DISCUSSION PAPER
The Ukrainian Canadian community on the eve of the new millennium
by John Boyd
PART II
Meeting the new generation's needs
By the mid-1930s, another factor came into the life of all the Ukrainian organizations. The first generation of Canadian-born, who in earlier years had attended Ukrainian children's schools and accompanied their parents to various activities at local Ukrainian community centers and parish halls, were now in their teens and early 20s. To keep them as members, the organizations established youth clubs and youth sections, youth choirs and orchestras, folk dancing classes, gymnastics clubs and other sports activities. They also published magazines and other printed material for the young people in Ukrainian, since most of the young people then spoke Ukrainian and many could read and write in Ukrainian. This was yet another way of resisting assimilation.
It should be noted, however, that not all Ukrainian Canadians belonged to these various organizations, right or left. Even at the height of their activity and achievement, when their memberships were at their peak, all the organizations combined had only a minority of the Ukrainian Canadian population in their ranks. Each of them had many supporters, and their newspapers also reached a larger segment of the community, but all of these combined still did not comprise the majority.
The organizations existed only where there were enclaves of Ukrainians in the larger cities and towns and in certain rural areas of the three prairie provinces, chiefly those where Ukrainian homesteaders originally settled at the turn of the century. But there were thousands of Ukrainian men and women who lived outside these enclaves, in cities, towns, villages and isolated regions where there would be only one or two persons of Ukrainian origin, or only one or two Ukrainian families. Many of them kept in touch with what was happening in the Ukrainian Canadian community and in Ukraine solely by subscribing to a Ukrainian newspaper, but there were some who did not even do that.
These Ukrainian immigrants and their families were assimilated into the general community much more rapidly. They were also those most prone to change their names or be less forthcoming about their ethnic background.
World War II brought many changes to the Ukrainian Canadian community. The contribution to the war effort made by thousands of its young men and women in the armed services and by its workers, farmers and professionals on the home front bonded them more closely with all other Canadians. But this also meant that the process of assimilation took another big leap forward. This, in turn, had its effects on the organizations.
The first generation of Canadian-born were now fully grown adults, many of them parents with children of their own - the second generation. Many of them continued to belong to the churches and organizations to which they and their parents had always belonged. Indeed, many of them were now ready to play leading roles in these organization. But the language they used among themselves was English. The organizations and churches were compeled to accept this as a fact of life and adapt. As a result, most of the organizations formed special English-speaking branches and clubs; they began publishing English sections in their newspapers and even special English journals. Their activity groups - choirs, orchestras, folk dance groups, etc. conducted their business in English.
The process of assimilation, however, continued and had its effects. For example, many of the young parents, especially where both were Ukrainian, tried to teach their children Ukrainian (some on their own, some by sending them to special classes) but in most cases they did not have much success, and if they did, it was not for very long.
Assimilation has also been greatly accelerated by intermarriage. Since we still live in a male-dominated society, this assimilation is even more rapid when a young woman of Ukrainian origin marries a young man from another ethnic group. It may be somewhat less if the husband is of Slavic descent (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serb or Macedonian) but not much less. In very few cases, if both parents are progressive, they may decide to take advantage of this circumstance and acquaint their offspring with the language, culture and heritage of both their peoples, as well as English. (And childhood is the best time for teaching languages.) Most mixed marriage couples, however, simply opt to forget about their language of origin. Since they speak to each other and to their children in English most of the time anyway, this is the easier road to take.
The arrival of yet another wave of new Ukrainian immigrants after the war, this time the displaced persons, again had a decisive effect on the community. Because most of these immigrants were fiercely anti-Soviet (some were victims of Stalin's terrorism), most of them joined the right-wing organizations and gave these organizations "new blood" and a period of revitalization: new teachers for their language schools, leaders for their cultural activities, writers for their press. But this had only a peripheral effect on the Canadian-born, especially the more recent generations. The assimilation among them continued unabated.
How profoundly assimilation has affected the Ukrainian Canadian community is vividly revealed in the most recent figures released by Census Canada. They show that in the mid-term 1996 census, 174,830 Canadians claimed Ukrainian as their mother tongue. The majority (76.5 percent) of these, however, indicated that at home they speak one of Canada's two official languages. Thus only 41,085 use Ukrainian as their home language.
Here is how these figures compare with the census data of previous years. (The second column lists the number of Canadians who gave Ukrainian as their mother tongue, the third the number who indicated that the language they used in the home was Ukrainian):
| Year | Mother Tongue | Language of the Home |
| 1971 | 309,890 | 132,535 |
| 1981 | 265,025 | 88,500 |
| 1991 | 201,320 | 49,995 |
| 1996 | 174,830 | 41,085 |
The 1996 census also revealed that 47 percent of the Canadians who reported Ukrainian as their mother tongue were age 65 or older, which would suggest that the downward trend is likely to continue even more sharply in the next decade.
Attracting younger generations
One of the problems the leaders of all the Ukrainian organizations have had to face is how to serve the needs and interests of the rapidly shrinking older immigrant generation and at the same time find ways of attracting the younger generations to an organization that was established by the former, but is not very alluring to the latter.
Over the past four decades or more, all Ukrainian organizations, both left and right, have experienced a marked decline in the number of young people in their ranks. They are in the choirs, orchestras and folk dance groups, but few of them want to join and become active in the organizations as such. While the Ukrainian churches can claim they still have some young people in their congregations, they are witnessing the same dwindling attendance that has afflicted most churches everywhere. There is also an ever widening gap between the interests of the immigrant members and the most recent generations of the Canadian-born.
