Ukrainian Genealogy Group
National Capital Region - Canada
Ukrainska Henealoichna Hrupa
Stolynochnoho Raionu Kanady

This presentation is based on Petro Kormylo's book "Scotland's Ukrainians: Their Story" published in 2022. The book is the result of Petro's PhD thesis which he completed during his first years of retirement. This presentation discusses the various waves of Ukrainian immigration to Scotland, their community institutions & activities throughout the years, as well as integration into Scottish Society.

The author has spent a lifetime participating in the social, cultural and political life of the Ukrainian Diaspora of the United Kingdom, but particularly that of Scotland. The topic of Scotland's Ukrainian community is little-studied, and Petro's aim is to document and preserve the memories of this community.

A video recording of Dr. Kormylo's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have a recording of the Introductory segment from that evening. Dr. Kormylo has kindly provided written answers to questions posed during the webinar which can be found here.

For anyone interested purchasing Dr. Kormylo's book, please send us an email and we will provide you further details.  Dr. Korylo's doctoral thesis can be downloaded and reviewed by clicking here.

During the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, perhaps as many as 170,000 Ukrainians emigrated to South America. Uruguay was one of the destinations for these emigrants in that continent. Estimates of the number of Ukrainians who settled in Uruguay, which shares a border with South American giants Brazil and Argentina, range from 5,000 to 10,000. The vast majority of the immigrants came in the 1920s and 1930s.

This presentation focussed on the characteristics of the immigration, the organizations that were created by the settlers, and the evolution of the Ukrainian community to the present. .

A video recording of Dr. Cipko's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.

Dr. Cipko's has published a book in Spanish on the topic. More information can be found here. For those researching genealogy in Uruguay Dr. Cipko recommends starting with the following link.

This presentation provided a brief introduction to Crimea. It included some historical background information, but emphasized demographic changes and the situation of Crimea’s diverse populations from the 19th century to the present day.

Dr. John (Ivan) Jaworsky is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo (retired in 2018). His research interests include dissent and its legacies in the Soviet Union and its successor states, regional issues and inter-ethnic relations in Ukraine, civil-military relations in Ukraine, and the politics of ethnicity in Canada. Between 2000 and 2010 he was a research associate with the “Building Democracy in Ukraine” and “Democratic Education in Ukraine” projects (Queen’s University). Beginning in 1997 and prior to 2013 Prof. Jaworsky made numerous trips to Crimea. He is the author of The Military-Strategic Significance of Recent Developments in Ukraine (1993), Ukraine: Stability and Instability (1995), and several articles. He also prepared, for publication, the memoirs of Ukraine’s first minister of defence, Kostiantyn Morozov (Above and Beyond, 2000), and of the political prisoner Danylo Shumuk (Life Sentence, 1984).

A video recording of Dr. Jaworsky's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.

The German Ministry of Defence recently leaked a report criticizing Ukrainian strategy and tactics. Should Ukraine listen to a country that in the last century started two world wars…and managed to lose both? In this webinar, Borys Gengalo examined what Ukraine is doing, its success to date and prospects for the near future.

Some issues discussed included:
- A quick review to date of military developments;
- Why Crimea is the key to success in the war;
- How a country with virtually no navy is managing to sink Russian major ships and managed to drive that navy from Crimea to Russian ports on the eastern Black Sea;
- Crossing minefields: tools and tactics;
- Artillery: more and more, less and less;
- Why Ukraine is adopting its current tactics (and what they are);
- The war in the air: drones, airplanes and their effect on the war; and
- A lot of other stuff that will help us understand which way the war is going.

A video recording of Borys' Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening. Borys has also provided written responses to questions submitted during the webinar.

In 2023, Library and Archives Canada, Ancestry and FamilySearch are cooperating to prepare the 1931 Canadian Census for researchers and the general public. The plan is to produce a searchable index and a fully verified transcription of all fields on the census form. When this project is completed in the near future, the 1931 Census will be searchable and available to genealogists and family historians.

In this webinar, Myron provided a basic explanation of the census form, the various fields and also some of the problems with the fields and personal names that are specific to the Ukrainian community in Canada.  

A video recording of Myron's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening. Myron has also provided a summary of his bibliography as well as instructions on how to access the Census via MyHeritage. Myron has also provided written responses to questions submitted during the webinar.

Slavco Demchinsky examined the various types of iconography starting in the pioneer period up to works recently created for Ukrainian-Canadian churches. Here we examined the very first icons to be placed in Canadian Churches, the first iconographers to come to Canada, right up to living iconographers that are practicing today. We examined the Galician style, the Kozak Baroque style, modernists, and Byzantine revival style of iconography. Examples from Canadian churches were from coast to coast.

