Ontario is the most populous (2006 pop 12,028,895) and the second-largest (1,068,580 sq km) province of Canada, situated between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay. Its capital is Toronto.

According to the 2006 census, there were 336,355 Ukrainians in Ontario, representing 27.82 percent of the Ukrainian population in Canada. Of these, 55.615 had a "single" Ukrainian-only origin while 250,740 claimed a "multiple" (Ukrainian and other) origin. Some 48,620 stated Ukrainian as their mother tongue. The major Ukrainian communities include Toronto (122,510; 40,115 single/82,395 multiple), Hamilton (27,080; 6,690/20,390), Ottawa-Hull (21,520; j 790/17,730), Saint Catharines Niagara (20,990; 5 285/15,705), Thunder Bay (17,620; 3,430/14,190), Oshawa (12,555; 3,200/9,355), London (10,765; 2.380/8,385), Windsor (9,725; 2,055/7,660) and Kitchener (10,425; 1,980/8,455).

A concentration around the province's most populated industrial and administrative centers and the lack of bloc settlements in rural areas differentiates Ontario's Ukrainian community socially and culturally from those in other provinces, particularly in the prairies.

During the first wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada (1891-1914) most newcomers from Galicia and Bukovyna settled in the Prairies. A number did not make it the full distance and stopped off en route - in most cases temporarily - in Fort William. More commonly the earliest Ukrainians came as seasonal or migrant workers to Ontario, many of them hoping to accumulate enough capital to buy land back in their homeland or in the Prairies. They took jobs in the mines of Sudbury and district, Timmins, and Kirkland Lake; the lumber and paper mills of Kenora and Dryden in northwestern Ontario; the factories of Windsor and Oshawa; the foundries and plants of Hamilton; the railway yards and docks of Port Arthur and Fort William (later combined into Thunder Bay); and the food processing and manufacturing industries of Toronto. Some of them stayed in Ontario, where they set up cultural organizations and small parishes.

The second wave of immigration in the interwar period was driven, again, by land hunger in Galicia and Volynia. After fulfilling an obligatory stint at farm labor, many of the Ukrainian newcomers to Canada headed for mining or industrial centers offering better job opportunities. Many Prairie Ukrainians joined them in moving to Ontario, especially from the latter 1930s when that province's relatively better economic prospects proved particularly alluring.

The third wave of immigration (1947-52) consisted of displaced persons or refugees. About 75 percent of the newcomers, who were better educated than their predecessors and of an urban background, settled in Ontario. After fulfilling their one-year contracts on farms or in mines or forests, most moved to the cities and swelled the ranks of existing Ukrainian communities. The majority of the "fourth" wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, which began in the 1980s with arrivals from Poland and (now the former) Yugoslavia and has continued since the early 1990s with people from Ukraine itself, settled in Ontario (1991-2001 65%), particularly in Toronto.

The Ukrainian presence in Ontario grew significantly over time in terms of both absolute numbers and its relative portion of the Ukrainian-Canadian population from 3,078 in 1911 (4.0 percent of the total Ukrainian-Canadian population) to 24,426 in 1931 (10.9 percent), 93,595 in 1951 (23.8 percent), and 159,880 in 1971 (27.5 percent - proportion that it has more or less maintained consistently since that time).

The pace of organizational life followed suit. The earliest institutions among Ukrainians in the provinces tended to be church parishes, while early organizational life centered around mutual aid groups, Prosvita societies, choirs and orchestras, and drama groups. The pro-Communist Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association (ULFTA; later the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, AUUC) established a substantial presence in the province in the 1920s on the basis of earlier Ukrainian socialist groups that had been active there. In the secular realm it main challengers were the Hetmanite Canadian Sitch Organization (later the United Hetman Organization), the nationalist Ukrainian National Federation, and the various Ukrainian People's Homes, societies that grew out of the Prosvita societies. In-fighting existed among all these groups, although it was particularly bitter in the province with respect to the ULFTA. After the Second World War, the Hetmanite forces faded into obscurity, while the AUUC began a period of decline. The Ukrainian National Federation was bolstered by an infusion of new blood from among the post-Second World War immigrants. The recent arrivals also established the Canadian League for Ukraine's Liberation, which had its strongest presence in Ontario, as well as the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association. An umbrella organization for Ukrainian organizations in Ontario, the Ontario Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (now Congress), was established in 1970.

