Immigration to St. Clements

Why did they come? The largest group of people that immigrated to St. Clements were from central and eastern Europe. This happened between the 1880’s and 1920’s. Life was not good in Europe at this time. There were money, political, and ethnic problems.

In The West Austria-Hungary was the most powerful empire in Central Europe. They were in charge of the western Ukrainian provinces called Galicia and Bukovina. Austria-Hungary let the Polish landlords stay in charge of the Ukrainian people. They were not nice leaders. They would not let the Ukrainian people believe in their traditional church called the Orthodox Church.

In The East Russia was in charge of the eastern provinces of Ukraine and treated them worse than Austria-Hungary did. They wouldn’t even let them speak their own language. Russian Tsarist Minister of Education, Count Pyotr Valuyev, said, “The Ukrainian language never existed, does not exist, and never can exist.” Count Pyotr Valuyev

Impossible Living Conditions None of the peasants had enough land to live on. The peasants weren’t even given enough land to build a small farm to grow their own food. Out of 2,300,000 people living on the land, only 50,000 lived comfortably. That is not even 2 percent. The Hutterites from Germany and the Mennonites and Doukhobors from Russia were having the same problems.

Looking for a Better Life Everyone was looking for a better place to live. Canada, the United States, and Brazil opened their doors to immigrants. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, Polish, German, and Russian immigrants left their homes and families, looking for a better life.

Immigrating to Canada Canada and the United States had the best land to settle on. Between 1890 and 1914, it is estimated that 100,000 -200,000 Ukrainians arrived in Canada from the Western Ukraine. The boats that brought the immigrants were stuffed with people. A lot of people died on the boats from diseases because there were too many people on board.

East Selkirk Immigration Shed Arriving in Canada East Selkirk Immigration Shed As soon as the boats landed in Canada, the immigrants took trains to the wide-open West. Many went to Winnipeg, but immigrants coming to St. Clements stopped at the East Selkirk Immigration shed. The first group of immigrants who arrived at the shed included 1,700 Doukhobors. They were followed by six hundred Galicians. Thousands more Galicians and Russians over the next few years.

Building a Homestead After they arrived immigrants were given 160 acres of land free. In Europe they were only living on about 7 acres. The Ukrainians liked to live on bush land with water and trees. They used wood for fuel and building materials. They built their homes in two ways. The first was a Galician-style house with two large rooms. The second was a Bukovinian style with three rooms. Bukovinian Style

Settling Down Some of the men found work on logging, railway, and mining crews. Most of the settlers became vegetable farmers. One day these settlers would be known as the Market Gardeners. The Ukrainian immigrants settled in block communities. This meant they lived near each other so they could lend a helping hand. Racism happened a lot to these people because they were different.

Naming their Towns The immigrants settled in rural East Selkirk, Libau, the Beaches, and in Narol-Gonor. The new settlers named some of the towns to remind them of their homeland. Libau, which was settled by German immigrants, was named from the Lettish city, Leipaja. The name Narol came from a district in the county of Lubaczow, Poland.

Education Manitoba was the first of the three prairie provinces to organize schools where the Ukrainians lived. The Ukrainian people were scared that they were trying to stop them from speaking Ukrainian. The English teachers only taught in English. Balsam Bay School

Education Until 1916, in Manitoba school could not be taught in anything other than English. After this, the Ukrainian people were allowed to hire Ukrainian-speaking teachers for their schools. The provincial government even opened a school to train Ukrainian-speaking teachers. Happy Thought School is an example of the Ukrainian Bilingual teachers. Happy Thought School

War/Persecution In 1914 World War I began. Austro-Hungary became Canada’s enemy. Austria still controlled parts of Ukraine and Ukrainians were considered to be enemy aliens. Ukrainian immigrants in St. Clements, as well as across Canada, were not treated nicely. In Manitoba, a delegation of English-speaking citizens petitioned their government to imprison and exile all Ukrainians in the province.

War/Persecution Thousands of Ukrainians were rounded up by police, and placed in guarded concentration camps. Here, they were imprisoned behind fences with barbed wire. They were also used as forced labour to help build Banff National Park, BC and Maritime mines, and Ontario steel mills. Most of them were able to return to their homes two years after the end of the war. With the creation of the United Soviet Republic of Ukraine in Russia, all of these people were finally referred to as Ukrainians in Canada.

- “preserving our community’s heritage one story at a time” – This presentation brought to you by the St. Clements Heritage Advisory Committee! - “preserving our community’s heritage one story at a time” – Information Compiled/Presentation Created by Jared Laberge Bibliography St. Clements Historical Committee. East Side Of The Red. Winnipeg: Inter-Collegiate Press, 1984. InfoUkes Inc. Staff. Internment of Ukrainians in Canada. <http://www.infoukes.com/history/internment/>. April 10th 2005 . Piniuta, Harry. Land Of Pain Land Of Promise. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Prairie Books, 1981. The End