Ukrainian Canadians

Canadian censuses often recorded the ethnicity of individuals and their place of origin. For example, the 1911 Census recorded ethnic origin and the country or province of birth. Starting with the 1901 census, census enumerators asked people who were not born in Canada to provide their year of immigration.

LAC holds the records for all official Canadian censuses.

You can search for your ancestor by name.

• Select your census of choice
• Enter your name term in the Surname and/or Given name(s) fields.

Provincial government offices record births, marriages and deaths. These are also known as civil registration records. Those offices regularly transfer older records to the provincial or territorial archives.

For more information, see researching your ancestors in birth, marriage and death records.

Library and Archives Canada holds these archival records:

• Michael Fesenko Collection (MG30-D226)
  • Reverend Fesenko was the pastor of a Ukrainian congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Toronto from 1929 to 1976. This fonds includes a marriage register, 1912-1935. It also includes other lists relating to church members. See the fonds description for more details.
• Timofiy Minenko fonds (MG31-H44)
  • The Very Reverend Minenko served as a rector in the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada. This fonds includes a marriage register for St. George’s Parish, Grimsby, Ontario, 1949-1974, and memberships lists for St. Demetrius' Parish, Torontoo, 1961-1967. See the fonds description for more details.

Immigration and citizenship records often had information about ethnicity and place of birth. For more information, see:

• Immigration records (includes passenger lists and border entry records)
• Citizenship and naturalization records

Information about many Ukrainian immigrants is found in these databases:

• Ukrainian Immigrants, 1891-1930
• Immigrants from the Russian Empire, 1898-1922

Other records we hold that might be helpful include:

• Vladimir Julian Kaye fonds (MG31-D69)
• This fonds includes information about Ukrainian Pioneer settlers in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
• Immigration Branch, Central Registry Files (RG76):
• Professor Josef Oleskow, includes some lists of Galician immigrants to Manitoba, 1895-1896 (RG76, volume 109, file 21103, part 1, microfilm C-4772)
• S.A. Armstrong, Inspection of Prisons, Toronto, re Galician prisoners, 1908 (RG76, volume 529, file 803192, microfilm C-10621)
• Admission of "Surrendered Enemy Personnel", Ukrainian Refugees from England, 1946-1953 (RG76, volume 656, file B53802, microfilm C-10593)
• Galician and other Colonies in Western Canada, 1898-1912 (RG76, volumes 178 and 179, file 60868, microfilm C-7334)
• Custodian of Enemy Property and internment operations records (RG6)
• This sub-series includes certificates of release from internment camps, 1914-1919 (RG6, volumes 772 to 780). Search for a reference in Collection Search. Enter a surname and the keywords RG6 and release certificate.

Ukrainians established community organizations and societies. There are also collections of personal papers donated by individuals in the Ukrainian community. Find the records held at LAC by using Collection Search. You can try the keyword Ukrainian and add other words such as society, association and community. Also try searching by a person’s name.

Here are some examples:

• Ukrainian Canadian Committee fonds
• Doris E. Yanda fonds

On those fonds description pages, be sure to look at the “finding aid” to see what records they include.

There were many Ukrainian Canadian newspapers. Search Aurora to find them by using key terms like Ukrainian plus newspaper. LAC holds some collections of Ukrainian community newspapers, including:

• Ukrainian Pacific news
• Homin Ukraïny

Many Ukrainian Canadian historical societies and communities have published their own histories. Sometimes they'll have stories that help you better understand your ancestors' experiences. They may also include information about specific people. You can search Aurora to find these publications and genealogy guides and indexes. Try keywords like Ukrainian, history, genealogy or a place.

We've prepared a list of examples from our Aurora catalogue to give you an idea of the types of books you might find. Each title in this list includes the author and the LAC call number.

• Click on a title in the list to open the full catalogue entry. If you scroll down, you'll see a list of other libraries that hold copies. You can also check your local library’s online catalogue.
• If the call number includes the word genealogy, the book is in the genealogy room at our Ottawa location.

Example of a call number: Genealogy Ref. - CS88 A2 A38 2003