Ukrainians came to Canada in three waves, the first beginning in 1891, then the second in the 1920’s and 30’s. 40,000 Ukrainian Canadians served in the Canadian armed forces during WWII, including Bohdan Panchuk, an RCAF officer who played a pivotal role in organizing Ukrainian Canadian refugee relief efforts. At the end of the war, the third wave of Ukrainians fled Europe for western countries like Canada rather than returning home to live under the Soviets. Trudeau’s 1971 multiculturalism policy guaranteed protection for Ukrainian and other cultures, and when Ukraine finally won its long-sought independence in 1991, Canada was the first country to recognize its sovereignty.