With the greater inroads assimilation has made, especially in the recent decades, it is becoming more and more evident that the young people today are less inclined to actively retain their Ukrainian heritage. Most of them, of course, are proud of their Ukrainian background (fewer perhaps among those who come from mixed marriages). They would not think of hiding or being uncomfortable with their origin or changing their names as some in previous generations did.
They like to hear Ukrainian music and songs (even if they don't understand the words), they like all the Ukrainian foods, which they remember from their childhood (even if, like all other Canadians, they call them "perogies" instead of pyrohy or varenyky and say "holobchee" instead of holubtsi). Some of them, mostly from the religious families, especially in localities where large numbers of Ukrainian families reside, observe Ukrainian Christmas, Easter and other holidays, as well as Ukrainian christenings. Many still choose to have Ukrainian weddings, albeit increasingly mixed with general "Canadian-style" ceremonies.
Whereas first and second generations of the Canadian-born still get together socially "because we're Ukrainian," those of the third and fourth generation are less inclined to do so. This varies in different areas, such as urban and rural, but more and more, those of the younger generations tend to socialize with young people who have similar interests or inclinations, regardless of their ethnic background. This may not be quite so among the offspring of the more recent immigrants but it is with the grandchildren of the older immigrants.
Young people of Ukrainian origin today consider themselves to be Canadians like everyone else and see no need to emphasize or refer to their ethnic origin. For most young people in Canada today, except perhaps for those who belong to the visible minorities, ethnic origin plays less and less a part in their daily lives.
Nuturing our traditions
Through most of this century, leaders of the Ukrainian Canadian community (both left and right), have given much thought and attention to the problem of how to preserve and nurture Ukrainian culture and traditions in Canada among their offspring. With the relentless advance of assimilation, they have had only limited success.
Few young people today know or understand the Ukrainian language, fewer speak it, and fewer still can read or write Ukrainian. What reason, then, do they have to join a Ukrainian organization?
As mentioned earlier, their immigrant grandparents formed organizations chiefly because they wanted to be together with their own people, people who spoke the same language. These organizations served a variety of their needs: religious, cultural, social, economic and political. Their grandchildren, however, do not need to belong to a Ukrainian organization to discuss political, economic or social issues. They can, and do, belong to (and indeed are active in) any number of organizations, left, right and in-between, that discuss and take up these issues.
The only reason they have to get together as young people of Ukrainian descent would be to get to know their roots, their Ukrainian heritage, the history and traditions of their parents and grandparents. For the reasons already cited, very few of them have been interested in doing so.
Interestingly, in recent years some among the very young members of the community have shown a keen interest in their ethnic identity, a desire to rediscover their roots. While this is not a mass phenomenon, it is something to build on.
How will those few who are truly interested in learning about and preserving their cultural heritage and traditions be served? And who will provide that service? It cannot be the existing organizations, since they, clearly, have been unable to attract the young.
Which prompts the question: Why should the young people of Ukrainian origin in Canada be scattered (in small numbers) among all the many organizations that now exist in the Ukrainian Canadian community?
Needed: one organization for youth
Today, on the eve of the new millennium, with the Cold War ended and the existence of an independent, sovereign Ukraine, what is really needed is one united organization that would embrace all the young people of Ukrainian origin and that would have only one purpose: to keep alive the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people.
This does not mean that the members of such an organization will not differ in views and attitudes on political, economic, social and religious issues. However, this should not prevent them from working together toward that one primary objective - just as people with differing political and religious views work together in trade unions, service clubs, volunteer groups, sports clubs, senior citizens groups and various other community organizations.
Do Canadians of Scottish descent separate according to their politics or religion to commemorate and honor their national poet, Robert Burns? Do those of German descent separate according to their politics to study the works of Goethe in the original language? Why, then, shouldn't young Ukrainian Canadians be able to get together, regardless of their political opinions and religious beliefs, to learn about and honor Taras Shevchenko?
What form such an organization would take is not easy to foresee, and it would be wrong to try to blueprint it in advance. Very likely it would evolve much as the various organizations of the Ukrainian immigrants evolved in the early decades of the century. One hopes, however, that it would be with much less trauma and fewer heartaches.
In the beginning, perhaps, all the young people of Ukrainian origin in a locality or a neighborhood could form a group with a name like Ukrainian Heritage Society, or a Ukrainian Roots Club, or some other original and novel name the young people are so adept at creating. Such a club or society could be in addition to or include the Ukrainian choir, folk dance group or other young people's activity group already existing in that locality. Eventually, perhaps, an umbrella group or a federation might be organized on a provincial or national basis to coordinate and assist these clubs and groups in their activities.
In any case, one common organization is the only way that some unity, cohesion and direction can be given to the process of passing on the heritage of the Ukrainian people to the coming generations.
John Boyd, formerly Boychuk, is a resident of Toronto. In his earlier years, he was a Communist and an active member in Ukrainian pro-Communist organizations - most of those years as an editor.
He left the Communist Party in 1968, immediately after the Soviet armed forces invaded Czecho-Slovakia, where he lived briefly at the time as a correspondent. A few years later, in the early 1970s, he became persona non grata with the leaders of left-wing Ukrainian organizations for critical remarks he made about them.
Now, at age 85, he is very concerned that young people of Ukrainian origin are losing touch with their cultural heritage. That prompted him to produce this paper, in the hope that it will stimulate discussion.
PART II
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 26, 1998, No. 30, Vol. LXVI
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