THE MEN IN SHEEP S KIN COA ts Online Resource By Myra Junyk © 2010 Curriculum Plus By Myra Junyk Editor: Sylvia Gunnery We acknowledge the financial support of The Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities. Curriculum Plus Publishing Company 100 Armstrong Avenue Georgetown, ON L7G 5S4 Toll free telephone 1-888-566-9730 Toll free fax 1-866-372-7371 E-mail
[email protected] www.curriculumplus.ca Background A Summary of the Script Eastern Europe. Writers and speakers were paid to spread exciting The Men in Sheepskin Coats tells the story of the beginning of stories about Western Canada in these countries. Foreign journalists Ukrainian immigration to the Canadian West. Wasyl Eleniak and were brought to Canada so that they could promote the country Ivan Pylypiw, the first “men in sheepskin coats,” came to Canada when they returned home. from the province of Galicia in Ukraine on September 7, 1891. Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and Minister of the Interior Clifford One of the main groups that responded to the advertising campaign Sifton wanted to build a strong Canada by promoting immigration. was the Ukrainians. In 1895, the Ukranians did not have a country Doctor Joseph Oleskiw encouraged Ukrainian farmers such as Ivan of their own. Some of them lived in the provinces of the Austro- Nimchuk and his family to come to Canada. Many other Ukrainians Hungarian Empire while others lived under the Tsar of Russia. Their followed them. rulers spoke other languages and had customs that seemed strange. The small farmers of the province of Galicia in Western Ukraine felt Settlement of the Canadian West crushed by the Polish overlords.