The earliest Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Ontario were established in 1909 in Toronto and Fort William, followed in the teens by parishes and churches in locales such as Hamilton, Kenora, Kitchener, and Ottawa. The Ukrainian Catholic presence expanded as the number of faithful grew. In 1948 the Aprostolic Exarchate of Eastern Canada was established. It became the Eparchy of Toronto (later adding "and Eastern Canada" to its name) in 1956. The eparchy was headed from its very beginnings by Isidore Borecky until his retirement in 1998. He was succeeded by Cornelius Pasichny (1998-2003) and Stephen Chmilar (2003). The first Orthodox congregation among Ukrainians in Ontario were established in Oshawa in 1916 and Welland in 1917, although these were initially affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Mission in the United States. The first Ukrainian Orthodox parishes were established in the 1920s, although they started coming into their own only from the latter 1930s. The Ontario parishes are under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada's Eastern Diocese, which was created in 1951. It has been headed by bishops Mikhail Khoroshy (1951-77), Mykola Debryn (1978-81), Wasyly Fedak, acting bishop, 1981-92), and Yurij Kalischuk (1992).

To preserve their culture and language, Ukrainians have maintained their own privately funded evening and Saturday schools and have taken advantage of the provincially funded heritage language programs in public and Catholic elementary schools. Ukrainian-English bilingual schools such as those found in the Prairie provinces, have never existed historically in Ontario and are not found there today. Courses in Ukrainian language and literature have been taught at the University of Toronto (U of T) since the 1950s, and in the late 1970s the Ukrainian community raised money to establish the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the university. As well they have courses in Ukrainian language, literature, and history at York University. Since its founding in 1976 the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies has had a presence at the U of T. In 2001, the university established the Peter Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine. Since 1990 the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies has seen located at Saint Paul's University in Ottawa. The University of Ottawa has a Chair of Ukrainian Studies, .which was established in 1995 and finally occupied in 2003. In the past courses in Ukrainian studies have been taught at McMaster University (Hamilton), the University of Windsor, the University of Ottawa, and Carleton University (Ottawa).

Toronto

Ukrainians began to settle in Toronto early in the 20th century. The first "recorded" Ukrainian arrival was Dmytro Yavorsky, who came in 1901 from Galicia. In 1903 a number of transplanted Ukrainian-American immigrants arrived in the city. They were soon joined by a small but steady stream of immigrants from the Western Ukrainian regions of Galicia and Bukovyna. Many of these were migrant laborers who sojourned in the city through the winter before heading off in search of seasonal work in more northerly climes. But enough settled to establish a stable community in the Junction district near Dundas along present-day Dupont Avenue (known then as Royce).

By 1921 there may have been up to 7,000 Ukrainians in the city, and by 1931 the estimate reached 9,000 (although census figures at that time note only 5,138 Ukrainians out of a total Toronto population of 861,950 and a Ukrainian Canadian population of 225,113). Some 2,500 or more of the city's Ukrainians were concentrated in the Royce Street area, where they were becoming the dominant ethnic group locally. Many of the remaining Ukrainians had settled around Bathurst Street in the Queen&Dundas area west of the city's downtown core, a large immigrant quarter which also included numerous East European Jews.

During the 1940s Toronto's Ukrainian population continued to grow, initially as a result of the migration of Ukrainians to the city from other parts of Canada (particularly the Prairie provinces). Starting in 1946-47 the city saw a major influx from the third wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada - the so-called DPs or Displaced Persons, who had arrived as political rather than economic immigrants. By 1951 Toronto's Ukrainian population stood at 30,400, and, after Winnipeg, it was the second-most important urban Ukrainian centre in Canada.

In the 1950s and 1960s the locus of the city's Ukrainian population began to move westward into the High Park area near Bloor Street (notably between Runnymede and Jane streets), continuing further west over time into Etobicoke and Mississauga.

Toronto has experienced two more influxes of Ukrainian settlement in recent times. In the 1980s thousands of Ukrainians from Poland arrived in Toronto in the in the wake of that country's political turmoil. In the first decade following Ukrainian independence (1991-2001), nearly 14,000 immigrants from Ukraine - approximately 60 per cent of the total arriving in Canada, legally settled in Toronto. Their numbers have been supplemented by several thousand per annum in the years that followed (the fact that Canadian immigration statistics no longer note specific country of origin render offering a precise number impossible). As such, one could safely estimate the number of recent immigrants from Ukraine in Toronto to be about 18,000 in 2004. With the latest immigration a new area of concentrated Ukrainian settlement has emerged in the west-end Evans-Lakeshore area.

In 2006 there were 122,510 Ukrainians (out of a total population of 5,072,075) in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area. Of these, 40,115 claimed a single ethnic origin, while 82,395 had multiple ethnic origins.