Born in Manitoba, Sterling (Slavco) Demchinsky is a third-generation Ukrainian-Canadian. Since 1995, his goal has been photographing every Ukrainian church in Canada and he has photographed over 650 of them. Now retired, Sterling works as an independent writer and researcher, collaborating with Ukrainian churches and universities. Sterling’s photos are housed in the National Archives, the Archives of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg and the Archives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. He currently sits on the Consistory Board of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, where he is the chair of the Small Communities Affairs Committee, a group that deals with church heritage projects.       

A video recording of Slavco Demchinsky 's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening. Slavco has also provided written answers to questions posed by attendees that evening. This Q&A info can be found here.

Jars Balan is a lifelong activist in the Ukrainian Canadian community. He has authored numerous scholarly and popular articles on Ukrainian Canadian history, literature and theatre and also authored an illustrated history of Ukrainians in Canada. He has been an active staff member of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta since its inception.  

In this presentation, Jars provided an overview of the various sources available to researchers interested in the Ukrainian Canadian experience based on his own writing and research over the years. He described the digitized sources available by searching on the internet, especially catalogues of university and community libraries and archives, and also at provincial and national archives. He described in general terms, the written and published record from academic conferences and dissertations to popular publications such as novels, short stories and poetry. His emphasis was on the English-language sources including mainstream newspapers, magazines and popular literature. He also mentioned material published in Ukrainian both in Canada and in Ukraine. He listed names of Canadian writers of Ukrainian descent that have a record of writing on Ukrainian topics.                      

A video recording of Jars Balan's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.

Prof. Natalie Kononenko is Kule Chair Emirata and she was the first holder of the Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography (2004-2019). She came to the University of Alberta from the University of Virginia where she was professor of Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Folklore.

Prof. Kononenko kindly agreed to make a presentation on her new book, Ukrainian Ritual on the Canadian Prairies. This book, based on more than ten years of folklore fieldwork and interviews, describes the culture of Ukrainian Canadians living in the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In this book, she explores the cultural elements of Ukrainian Canadian ritual practice, with emphasis on family traditions surrounding marriage, birth, death, and religious holidays. In her presentation, Prof. Kononenko described the nature of interviewing and the method of data collection.                          

A video recording of Prof. Kononenko's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.  Prof. Kononenko has also provided written answers to questions posed by attendees that evening. This Q&A info can be found here.

Despite the war, FamilySearch has resumed large-scale digitization of genealogy-related materials in the state archives of Ukraine. In this presentation, we heard the latest from Greg Nelson, FamilySearch's Content Strategy specialist for East Europe. FamilySearch has been signing more and more cooperation agreements with Ukrainian archives, including as recently as September 21^st 2022 with the Cherkasy oblast  archives. Greg also explained what is coming down the pike in terms of digital access to Ukrainian historical records.

A video recording of Greg's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.

A copy of the slides Greg presented that evening as well as written answers from Greg to questions posed by attendees during the webinar have also been added.

Dr. Myroslav Shkandrij, professor emeritus of Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba spoke about his forthcoming book “In the Maelstrom : the Waffen-SS “Galicia Division and Its Legacy”, which brings to light the underexplored Ukrainian experience in the “Galicia” Division during and after the war.                          

A video recording of Dr. Shkandrij's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.  Myroslav has also provided written answers to questions posed by attendees that evening. This Q&A info can be found here.

Mark Minenko , C.D., LL.B., PhD. is a legal historian and has been a lawyer for over 35 years practicing law in Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta. After completing a Master of Laws in international law at the University of Alberta was awarded a Doctorate in Law at King’s College London, England in 2021.

Mark’s doctoral research discovered the widespread prosecution of Ukrainians in Canada during the First World War for offences related to the registration of alien enemies and a book on this topic is expected in 2023. He is writing a second book about life in Canada’s First World War internment camps and whether Canada complied with the terms of the Hague Convention. Mark’s interest in Canada’s treatment of alien enemies during the First World War began in 1984 in law school and he has spoken on this topic locally, nationally, and internationally.            

In addition to being a lawyer, Mark served in the Canadian Armed Forces medical services for 36 years including a tour of duty in Bosnia, served as the Deputy Speaker and Member of the Manitoba Legislature, and has been a board member of organizations such as the Ukrainian Pioneers of Alberta and is currently a board member of the Ukrainian Foundation for College Education at MacEwan University, Edmonton and of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

He is married to Roma, father to Sofia and Matthew, and is a companion to two cats – Teemu and Pooshka.        

