Ukrainian Canadians, 100 Years Later

Abstract

The year 1991 was certainly an historic one for Ukrainian Canadians. The centennial year of the arrival in Canada of the first two Ukrainian settlers was also marked by momentous political changes in Ukraine. These historic events con tributed to various festivities and commemorations, often celebrated the same time. A number of academic conferences and seminars were held and these two publications were part of this commemoration. Ukrainian Canadian identity is still influenced by interpretation of events in Ukraine as well as one hundred years of historical experience in Canada. It is now possible to examine this experience in a historical perspective and raise fundamen tal questions about the role of Ukrainians in Canadian society. At the same time, it is an opportunity to study the larger question of Canadian identity. The history of an ethnocultural group is often the result of negotiations conducted in the community and also the personal level among the competing and often contradic tory demands between North American society and one's ethnocultural experience. Negotiating and Identity is an appropriate title and a suitable framework for the various themes in Ukrainian Canadian history. In the introduction, the editors, Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk, claim that, This volume was not intended to be a definitive or even exhaustive treatment of the Ukrainian-Canadian ex perience over the past hundred years. Instead the editors solicited essays which explored Ukrainian Canadian history and geography and sought to provide new insights into the experiences of Ukrainian Canadians. They claim that several of the present studies are at the cutting edge of research in the field. The volume is a collection of essays organized into three sections that deal with immigration and settlement, internal community politics, and the relations of the community with