The social structure of Toronto's Ukrainian community has changed considerably over the years. The first immigrants were mostly unskilled, low-paid laborers attracted by jobs on the railways (in the Junction area), in factories and construction, and in domestic service. The interwar era saw the appearance of skilled workers, tradesmen, small businessmen and even some professionals. After the Second World War a significant number of Ukrainians with professional skills settled in Toronto. By 1971 the social profile of the Ukrainian community almost matched that of the general community and by 1996 the number of Ukrainian professionals was above the Toronto median. The most recent wave of immigration is notable for its nearly universal high level of education, although many have ended up retooling for other professions.

Ottawa

Ottawa - the capital of Canada, situated on the banks of the Ottawa River, which serves as the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The city is located in eastern Ontario, some 400 km east of Toronto and 190 km west of Montreal. With a population (2001) of 900,000, it is the second largest city in the province. Ottawa was founded in 1850 as Bytown. A large number of museums, official residences, and government buildings can be found there.

Approximately 20,000 people of Ukrainian origin live in the city. Notwithstanding their relatively modest numbers (a reflection of the fact that Ottawa never had the sort of industrial infrastructure that would attract large numbers of immigrants), the Ukrainians have a strong presence in the city. As well, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada, which deals with major affairs of state, is located here. Embassy of Ukraine

Delegations from Ukraine as well as renown politicians and activists frequently visit Ottawa. In addition, many Ukrainian Canadians work in Canadian state institutions. Some of them have left a strong mark on the history of Canada in general and Ottawa in particular.

Although there is no concentrated area of Ukrainian settlement in Ottawa as in Winnipeg or Toronto, there are places around Ottawa (park and street names as well as public monuments) that speak of the Ukrainians' history there.

By the outbreak of the First World War there were over 200 Ukrainians in Ottawa, living mainly around Preston and Rochester streets. In 1914 a Ukrainian Catholic parish (St. John the Baptist) was established under the watchful eye of Rev. Josyf Fylyma. The church used Roman Catholic churches for its services until 1918, when the parishioners decided to adapt a structure at the corner of Rochester and Balsam streets for their needs. The second religious community to be established in Ottawa, in 1918, was the Austro-Bukovynian Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity. There were an effort to establish a Ukrainian Protestant church in the city during the 1920s, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. At the same time, a number of Ukrainians would attend services at a local pan-Slavic Protestant mission church.

The majority of the earliest Ukrainian settlers went out West to settle virgin lands. A relatively small number of Ukrainians in Canada chose to live in the nation's capital. Early on, other than lumbermen, they were tradespeople and labourers. It was only in the 1930s that some talented individuals started to find employment in government departments

Ukrainian life in Ottawa went on like this until the Second World War and even beyond. The post-World War Two immigration, however, ushered in a new chapter in the history of the Ukrainian presence in Ottawa. With its arrival, new bodies began to be created, and the local cultural and organizational life began to flourish.

New institutions were created, such as the Ukrainian credit union, while some of the older groups slowly fell apart. The post-war immigration also brought with it political orientations and divisions, which have lasted to this day. To add to this mix, Ottawa became a special locale for Ukrainian-Canadian political activity. Frequent Ukrainian marches and protests before the Soviet embassy began to take place here and events would be held in front of the Parliament buildings or the Governor General's residence. Ukrainian community delegations approached the Canadian government with various demands or proposals. An ever-increasing number of Ukrainian Canadians began to work for the government, effectively turning the community's social profile from being labourers to being civil servants and administrators. In more recent times, as Ottawa became a leading centre for telecommunications and computer technology, a substantial number of Ukrainians - both from Canada and from Ukraine - have stood out in the local high-tech industries.

A renowned Ukrainian who left a positive impression on the city is Ramon Hnatyshyn, who served as Governor General of Canada from 1990 to 1995. One of the more popular things he did for the residents of Ottawa was to open up his Rideau Hall residence and its grounds (across from the Prime Minister's Sussex Drive address) to the public. These had been closed during the tenure of his predecessor.

On the left side of the central promenade of the grounds can be found an item of particular interest to Ukrainians, namely a tree planted by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma in October 1994 during a visit to Canada and a tree planted by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko on May 26, 2008 during his State Visit to Canada. These trees are marked with the plaques. As well, the wife of the then 24th Governor General, Gerda Hnatyshyn, established a Rose Garden which dedicates a rose for each of the peoples of Canada and major events in the country's history. The Ukrainians are commemorated there by the Chloris, which was first bred in France during the Napoleonic era.

The next notable monument, well known to Ottawa residents and difficult for visitor of the capital to miss, is a statue of John Diefenbaker. It was created by Leonid Molodozhanyn of Winnipeg, who is better known in Canada as Leo Mol, and is located on Parliament Hill between the West and Centre blocks.