Material from Mark Minenko's Webinar presentation will be used in his 2 forthcoming books. As such, only a podcast version of his presentation can be found here. We also have a video recording of that evening's Introductory segment.  Mark has also provided written answers to questions posed by attendees that evening. This Q&A info can be found here.

© Dr. Mark Minenko 2023. All rights reserved. No images or content from this presentation may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the presenter. Access to this recording is solely for educational and informational purposes.

This documentary shown at our November webinar is about Ukrainian-Canadian participation in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War. John Paskievich is the director and writer of the documentary film and the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre produced the film. The story is based on oral history interviews with veterans, archival film footage and photographs. The Second World War was an important part of the history of Ukrainians in Canada because their contribution to the war effort confirmed their status as Canadians and enabled them to fully participate in the political and economic life of the country. Also, this story will assist researchers who are interested in discovering the record of their ancestors who participated in this epic struggle.                   

We are grateful for having received permission  from "The Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre" (UCRDC) to broadcast this video during our November 2022 webinar. Due to copyright restrications, we cannot make a recording of this film available on our website.  For those still interested in viewing this video, copies may be available at your local public library.  Alternatively the film may be purchased from the UCRDC as follows.

The film showing was preceeded by introductory remarks from Jerry Fikis and Borys Gengalo. Recordings of these introductory remarks can be found here. 

On a related topic, you may also be interested in reading about the recent unveiling of a  plaque by the UCCLF commemorating “enemy aliens” in Toronto’s Bloor West Village.

In August 2022, the Ukrainian community in Argentina marked the 125th anniversary of its settlement in the world's eighth largest county (in terms of territory). Serge Cipko travelled to Argentina to take part in the commemoration and in three book launches in the city of Apóstoles, Misiones. One of the books, of which Cipko is the compiler, is a collection of translations into Spanish of sources (mostly in Ukrainian) about the early years of Ukrainian settlement in the Apóstoles area. In this presentation, Cipko shared some reflections about the history of Ukrainian immigration to Argentina and his recent visit.                         

A video recording of Serhii Cipko's Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Q&A segments from that evening.  

Serhii has graciously provided some links regarding immigration to Argentina as well as written responses to our member Q&A's from the webinar.

A lost discovery. A forgotten scientist. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and two World Wars. This presentation described a granddaughter’s search for documents for her biographical book and family history of Dr. Wolodymyr (Włodzimierz) Sylvester Kindraczuk, PhD Chemistry  (b.1882, Horodenka, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire  -d. 1969, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), his discovery of the new probiotic bacteria Bacillus carpathicus in Hutsul huslianka in Vienna in 1912, his pharmacy in Łańcut, Poland and his immigration to Canada with his wife and family .  Dr. Bahry's book can be purchased at: https://www.bookstore.yorku.ca/                         

A video recording of Dr. Bahry's Webinar presentation can be found here. The recording of the Q&A session which followed can be found here.

This presentation focused on the identity construction of ethnocultural communities in neighbourhoods and on the role played by municipal governing bodies (the host society) in this process with the example of the Ukrainian community of Montreal. This community has developed an institutional landscape in the neighbourhood of Rosemont, meaning that many Ukrainian institutions are located there.

This communication presented the preliminary results regarding the identity construction process of the Ukrainian community of Montreal. It focused on three main aspects: 1. the process by which the neighbourhood of Rosemont became associated to a Ukrainian neighbourhood; 2. the identification of Ukrainians towards this neighbourhood; 3. the respective roles of municipal governing bodies and the Ukrainian community in this process                      

A video recording of Kim's Webinar presentation can be found here. The recording of the Q&A session which followed can be found here.

Many Ukrainians across North America can trace their ancestry to First Wave immigrants who settled Western Canada in the early 1900's. Prof. Kaye-Kysilewskyj chronicled the early years of mass Ukrainian settlement there. Among his works were biographical dictionaries of the Ukrainian pioneer settlers of Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Myron Momryk's presentation was based on the various publications that Prof. Kaye-Kysilewskyj wrote on the Ukrainian pioneers in Canada and related material.                     

A video recording of Myron's Webinar presentation can be found here. As a followup to our April Webinar we have also posted the following supplementary documents to our website:

• LAC_Visit_Process_Overview_of_What_to_Do.pdf  - Recommended procedures to follow when visiting the Library and Archives Canada.

• Answers_to_questions_.pdf – Additional information related to questions posed by attendees of our April webinar.

• Bibliography_V.J.K..pdf – A listing of resources related to Dr. Kaye’s research

This Webinar presented a war-time story of survival based on a suitcase filled with yellowed documents, old photo albums brought from Ukraine, a memoir written by her mother, and a diary kept by her father. Helped by the information she found, Christine Habrowych was able to reconstruct the harrowing journey her parents undertook to reach Canada. It was a four-year journey made by wagon, by train, on foot, and finally, by ship.

