Ivan Pylypiv or Iwan Pylypow and Vasyl Eleniak were the first Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 immigrants to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1891–93.

Pylypow was born in the village of Nebyliv in Kalush

Kalush, Ukraine

-Notable residents:*Stepan Bandera*August Aleksander Czartoryski*Jakub Sobieski*Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski*Tomasz Zamoyski*Fedir Danylak-Twin towns — sister cities:Kalush, Ukraine is twinned with:- Location :Local orientationRegional orientation...

 county (povit

Powiat

A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as "county", although other terms are also sometimes used...

) in Austrian Galicia. He was a peasant logging contractor, and after falling on hard times considered finding a better life abroad, like many other Galicians of the time. Pylypiv had heard about free lands in Canada from German neighbours, and after corresponding with former classmate Johan Krebs, who had settled near Medicine Hat, Alberta

Medicine Hat, Alberta

Medicine Hat, known to locals as "The Hat", is a city of 61,097 people located in the southeastern part of the province of Alberta, Canada. It is enclaved within Cypress County along with the nearby Town of Redcliff, although neither is part of the county....

, he set off for Canada with his friends Eleniak and Tyt Ziniak in the fall of 1891.

Ziniak was turned back at the Austrian border, but Pylypiv and Eleniak travelled via Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they met several German loggers who had worked for Pylypow. They visited the loggers' homesteads near Langenburg, Saskatchewan

Langenburg, Saskatchewan

Langenburg is a town in the rural municipality of Langenburg, RM No. 181, located within the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities SARM Division No. 1 and Census Division No...

, and went as far west as Calgary, Alberta. Unimpressed with the land near the railway, they went back to Manitoba, where a visit to a Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 settlement at Gretna

Gretna, Manitoba

Gretna is a town in south-central Manitoba, Canada. It is located just north of the Canada - United States border on PTH 30. As of 2006, the population of Gretna was 574. It is bordered on the west, north, and east by the Rural Municipality of Rhineland. On the south it is bordered by Pembina...

 convinced Pylypow that Canada was a viable destination. Eleniak, out of money, stayed to work for the winter, while Pylypow returned to Galicia for their families before settling in Canada permanently.

When he arrived back in Austro-Hungary his account of vast, unsettled lands prompted both excitement and skepticism. When some learned that Pylypiv expected to receive a commission from a Hamburg steamship company and accused him of swindling, he was arrested for sedition, soliciting emigration

Emigration

Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...

, and fraud. After awaiting trial for three months in jail, on May 12, 1892, he was sentenced to another month. Although Pylypiv's efforts at promotion were doused, his arrest and trial had generated publicity, and seven families led by Anton Paish and Mykola Tychkovsky set off for the Canadian Prairies

Canadian Prairies

The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

. A few stopped to work briefly with Eleniak in Gretna, and then continued on to meet the rest in Alberta. With the help of Krebs, the families found homesteads near a German-speaking colony, north-east of Edmonton.

Pylypiv and his family finally caught up with the group in 1893, settling at Edna-Star, Alberta

Edna-Star, Alberta

The Edna-Star colony is the largest and oldest of the Ukrainian Canadian block settlements. Located east of Edmonton, in east-central Alberta, the boundaries of the block settlement include all or part of multiple counties and municipal districts, census divisions numbers 12 and 10.- Background :A...

, in the vicinity of Fort Saskatchewan.

His farmhouse is now a part of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is an open-air museum that uses costumed historical interpreters to recreate pioneer settlements in east central Alberta, Canada. In particular it shows the lives of Ukrainian Canadian settlers from the years 1899 to 1930...

, located east of Edmonton, Alberta. The "Pylypow Industrial" subdivision of Edmonton, and Pylypow Lake in Saskatchewan are also named after him.

See also

• Ukrainian Canadian
  Ukrainian Canadian
  A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
  
  
• Josef Oleskow, another early promoter of Ukrainian emigration to Canada

External links

• Seeds in Their Pockets: Real-time borshch and chichky at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village by Marilynn McAra
• Pylypow's story at Alberta: Home, Home on the Plains
• Pylypow house at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village Guided Tour
• Historic Gardens Bloom Again at Ukrainian Village at Alberta Heritage
• Wasyl Eleniak at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Wasyl Eleniak at the Alberta Heritage Alphabet