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4 УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ ГОЛОС • UKRAINIAN VOICE – 12 ВЕРЕСНЯ 2016 Р. CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF UKRAINIAN HERITAGE sandy and rocky soil better for mixed farming than for grain. Others tried the Interlake, where they found com - munity with Icelandic settlers. People then began to go west to the area around Riding Mountain National Park, popu - lating towns like Dauphin, Oakburn, Rossburn and Gilbert Plains. Not all Ukrainians came to farm, Ye - Tony Zerucha reniuk cautioned. They were attracted by the urban setting and often found work at one of the railways and hous - nIt’s an important year for the 1.4 mil - ing nearby. lion Ukrainians in Canada as they cel - "Point Douglas and the Weston- ebrate both the 125th anniversary of Brook lands area were the cultural cen - Ukrainian immigration to Canada and tres for Ukrainians," Yereniuk said. the 25th anniversary of Ukrainian in - "The shortest way to go from one com - dependence. Events are planned across munity to the other to see a concert or the pro vince. another event was to walk along the Dr. Roman Yereniuk said Ukrainian railway tracks. migration to Canada can be separated "The first wave were really risk-tak - Teacher Yuriy Genyk poses with a class in front of the Ukrainian National Home Asso cia - into four distinct waves. Yereniuk is an ers. They were young, full of energy, tion’s Ridna Shkola, or heritage school, in this 1916 photo. The building at the corner of Burrows Avenue and McGregor Street is still standing. associate professor at St. Andrew’s Col - and wanted to see the world." lege and a sessional instructor at the PHOTO FROM THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL HOME OF WINNIPEG PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, Taming the land and learning a new PC 331. U OF M ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Uni versity of Manitoba’s Centre for language and culture were not the only Uk rainian Studies. challenges those risk takers faced. From and five million Ukrainians perished This opened doors to many profes - The first wave: 1891-1913 1914 to 1920, some 8,000 Uk rain ians during the Holodomor, the Ukrainian sions, though not the entire way. The first wave began in 1891 and and other citizens of the Aus tro- word for "extermination by hunger". "I’d say it was harder for a newly gra - end ed on the eve of the First World Hungarian empire were forced into Re cognized as a genocide by Canada duated Ukrainian-Canadian lawyer to War. In 1891, Russia controlled the cen - internment camps due to fears of loy - and more than one dozen other coun - get a job with a big firm," Yereniuk said. tral and eastern portions of Uk raine alty to Canada’s enemy in the First tries, the Holodomor is viewed by most "Many formed their own smaller one." while the Austro-Hungarian em pire World War. historians as an attempt by Sta linist The third wave was less interested in reigned in the west. Western Uk rainians The second wave: 1920-1931 Russia to nullify the Ukrain ian inde - agriculture, Yereniuk said. More were made up most of that initial wave. The second wave of Ukrainian im - pendence movement through the from the middle class and better edu - "Under the Austro-Hungarian em - migration occurred between 1920 and elimination of its middle class. cated. Some were professionals but fa - pire there was a pretty liberal policy for 1931. On average, they were better edu - The third wave: 1948-1955 ced obstacles once they attempted to people to leave," Yereniuk explained. cated. They also branched out into a The third wave began at the end of re-establish themselves in Canada. And plenty did. Most Ukrainian far - wider range of occupations. the Second World War at a time when "You didn’t know the language so ming families were large, but only had Most still came to farm the 160 acres Ukrainians were scattered across cen - you took a menial job," Yereniuk said. small plots of land to cultivate at home. of land, but found themselves with so - tral and western Europe. Within five For some those menial jobs were tem - "There was no way they could survi - me free time in the winter so they took years Ukraine had been taken over by porary measures, Yereniuk said. They ve into the next generation," Yere niuk on seasonal work such as lumber har - the Soviet Union, Germany, and the learned English and attended uni ver - said. Enticed by free land in Can ada, vesting. With reputations as hard work - So viet Union again. sity, graduating and establishing a pre - the se hliboroby (farmers) travelled to ers, Ukrainians also found jobs in mi - "They are sometimes referred to as sence in many professions including at Ger many before sailing to Halifax and nes and with railways. political refugees," Yereniuk said. "Ma ny the new school of social work at the taking the train to Winnipeg, which "They earned decent money and we - came from Austria, Germany, Belgi um University of Manitoba. play ed a key role, "sort of a transition re good workers. A lot would work the and a little from Holland. Either the Ger - Ukrainians in Winnipeg today point," Yereniuk said. 10-hour day and not complain." mans brought them out of the Ukraine The final wave started in the late After arriving at the CP station on For some, a condition of accessing to work in the farms or they escaped." 1980s and was smaller than any of the Higgins Avenue and Main Street, peo - that wider pool of opportunity meant The initial lack of a Canadian im - first three, with roughly 8,500 people ple crossed Main to an immigration compromise, Yereniuk said. migration policy forced many Ukrain - and their families settling in Winnipeg, cen tre and purchased newspapers and "In those first two waves, many had ians to live in military camps for as long Yereniuk said. books at the nearby Canadian Farmer surnames which were difficult to pro - as three years before they could come to Winnipeg’s Ukrainian community newspaper. nounce. The Anglo community at tempt - Canada. Once they were ap proved they is changing but remains vibrant, Yere - Most people stayed in Winnipeg for ed to Anglicize them and a significant had some help. Yereniuk said. niuk said. Recognizing that mainte - a few days before setting out for farm - number either shortened or chang ed "One of the things that is not men - nance of the language is weaker than in land either along the railway which pa - their names in order to get jobs." tioned much in our history is many decades past, the Manitoba Parents for rallels the current Yellowhead High - The seeds of the third wave began to Ukrainian individuals in Canada as Ukrainian Education developed a Uk - way, or south to towns such as Gar den - form shortly after the second wave well as institutions guaranteed to pay rainian bilingual program which edu - ton, Tolstoi and Vita. They found the ended. In 1932 and 1933, between four for the cost of the ship fare for them to cates 800 students in 11 schools across come to Canada." Manitoba, mostly in kindergarten Ukrainians already established in through Grade 8. Canada sponsored new immigrants. "We are trying to maintain the lin - Yereniuk’s parents were sponsored by a guistic base," Yereniuk said. single man whom they took several While fewer Ukrainian Manitobans years to repay, he said. speak the language, that does not mean Out of that collective effort came they have lost interest in their roots, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Yereniuk said. The opposite is true, as Formed in 1940, it played a key role in he has noticed an increase in the num - encouraging the federal government to ber of young Ukrainian Canadians approve mass immigration. seeking to learn about their ancestors. The third wave directly benefited from "Many people in the first two waves Ukrainian Canadians’ strong con tri - lost contact with their families. Now butions to the war effort, Ye re niuk said. younger people want to trace their fa - "Ukrainians gave the most sons and mily histories." daughters to fight in the Second World Fear caused many families to lose War in proportion to any other ethnic contact, Yereniuk said. Ukrainian Can - group in Canada. When they came adians feared their relatives would be back after four or five years they we - punished by the Soviet rulers if they ren’t thought of as Ukrainians they we - attempted contact. Those feelings be - re told ‘You are now Canadian’. gan to abate in the 1960s when some A family farm near Komarno, MB in 1920. "This began to change the image of be gan to send general letters and per - THE MICHAEL EWANCHUK PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, Ukrainians. We proved that we were lo - haps photographs. PC 96. U OF M ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS. yal to Canada." continued on p.5 УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ ГОЛОС • UKRAINIAN VOICE Tel.: (204) 589-5871 Fax: (204) 586-3618 E-mail: [email protected].

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