Christine recently retired from the Ottawa Catholic School Board. Outside her elementary school career, she also taught Ukrainian. In her spare time, she is active in traditional Ukrainian crafts (embroidery & beadwork) and is currently a co-editor of the Ottawa UCC monthly events calendar.                     

A video recording of Christine's Webinar presentation can be found here.   

This presentation provided a basic overview of the background to the invasion threat from Russia in 2022: history, motivations, politics and international issues. Borys discussed the current situation touching upon both political and military aspects. He also speculated on the future with an outline of potential developments (i.e. in Borys' words .. his wild-ass guesses).  

Following a career in the Canadian Military and private enterprise, Borys has been a Long-Term Election Observer in Ukraine, and has held various posts within Ukrainian-Canadian organizations.                          

A video recording of Borys' Webinar presentation can be found here.    This also includes further commentary from Borys on the evolving situation as well as answering questions posed by attendees.

The talk began with an overview of research strategies, both online and in-country, following classical methods of metrical book research. It was enhanced by many visuals of actual records and websites and media from research trips to Ukraine. The talk then went specifically into the history of the clergy and the lower nobility in Ukraine under Poland, Austria Hungary, and the Russian Empire. Guided tours of several online sources were given to discover clerical roots and use them to further one's own genealogical research.  

Michael Lang is the son of displaced persons (DPs) who emigrated to Connecticut after WWII. In his youth, Michael visited his Polish and German ancestral villages with his father, an avid amateur genealogist who passed the same passion on to his son. Michael has been doing genealogical research on his Ukrainian mother's roots since 2004. He has travelled to Ukraine twice to visit ancestral villages and search for relatives' graves, and to research records. Michael lives in Ottawa and is President of the high tech company, Frequentis Canada Limited. He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. Michael is the great-grandnephew of renowned Ukrainian choir director, composer and ethnomusicologist Alexander Koshetz. He is also a trained musician and composer of Orthodox Liturgical music, and a choir director at Christ the Saviour (Carpatho-Russian) Orthodox Church in Ottawa. Michael is a member of the East European Genealogical Society (EEGS), where he has published an article on his research.   

A video recording of Michael's Webinar presentation can be found here.    Michael also prepared a summary of the main on-line links discussed in the Webinar (contained here).  And Michael has also provided written responses to some of the questions submitted during the webinar

It will probably come as a surprise to many people that there were a large number of Canadians who were working, living, or travelling in the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, at the time of the Great Famine of 1932-1933. Among these were eight professional journalists from Canada, three of whom together filed more than one hundred and thirty news stories written about the Soviet Union during the Holodomor. In addition to their articles, the Canadian press also carried reports by international wire service agencies and reprints of items by American and British correspondents, as well as serialized personal accounts and interviews documenting conditions experienced by individuals employed by or visiting “Red Russia” as tourists.  

Jars Balan’s presentation focused on just one Canadian reporter, Frederick Griffin of the Toronto Star, who spent seven weeks between mid-May and the second week of July 1932 roving around the Soviet Union and writing up his firsthand impressions of what he saw—while at the same time revealing what he did not see, misrepresented, or chose to ignore.

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here.   

This presentation by Elaine Kalynchuk was about her family members in Alberta and Western Ukraine who gave her information to start a family history book and what she had received from inquires to the archives in Ukraine. She has made four trips to Ukraine so far from 1998, 2002, 2017 and 2019.  She mentioned how she started to do family research.  And because she has two cassette tapes of interviews, one written transcript from an interview, old pictures, and a large volume of handwritten notes from relatives who have all now passed away, she is very grateful for the strong family bonds. Her relatives in Ukraine plan on helping her to finish the family research in Ukraine and neighboring countries when it is safe to travel there again.   

Elaine is the facilitator of the Ukraine Special Interest Group (SIG) which is part of the Edmonton Branch, Alberta Genealogical Society.  It is called Ukraine SIG or Ukrainian SIG. The members mainly have interests that include the geographic areas of East Galicia (Ukraine), West Galicia (Poland), Bukovina (Ukraine and Romania), Volhynia, and the West Russian Empire (Ukraine and Poland), and all of Ukraine.  Ukraine SIG invites people from all of the Eastern European countries to participate in our meetings.  Meetings are held on the 1st Wednesday in January, March, May, September and November. Meetings start at 7:00 p.m.  https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/special-interest-groups-sigs

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here.   Note: In addition, Elaine also provided written answers to some of the questions raised during the webinar (see here).

