Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   The term “diaspora” means those Ukrainians who reside abroad. Nowadays every third Ukrainian lives beyond Ukraine. The greatest number of people of the Ukrainian origin (almost 2 million) live in the USA; one million people live in Canada and half a million live in Poland and Romania.
   The first Ukrainians came to Canada on the 7^th of September, 1891. They were Ivan Pylypiv and Vasyl Jelenyak from the village of Nebylin. Their life in this country was very difficult because they were often discriminated and exploited. These first immigrants were illiterate Ukrainian peasants and they mostly went in for farming.
   The second and third waves consisted of better educated people, who began to work in various sectors of Canadian economy.
   The last wave of the Ukrainian immigrants to Canada are well educated people, who have graduated from colleges and universities. So they work in business or industry, services or universities. The Canadian Ukrainians try to preserve their cultural traditions. There are many Ukrainian churches, amateur art groups, community centres and museums, which preserve Ukrainian cultural legacy.
   The Ukrainian language is taught at 12 universities and at some schools. There are several Ukrainian publishing houses in the country, too. In Canada there are monuments to such prominent Ukrainians as Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko and Vasyl Stephanyk.
   The Ukrainian community in Canada is one of the largest and best organized communities in the country.