Community

You would be surprised to hear how many “old” Ukrainians I know in Kenora. When you read the history of the first Ukrainian migrants, you would realize that all these people are just a drop in the ocean. Especially, that most of my friends’ parents were born in Ukraine and came with the second wave - first and second world wars.

Through my second year in Canada, we traveled all the way to the west coast and were nicely surprised with the number of Ukrainian flags, restaurants, monuments. I did know that Canada is the third Ukrainian populated country, but didn’t realize the size of the actual Ukrainian population. So, I decided to read the history. Very first Ukrainian migration wave was in the 1890s when part of West Ukraine was under Austria. Villagers were forced to pay to harvest their own land, and I quote “even pick up the wood to build and heat houses”. The desperation of the working class and the promised “free” land in Canada was a good match, so two men brought the whole village with them, became really rich farmers, and even started a whole new village. All this happened in Alberta.

As it turned out, the Canadian government was desperate for farmers through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, so they started a big company in Ukraine to bring as much working power as they could. Now these three provinces have the biggest Ukrainian population in Canada. You can find there are Ukrainian Co-Op, Statue of Pierogi, the biggest Pysanka, many Ukrainian restaurants and much more.

In conclusion, Kenora is a really small community, but even here we have our own mural, Pysanka monument, Prosvita, and two Ukrainian churches. You will never feel alone among all these Ukrainians.