with its partners, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial”, launched the international action “Light a candle of remembrance!” to mark the 85th anniversary of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, the Holodomor. It is the first of September that marks 85 days before the Holodomor Remembrance Day. Throughout 85 days until International Holodomor Memorial Day on November 24, 2018, a candle will be lit daily in a different part of the world uniting Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine in remembrance of the innocent victims of the genocidal policy of the Stalin regime, while raising awareness of the issues of human rights, respect and tolerance...

On August 8, 2018 nine Ukrainian cyclists from the cycling tour “Chumak Way” entered Hamilton after being received by a crowd of well-wishers in Toronto the previous evening. The cyclists for peace as they are referred to were greeted by the Ukrainian community at the hall of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church. During their stop the group shared the reasons behind their cross-continent tour and had the opportunity to answer questions from the crowd. The “Chumak Way” is an organized 10,000 km North American cycling tour which began in Los Angeles on May 22, 2018. It crossed into Canada from Washington State on June 13. Some of the...

The Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) of Canada turned 70 years old this year. On 4 July 1948 the first branch of CYM was opened in Toronto. Seventy years later, it has a membership of over 800 people and includes branches across Canada, from Montreal in the east and Calgary in the west. CYM began in 1929 as a literary club for 45 conscious Ukrainians in Kyiv. All of the members were arrested by the Bolshevik secret police for anti-Soviet activism and placed on trial in Kharkiv. Every one of those sentenced during this trial would later die for the work they did in CYM. Mykola Pavlushkov, a student of the Kyiv Institute of People’s Education, was the founder of this small organization. He was tried alongside his uncle, Serhiy Yefremov, in Kharkiv in 1930 and was placed in isolation in political concentration camps. He was then transferred to the...

In long, drawn out conflicts such as the war in eastern Ukraine, a challenge diaspora communities often face is staying connected and engaged with their brethren thousands of miles away. As donor fatigue begins to set in, the urgency of the situation slowly dissipates and everyday life retakes centre stage. But every so often we are jolted back into the reality that a war is happening on Europe’s doorstep. We are reminded that everyday people are killed and wounded, and although the wounded survivors are deemed the “lucky ones,” one has to wonder how lucky they are to live with horrific injuries, both physical and psychological, that will forever dictate how the...

Sam Lawrence Park sits along the escarpment in Hamilton with clear views of downtown and Burlington Bay. On the evening of 18 February 2018 the sky was clear and the air was brisk. The Ukrainian community was commemorating the Heavenly Hundred by lighting candles that were formed into a “100” symbol and placed alongside the Ukrainian national flag. The Heavenly Hundred is comprised of more than one hundred people who were killed by the Ukrainian Berkut Special Forces during the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. At first, the Revolution was a push for European integration of Ukraine and by the end was a manifest of the Ukrainian people’s deep distrust and dislike of Yanukovych, who governed in a corrupt and brutal way. Yanukovych fled the country shortly after the deaths of hundreds on the capital’s Independence Square, the maidan, and is now in hiding in Russia...

On February 22 the Ukrainian Canadian community welcomed the announcement by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, of a three-year grant valued at $1.45 million to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom "the HMC". The funding announcement was made in Toronto by Arif Virani (MP, Parkdale - High Park), Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly. The HMC is a state-of-the-art interactive audio-visual learning centre geared to high schools, universities and the public. The Tour and the HMC educates Canadian students, community leaders and the public about the events of the horrific Holodomor Famine-Genocide in Ukraine 1932-33, and its relevance to the world today. Since its launch in 2015, the HMC has toured Canada from coast to coast. Over 25,000 people including more than 18,000 students and educators have visited the HMC, learning about the values of multiculturalism, diversity, human rights and respect for human dignity...