This short song by G. Scott MacLeod celebrates Ukrainians who came to Canada in the 19^th and 20^th centuries to start a new life. Isolated individuals of Ukrainian background may have come to Canada during the War of 1812 as mercenaries in the De Meuron and de Watteville regiments. It is possible that others participated in Russian exploration and colonization on the West Coast, or came with Mennonite and other German immigrants in the 1870s, or entered Canada from the US. The first major immigration (170 000 peasants, primarily from Galicia and Bukovina) occurred between 1891 and 1914. Initiated by Ivan Pylypiw and Wasyl Eleniak, the movement grew after 1896, when Canada solicited agricultural immigrants from eastern Europe.

Related book: ‘Valley of the Birdtail, Sniderman and Sanderson, 2022, Harper Collins