Ukrainian Canadians: 200 Years of History – Highly Organized Community

By Andrew Gregorovich

The following excerpt is the continuation of a lecture delivered by Andrew Gregorovich at St. Vladimir Institute, Toronto, in October 2011 in celebration of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. Previous excerpts were printed in The New Pathway on the War of 1812 and the Ukrainian community’s pre-history in North America before 1891, and on the four waves of immigration to Canada.

Ukrainian Canadians are a highly organized community with hundreds of organizations across the country coordinated by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The Taras Shevchenko Foundation in Winnipeg has supported Ukrainian culture in Canada with millions of dollars in grants.

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) located at the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto has published a substantial number of books relating to Ukraine and its history.

The Ukrainian Catholic and the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in Canada actively contribute to the spiritual and cultural life of the community. Many cities across Canada have Ukrainian churches distinguished by the architecture of their distinctive baroque cupolas and their three bar, diagonal bottom bar, Ukrainian Cross.

The Ukrainian press, books and bookstores in Canada have played an important role in preserving the Ukrainian language and heritage since 1902. There are Ukrainian libraries and museums in cities like Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver. Toronto has a Taras Shevchenko Museum on Bloor St. West and I established there the world’s first Shevchenko internet site on Infoukes. 

Across Canada many monuments and historical plaques have been erected to preserve the Ukrainian experience in Canada. For example, there is a large Ukrainian pioneer monument in front of the Alberta Legislature and one at Hamilton City Hall. The “world’s biggest pysanka” (Ukrainian Easter Egg)) is in Vegreville, Alberta and is on a 2009 Canadian postage stamp. The huge Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, East of Elk Island National Park in Alberta is an impressive tourist attraction with its many Ukrainian buildings from the early 1900s. There is a monument of the great Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko on the Manitoba Legislature grounds in Winnipeg and another Shevchenko monument in Ottawa. A Lesia Ukrainka monument is in Toronto’s High Park. There are many other Ukrainian monuments across Canada. Ukrainian Canadian plaques are in the Ontario Legislature and in the National Library of Canada.

Toronto first attracted Ukrainians a century ago in 1900. However, the first Ukrainian Torontonian was probably Charles George Horetzky who came in the 1880s. He built a home in Toronto which is still standing on Bedford Rd north of Bloor and I designated it a Toronto historical site when I was Chairman of the Toronto Historical Board. I also designated St Josaphat’s Cathedral as a Toronto historical site with a plaque because it is the oldest Ukrainian building in the city.

Now Ukrainians number over 100,000 and are concentrated in West Toronto and Mississauga. The community has over 150 organizations to serve its social, spiritual, educational, economic, and cultural needs. In addition to two dozen churches there are credit unions, cultural centers and other buildings serving the community. For example, the St. Vladimir Institute at 620 Spadina Ave., which has a statue of King Volodymyr the Saint in front, is a university student residence. It has a library and a museum. The Ukrainian National Federation is on Evans Ave. and has the oldest Ukrainian library. The Ukrainian Cultural Centre on Christie St. is a major hall of the League of Ukrainian Canadians. The community has two Ukrainian bookstores Koota Ooma and Bukva. Ukrainians have been important in Toronto business. For example, George Cukornyk was a co-founder of the Harvey’s hamburger chain.

The Ukrainian World Congress and the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations have their headquarters in Toronto at the UNF Hall on Evans Ave. A wonderful monument of Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrainka is in the middle of High Park. There is a historical plaque on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds on the street in front of the Stanley Barracks marking the internment of over 5,000 Ukrainian Canadians in WWI. There is a Ukrainian Canadian Memorial Park at Eglinton Ave. and Scarlett Rd. where the community commemorates Remembrance Day every November. Every year there are two festivals: The Ukrainian Canadian Congress celebrates Ukraine’s August 24, 1991 Independence Day in Centennial Park. The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival, organized by Jurij Klufas, is the largest Ukrainian street festival in North America and is celebrated in September.

The Government of Ontario in 2009 unanimously recognized the 1932-33 Holodomor Famine in Ukraine perpetrated by Stalin and Kaganovich as genocide. The Government of Ontario also unanimously established Ukrainian Heritage Day on September 7 and the first one was held in 2011. Steve Peters, of Ukrainian ancestry, is the Speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly and participated.

Ukrainian culture is represented in Toronto by many choirs and folk dance groups. Christmas is celebrated by many Ukrainian Torontonians on January 7 by the old Julian calendar preceded by a 12 dish [holy dinner] Sviata Vechera the previous day. Carolers visit many homes and collect donations for church and other organizations to help finance their activities. Easter by the same calendar varies from the ordinary date usually from the same date to one month later depending on church calculations. On Easter morning families bring a basket of food for blessing which many decorate with exquisite miniature works of art, the Ukrainian Easter Eggs known as pysankas.

The Ukrainian Canadian community is a highly organized community and has had considerable influence in Ukraine’s early independence. Many Ukrainian Canadians were advisors to the Government of Ukraine. Our research information, for instance, on the 1932-1933 Holodomor Ukrainian Famine Genocide with millions of victims perpetrated by Stalin and Lazar Kaganovich, has been valuable to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Leonid Krawchuk once told me that it was thanks to Ukrainians in Canada that the memory of the Famine Genocide was preserved.

In conclusion, we cay say that Toronto has one of the most dynamic and powerful Ukrainian communities in the world and is a twin city of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

Andrew Gregorovich is a Librarian Emeritus of the University of Toronto. Currently, he is President of the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Toronto, and President of the Ukrainian Librarians Association. He is also former Executive Director of the Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre, former Chairman of the Toronto Historical Board, and a past President of the Ontario Library Association.

The last in a series of excerpts of Andrew Gregorovich’s lecture Ukrainian Canadians: 200 Years of History … will appear later this summer as the year celebrating the 120^th Anniversary of Ukrainian Settlement in Canada (1891-2011) comes to a close.

 PHOTOS

1 - Monument of Volodymyr the Great in Toronto

2 - Monument of Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrainka in High Park, Toronto