Immigration

Ukrainians have been immigrating to Canada since the early 1890s. Between 1891 and 1914, just over 170,000 arrived. A very small number came from Ukrainian lands in the Russian Empire. The overwhelming majority were peasant agriculturalists from Galicia and Bukovina, two regions of western Ukraine that were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. A second wave of Ukrainian immigration occurred during the interwar years when 68,000 arrived. Once again most came form western Ukraine, which was part of Poland and Romania between 1918 and 1945. The last great wave of Ukrainian immigration took place between 1947 and 1953 when more than 30,000 war refugees from all parts of Ukraine were admitted into Canada. Few Ukrainians were able to immigrate during the ensuing four decades, but more have been migrating to Canada since Ukraine achieved independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.