Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of a bill to recognize Ukrainian heritage month. I do so not only as a member of Parliament representing a vibrant region rooted rich in Ukrainian heritage, but also as a proud Canadian of Ukrainian descent myself, whose own story is tied to the same pioneer spirit that built so much of the Prairies.
Canada is a nation built by people who were willing to start with almost nothing and then work hard until something was built. In my rural Manitoba constituency of Riding Mountain, that story is written across the land by the Ukrainian pioneers who settled in the region.
In 1899, 16 ships arrived in Halifax after crossing the Atlantic. These ships were carrying Ukrainian families fleeing oppression from the Austro-Hungarian rule in their home province of Galicia.
I have to say that I did not realize until preparing for this speech that my grandparents could potentially have been on that ship.
Around 400 settlers travelled west by train from Winnipeg to Strathclair, Manitoba, and then moved by wagon and oxen into a region that had little to offer in the Patterson Lake district.
Before they even reached the land they planned to homestead, the hardship began to claim lives. Along the way, children died between Portage la Prairie and Minnedosa and were buried along the railway tracks. Thirteen more children died near Strathclair and were buried at the Bend Cemetery. These deaths resulted in many families being quarantined at Strathclair while others travelled onward to the Patterson Lake region. We sometimes forget this part of the pioneer story. The hardship did not begin at the homesteads; it began on the journey.
Then, on May 10, 1899, the settlers who reached Patterson Lake district arrived on a cold, rainy day. They sheltered in canvas tents, exhausted, wet and exposed. That night, a spring snowstorm moved in. The harsh weather and living conditions fuelled an epidemic of scarlet fever that spread fast. Forty-two children and three adults tragically died from this disease. They were buried on a nearby quarter section of land that is now known locally as the mass grave, to which visitors from across Canada travel today to pay their respects and learn about our heritage. It is there, at the gravesite, that a simple wooden sign captures the meaning of this story better than any speech ever could. It reads, “This memorial commemorates the suffering perseverance and courage of those pioneers who overcame tragedy. They carved homesteads out of forest and made life possible for us: their descendants.”
The phrase about carving “homesteads out of forest” is not a metaphor but an accurate description of what these pioneers did. The land in the region did not come cleared and ready to farm; it was rugged, hilly, treed and rocky. It was land one had to make livable with an axe and a tremendous amount of hard labour. The rules of settlement reflected that reality.
The Canadian government granted 168 acres to each settler for the sum of $10, but only if they took up the homestead and broke 30 acres of land. In other words, the opportunity was real, but it came with a clear expectation of work and responsibility, something these pioneers did not shy away from. They were not coming to take advantage of Canada; they were coming to build Canada, to earn their place by contributing to our nation through the toughest conditions. That is the story of these Ukrainian pioneers who settled in the Patterson Lake district of Manitoba.
If one goes to Olha, Manitoba, today, one comes up to a quiet rural intersection, yet within a few miles one can see this entire pioneer story gathered in one place. One can see St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church, a beautiful church that was established in 1904. It serves as a reminder that these settlers built not only farms but faith and community. Inside the church is a metal-bound gospel book from Lviv that records a prayer offered there for “our Canadian Ukraine...written [down] for eternal remembrance”.
To the southwest is a mass gravesite, the place that pays tribute to the tragedy I spoke about earlier, when scarlet fever swept through that first camp of settlers. To the east are the Swistun buddas, reconstructions of the first tent-shaped shelters the pioneers lived in, which are built from mud and hay. Michael Swistun, who was born in a budda in 1900, later reconstructed these structures to preserve this heritage.
A few miles north of Olha is the Marconi School, a one-room schoolhouse built in the early 1920s to serve the children of the pioneer families who were building homesteads. Today, it is a well-preserved heritage site where the names of the teachers who taught in the Marconi School are etched in chalk on the blackboard.
Right at the intersection is Olha General Store, which was built in 1940 and is still serving the area today. For decades, it has been run by Marion Koltusky, who was born on the same land her grandparents first homesteaded. Marion is one of the area's most prominent stewards of Ukrainian pioneer heritage, and I thank her. She has welcomed visitors from all over the world and carried forward the spirit and history of the people who built the region. I was honoured to present her with the King Charles III's Coronation Medal in Olha last summer.
The stories surrounding Olha and the Patterson Lake district are only one pioneer story in the constituency I represent, but it reflects so many others across rural Manitoba. There are hundreds of stories like it throughout the region, from Rossburn to Russell to Sandy Lake and everywhere in between. They are stories of families that arrived with little, worked the difficult land and built lives from the ground up.
They built institutions that made Canada what it is today. With churches, schools, stores and a cultural spirit that still holds many rural regions together today, these communities preserve their heritage because it is part of who they are. For example, the community of Dauphin, Manitoba, is home to Canada's National Ukrainian Festival, where families gather each year to pass down music, dance and tradition to the next generation.
I mentioned earlier the wooden sign next to the mass grave overlooking Patterson Lake. That sign stands on the gravesite where the families buried 42 of their children, and it looks out over the land that these pioneers refused to abandon. The simple, wooden sign reads, “They carved homesteads out of forest and made life possible for us: their descendants”.
In closing, may we be worthy descendants who strengthen what we inherited; who do not just enjoy what was built, but build again; and who keep Canada a country where tradition, responsibility and hard work still matter.