On September 7 every year, Ukrainian Canadian Heritage Day is officially celebrated in Ontario – Canada is home to over 1.3 million Ukrainian Canadians and they are Canada’s 11th largest ethnic group
Cambridge, ON – over one million Canadians identify as Ukrainian. To commemorate this long history of immigration, settlement, and cultural exchange, September 7 of each year was designated as Ukrainian Heritage Day in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba.
The date of September 7 was chosen in honour of the first official Ukrainian immigrants, Vasyl Eleniak and Ivan Pylpiw, who arrived in Canada 132 years ago today, on September 7, 1891. Eleniak and Pylpiw arrived in Canada’s West and soon spread the news about the vast farmlands available in Canada. Their arrival marked the establishment of a sizeable Ukrainian-Canadian community that has continued to flourish with the influx of new Ukrainian immigrants.