Michael Buryk (Nashi Predky, Somerset, NJ) and Myron Momryk (Ukrainian Genealogy Group - National Capital Region) presented a short description about Ukrainian immigration to the United States and to Canada and how the two communities have evolved until the present.  

The two presenters discussed the similarities and differences between the two communities regarding settlement patterns and their influence on community politics in the two countries.

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here.   Note: to access this recording you must provide your name and email address.

With the expansion of medieval Scandinavians into Eastern Europe and their intermixture with the local cultures, there arise questions of identity and memory. How much of their ancestral Scandinavian homeland would the Rus’ have remembered? What exactly would they remember or want to remember? In what way did they remember it? And how long did a connection between the Rus’ and Scandinavia last? This presentation seeks to answer these questions through an analysis of Rus’ and Scandinavian chronicles, mainly the Primary Chronicle and Heimskringla, focusing on references to Scandinavia or other places of origin. Along with this conventional literary evidence, runic inscriptions will also be analyzed. Memory in many ways shapes identity, and the memory of home is particularly important in this process. Therefore, not only will this presentation examine how and what, if anything, was remembered, but also, to what extent the memory of home and one’s heritage played a part in forming a Rus’ cultural and social identity. 

William Pidzamecky's PhD thesis is an interdisciplinary study of Viking Age settlement in England, Ireland, Russia, and Ukraine with the goal of increasing understanding of the Global Viking phenomenon while at the same time bridging scholarly divisions. His current research interests focus on Viking Age history, archaeology, and literature. Some broad topics that interest him include settlement, commerce and industry, cross-cultural contacts, politics, and social structures.

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here.   
Written Q&A's from William Pidzamecky about this Webinar can be found  here. 

Framing the Ukrainian Peasantry in Habsburg Galicia, 1846-1914 traces the development of national and social identity among Ukrainian peasants in Galicia under the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the late eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. The author examines this development from various perspectives and as the result of the work and influence of political and social activists in specific villages the Sambir area of Galicia. He presents a complex expression of peasant identity based on competing visions of national, community, modern individual identity, as well as social problems and their proposed solutions. He emphasizes the role of the peasants themselves in this process by including accounts of the lives and agendas of peasants and peasant activists. This book also provides a rich source of information on the local history of the Boiko region, and in particular, the Sambir and Staryi Sambir areas of Galicia.

Andriy Zayarnyuk is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Winnipeg. He received his PhD in history from the University of Alberta. His specialized area of study is the social and cultural history of Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here. 

Prof. Zayarnyuk's book can be ordered on the publisher’s website: https://www.ciuspress.com/

Prof Zayarnyuk’s PhD dissertation can also be found in Library and Archives Canada:   https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/001/nq88073.pdf

A panel of UGG members gave their perspectives on the value of DNA testing as part of their family history research. The discussion touched upon the motivation for taking DNA tests, what aspects of the tests they may have found helpful (or not), and whether the popularity of DNA testing is advertising hype or a useful research tool. The panelists also gave examples based on their own research experiences.

Olenka Hanushevska Galadza is a life-long student and researcher of Byzantine iconography.  Throughout the years, she has studied with several iconographers in Canada, the U.S., and Ukraine, and taught iconography courses for high school students in the Ottawa Catholic School Board.  She recently edited the translation of J.P. Deschler's Christliche Ikonographie, to be published this year. 

In this webinar, Olenka shared a brief overview of the background, history, and symbolism of the icon, and its place in Ukrainian religious tradition.

Myron Momryk described the various sources he used in his research – archival documents, newspapers, publications, oral interviews and other related material. He mentioned some of the obstacles he encountered during his research and the problems of including and excluding certain information. This webinar is of particular interest to members who are researching and writing a family history. .  

To purchase Myron’s book, you can order a copy from the Publisher’s website: http://www.mosaic-press.com/.

The UGG-NCR often presents military themes for its November meetings.  This year, Col. Viktor Siromakha described his family’s Cossack roots, as well as the military tradition of Cossacks defending Ukrainian nationhood over the centuries. This presentation also touched upon the modern Ukrainian military.  

Col. Siromakha is the Defence Attaché with the Ukrainian Embassy of Canada in Ottawa. .

Maria Rypan, niece of the late Ukrainian Cardinal Lubomyr Husar recounted the story of returning her family's "suitcase" to Ukraine for an exhibit at the Museum of World War II in Kyiv. It was a depository of her maternal grandparents’ family treasures full of documents, diplomas, IDs, photos and precious stuff collected over years including hand-drawn family trees. The talk also illustrated the story of what war does to families of that era.