Anti-Ukrainian Sentiment - Canada

Canada

Anti-Ukrainian discrimination was endemic in Canada from the arrival of Ukrainians in Canada around 1891 until the late 20th Century. In one sense this was part of a larger trend towards nativism in English Canada during the period. But Ukrainians were singled out for special discrimination because of their large numbers, visibility (due to dress and language), and political activism. During the First World War, around 8,000 Ukrainian Canadian were interned by the Canadian government as "enemy aliens" (because they came from the Austrian Empire). In the interwar period all Ukrainian cultural and political groups, no matter what their ideology was, were monitored by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and many of their leaders were deported.

This attitude began to slowly change after the Second World War, as Canadian immigration and cultural policies generally moved from being explicitly pro-British to a more pluralistic foundation. Ukrainian nationalists were now seen as victims of communism, rather than dangerous subversives. Ukrainians began to hold high offices, and one, Senator Paul Yuzyk was one of the earliest proponents of a policy of "multiculturalism" which would end official discrimination and acknowledge the contribution of non-English, non-French Canadians. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism of the 1960s, which had originally been formed only to deal with French-Canadian grievances, began the transition to multiculturalism in Canada because of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's desire to court Ukrainian votes in Western Canada. The Commission also included a Ukrainian commissioner, Jaroslav Rudnyckyj.

Since the adoption of official multiculturalism under Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, Ukrainians in Canada have had legal protection against discrimination.