With the end of World War II, an unprecedented displacement of Ukrainians from their homeland took place. Among the displaced were tens of thousands of people who either supported or were active in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and most of whom had been victims of Nazi and Soviet repression. They constituted the backbone of the third wave of Ukrainian immigrants to reach the West after World War II. They were highly motivated political immigrants fresh from the resistance frontlines of Ukraine.

About 40,000 of these political immigrants came to Canada, renewing and strengthening within the established Ukrainian Canadian community the bond with their homeland, and exposing it directly to the new historical and political realities enveloping Ukraine. Against this historical and political background, a large number of Ukrainian newcomers to Canada considered it their life-long duty to maintain an awareness of their nation's struggle for independence. As a result, the Canadian League for the Liberation of Ukraine and the Women's Association of the Canadian League for the Liberation of Ukraine were established.

The founding conference of the Canadian League for the Liberation of Ukraine took place on December 25, 1949, at which time the name, constitution, aims, goals and program of activities for the new organization were ratified and adopted. These documents reflect an intuitively accurate insight into what Canada is all about: a country with a developing socio-political system conducive to unhindered political, social, cultural and economic activity and integration into Canadian society through the existing mosaic of ethnocultural communities, each free to preserve its own identity, heritage and ties with its homeland. The wartime experience and motivation of the nationalist-minded new immigrants quickly coalesced into an organizational vision which, in turn, was translated into swift growth and dynamic activity evident to this day.

After the organizing stage was over, and both organizations became established in Canada with their basic tenets accepted by the mainstream Ukrainian Canadian community, on May 8, 1959 the League and the Women's Association formally joined the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, the umbrella organization for Ukrainian Canadians. In the late 1960's, the League was also a founding member of the World Ukrainian Liberation Front and the World Congress of Free Ukrainians.

An aggressive membership drive and a dynamic program of political, social, educational and cultural activities ensured a steady growth of the League and the Women's Association. The two organizations supported private heritage schools for children, helped to establish the Studium Research Institute and the Association for the Advancement of Ukrainian Culture, and continued to organize annual celebrations and commemorations of important events and figures in Ukrainian history, culture and politics.

The League's community-oriented activities were intended to preserve and qualitatively raise the level of Ukrainian consciousness among its membership and within the community in general. Thus, publishing became a key aspect of the League's activities. Most significantly, its membership founded a weekly community newspaper, called Homin Ukrainy (Ukrainian Echo). Among other mass media endeavours, seventeen of the League's branches have, at one time or another, sponsored weekly Ukrainian-language radio programs. In addition, the League established some 20 community centres for its more than 50 branches.

The League's main focus, however, was on the promotion of national independence for Ukraine and human rights for the Ukrainian people, while advancing the interests of the Ukrainian Canadian community within the framework of multiculturalism in Canada. Public actions included rallies, demonstrations, political mass meetings, seminars, conferences, public lectures, petitions and mass mailings.

Among the League's very first successful initiatives on the Canadian scene was a 1951 lobbying effort encouraging the Canadian government to introduce Ukrainian-language radio programming to the "Voice of Canada". Beginning in 1964 with the submission of a brief to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the League effectively became a participant in the national debate on the nature of our society, supporting a policy of multiculturalism for Canada.

Other major initiatives included the establishment of an Information Office in Ottawa (May 1967), the publishing of an English-language newsletter, called Our Viewpoint, the participation in Ukrainian Week at Expo '67 (August 1967), and the organization of a series of rallies and demonstrations beginning in 1950 and onward. The League was involved in major community initiatives, including mass demonstrations which marked the 20th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine, 1932-1933 (Toronto 1953), the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine in 1983, and the anti-Soviet demonstration in front of the Soviet embassy on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution (November 1967).

The 1970s and 1980s were noted for political actions demanding the release of Ukrainian political prisoners in the Soviet Union. Of particular international notoriety was the protracted hunger strike by a group of young Ukrainian Canadians in front of the Soviet embassy in Ottawa (July-August 1974), followed by large scale demonstrations focusing on the plight of incarcerated Ukrainian historian, Valentyn Moroz, and other political prisoners.

In December 1980, the League and its affiliated organizations formed The Council for the Release of Ukrainian Political Prisoners to focus on the plight of the many individuals imprisoned in the Soviet Union for their political beliefs. In 1985 and 1986, the Council presented documented briefs on national and human rights violations in Ukraine at the CSCE Hearings in Ottawa.

When the Chornobyl nuclear disaster occurred in Ukraine in April 1986, the League and the Women's Association took part in all community actions, demanding a full investigation of the accident and disclosure of the results, as well as making several attempts to channel help to the victims.

In 1991, the League for the Liberation of Ukraine, similar to other Ukrainian organizations in the West, began a new era of its existence. With the proclamation of an independent Ukraine, the focus shifted to building a strong, democratic, economically stable, independent country. The League for the Liberation of Ukraine changed its name to the League of Ukrainian Canadians and began searching for ways not only to assist Ukrainians in Ukraine with their difficult task, but also to further harness its potential for the benefit of the Ukrainian community in Canada.

Learn more about the League's history.