Russians
Migration and Settlement
The first Russians in Canada were fur hunters, based in present-day Alaska, who operated among the Queen Charlotte Islands [Haida Gwaii] and along the coast farther south in the 1790s, and several Russian officers on detached service with the British navy, who were based at Halifax from 1793-95.
Although some Russian officials had urged occupation of coastal lands as far as Spanish California, Russian aspirations were cut short by the 1824 and 1825 conventions with Great Britain and the US, which restricted Russian America to the present Canada-Alaska border.
Both Canadian and Russian official restrictions usually hindered emigration from Russia. Therefore, most early immigrants to Canada from Russia arrived in groups, through special arrangement. Between 1874 and 1880, nearly 8000 German MENNONITE colonists from southern Russia settled in Saskatchewan, and in 1899, 7500 Doukhobors settled in Canada, aided in Russia by the famous writer Leo Tolstoy and in Canada by Professor James MAVOR and Clifford SIFTON, then minister of the interior. Beginning in the 1890s, several thousand Russian JEWS emigrated, seeking relief from ghetto life and the pogroms of western Russia. Small Russian communities were established in Montréal, Toronto, Windsor, Timmins, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria.
Most of the early immigrants were peasants who found work in various industries. After WWI many of the one million Russians (the majority of them agricultural and industrial labourers) fleeing the effects of the Russian Revolution sought admission to Canada. Men willing to work as farm labourers, loggers and miners were preferred immigrants in Canada, but those Russian intellectuals who gained admittance and managed to continue in their own professions did outstanding work in many fields. Leonid I. Strakhovsky (1898-1963) pioneered Slavic studies at the University of Toronto. Boris P. Babkin (1877-1950) resumed his career in gastroenterology at Dalhousie and McGill universities. Nicholas, Vladimir, Alexis and George IGNATIEFF, the 4 sons of Count Paul Ignatieff, the last minister of education under Tsar Nicholas II, made important contributions to engineering and government. Paraskeva Clark (née Plistik) became a well-known painter. Some Russians-Canadians joined the Canadian MACKENZIE-PAPINEAU BATTALION, which fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War.
The Great Depression and WWII virtually halted immigration of all nationalities, but between 1948 and 1953 a significant number of Russians immigrated to Canada. They included some who had originally left Russia and settled in Europe, but the majority were among the millions of displaced person who found themselves in Germany after the war either because they opposed Stalin or because they had been sent there as forced labour. Both groups were generally young, well educated, urban-oriented and aware of their Russian heritage.
After 1953 Russian immigration declined severely (in the early 1970s the average per year from all of the Soviet Union was only 230), although the Soviet government began at that time to allow the emigration of some Jews. By the late 1980s, about 1500 Soviet Jewish immigrants had been admitted to Canada. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of 1991, Russian Jews have continued to be an important part of immigration from the Russian Federation. Ontario has the largest population of Russian origin (106 710), followed by British Columbia (86 110), Alberta (62 750), Saskatchewan (27 695), Manitoba (27 415) and Québec (22 630).
Social and Cultural Life
Although Russian Canadians claim affiliation with a diversity of churches (in order of numbers: the United Church of Canada, Russian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic), the ORTHODOX CHURCH is still the traditional centre for the most vocal and active of those claiming Russian origin or descent.
There are some 40 Russian Orthodox parishes in Canada; half belong to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the remainder to the Orthodox Church in America, which includes in its membership a number of non-Russian churches which also follow the Byzantine rite. One of the oldest Russian Canadian parishes is that of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (an Orthodox Church of America member) founded in Montréal in 1907.
Within the Russian community a broad spectrum of political organizations has been formed. During the 1930s some Russian Canadians were drawn to the left-leaning Russian Farmer-Worker Clubs. Closed by government order in 1939, they reappeared after the USSR joined the Grand Alliance against the Nazis as the Federation of Russian Canadians in 1942.
The FRK organized some 15 branches in various Canadian cities and published the newspaper Vestnik (Herald), long the only Russian newspaper in Canada. In 1944 the FRK had about 4000 members; by 1949, after the spy trials resulting from the revelations of Igor GOUZENKO, membership dropped to 2709, and by the late 1980s to less than 800. The paper ceased publication in 1994.
The most active Russian organization in Toronto is the Russian Cultural Society (established 1950). Anticommunist in orientation, it published a journal Russkoe slovo v Kanade (Russian Word in Canada), and operated a centre for social and cultural activities. A small Literary Circle (1949), a Drama Circle, and the "Sovremennik" Publishing Association (1960) which publishes the literary journal Sovremennik (Contemporary) were also active. However, many of these and similar activities in other cities, particularly Vancouver, declined or died out in the 1980s, as the older generation diminished in number and influence, and younger immigrants less interested in emigre politics and cultural activities have become absorbed in the mass of Canadian society.
Education
Although Russian immigrants have eagerly entered their offspring in Canadian schools, some older immigrants have favoured schools established by church groups (the 2 largest are in Montréal and Toronto) and clubs for after-hours instruction in Russian language and culture. In 2006, 136 235 in Canada reported Russian as their mother tongue (first language learned) and another 660 reported Belarusian which is spoken in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Poland.
National Minorities
Author RICHARD A. PIERCE
Links to Other Sites
Canadian Multiculturalism Day
Canadian Heritage's guide to celebrating Canadian Multiculturalism Day.
PASSAGES TO CANADA
Immigrants to Canada from around the world have encountered many hardships, opportunities, and successes as they set out to establish a better life for themselves and their families in their adopted country. Listen to some of their personal stories at the "Passages to Canada" website. From the Historica-Dominion Institute.
Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples
The website for the "Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples." Click on the links for feature articles about Canada's many multicultural communities, access to their extensive digital archives collection, learning modules, and much more. From "Multicultural Canada."
Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada
This website offers Canadian population data (2006) by ethnic origin. Also, find information for individual provinces and territories by clicking the "Select a view" window above the chart. For more information, click on the "Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada" link at the top of the page. From the website for Statistics Canada.
Central Asia
A map of Central Asia from the United Nations website.
The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...
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