Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the number of people studying Ukrainian globally has grown: figures .
In Canada, there is also in learning Ukrainian.
As solidarity with Ukraine grows, Canadians may be curious to know more about the history of Ukrainian-language schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, spanning roughly 125 years.
Ukrainian-language education in the Prairies has been shaped by national, provincial and territorial policies. In Canada’s settler colonial context, in how they accommodate, marginalize and privilege settler languages other than English.
Colonial settlement
Following Canadian Confederation in 1867, interconnected approaches and policies were consolidated and developed to displace Indigenous Peoples from their lands. Canada used dispossession to make the territory that would become Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba available for European settlement.
As historian James Daschuk explains, “,” entailed using starvation against Indigenous people to clear the way for settlement.
In 1876, Canada passed .
After the of 1869-70, the Manitoba Act transferred land from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Dominion of Canada.
The Canadian government created a system called to provide Métis families already living in the area with titles to their lands (land scrip) or money in exchange (money scrip). The process was slow, complicated and served .
Métis scrip commissions coincided with the (1871-1921), which pertained to lands from .
In this era, as historian Kenneth Taylor notes, Canadian immigration law was “”: it discouraged and prohibited non-white and non-European immigration in several ways.
The 1910 Canadian Immigration Act provided the Ministry of the Interior with the authority to ban entry of people of any race “deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada.” Immigration officials used this section in the Prairies. Prior to this policy, moved to and research has documented and ongoing presence there.
While there were well-established Chinese communities in British Columbia prior to 1923, and between . Widespread Asian the prairies did not happen until the 1960s due to to federal legislation including and exclusionary 1923 amendments to .
While the promotion of Eastern European immigration was , the recruitment of these early “agricultural immigrants” became government practice.
Canada opened the door to the of Ukrainian settlement in 1890.
400 Ukrainian schools
Ukrainians arriving during this period were by overpopulation, poverty and foreign domination, and pulled to Canada by the prospect of what Canada billed and jobs.
At the time of this wave of settlement, western Ukraine was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ukrainians from Galicia, Bukovyna and Transcarpathia were in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
From their arrival, Ukrainians directed most of their organized effort to . By 1915, there were roughly in Western Canada.
‘Laurier-Greenway Compromise’
How were Ukrainians able to create Ruthenian bilingual schools and teacher training programs?
An 1896 agreement for bilingual schooling in Manitoba called the holds part of the answer.
This regulation stated that when there were 10 or more students who spoke French or another language, the school could provide instruction in a language other than English. This policy made it possible to in Manitoba, and influenced their creation in Saskatchewan and Alberta too.
Teacher shortages
Another reason for the creation of Ukrainian schools was a teacher shortage in Ukrainian districts. Historian Orest T. Martynowych explains that English-speaking teachers were unwilling to work in Ukrainian communities due to “.”
To address the shortage, the provincial governments assisted young Ukrainian men in qualifying as teachers. The Ruthenian Training School opened in Manitoba in 1905 and operated for 11 years. Similar programs opened in Saskatchewan in 1909 and in Alberta in 1913.
In Manitoba, the province also produced a Ukrainian bilingual school textbook called the .
As historian Cornelius Jaenen notes, the success of bilingual Ukrainian education programs angered influential members of society who wanted towards building an English-speaking Prairies.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 further threatened these programs as . The issue of bilingual schools became mixed up with the question of “enemy aliens,” which included .
The same year, the government of Alberta declared itself .
By 1916, the option for bilingual schooling was . Saskatchewan waited until 1919 to as the sole language of instruction.
English-only status quo
For , the Prairie provinces maintained an English-only status quo, resulting in considerable language shift in Ukrainian and and many other immigrant language communities also.
During this time, 66 Indian residential schools operated in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba . First Nations children were taken from their families to attend these institutions and forced to learn English, .
As a result of Métis scrip, many Métis people were living on , settlements they created on unused portions of Crown land. There, multilingual Métis people maintained community languages, including and other Indigenous languages. Between the 1920s and 1960s, however, provincial governments forcibly dispersed these communities, .
Ukrainian children were . Adults faced workplace discrimination and many Ukrainians anglicized their family names.
New era of bilingual Ukrainian schooling
In 1969, followed in 1971. Soon, the Prairie provinces’ education acts were changed to allow languages other than English to be used for instruction in schools again.
These developments led to a . In 1974, advocates established a bilingual Ukrainian program in Edmonton. In 1979, programs in Manitoba and Saskatchewan classrooms followed.
Today, Ukrainian bilingual programs are once again found in school divisions in all three provinces. also include heritage language classes for children (Ridna Shkola), summer camps, preschool programs (Sadochok) and adult language classes.
As Canada begins to receive displaced Ukrainians, can help bridge communication gaps.
Laws, culture and languages
Language policies and language-in-education policies shape the ability of individuals, families and communities to maintain minoritized languages. When languages are under-protected by policy — or intentionally attacked through cultural genocidal policies, as in the case of until — language loss is difficult to prevent.
Confronting settler colonial legacies is a reminder of why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to bolster .
In the case of the Ukrainian language, today’s programs exist due to changes in federal policies, provincial education act amendments and the hard work of Ukrainian Canadian communities who have maintained their language despite many obstacles.
Andrea Sterzuk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
