Canada was not in a welcoming mood when Ukrainian and other refugees began arriving in Canada after the second world war. In this book Lubomyr Luciuk delineates the efforts of the established Ukrainian-Canadian community to rescue and resettle Ukrainian refugees, despite the indifference and even hostility of the Canadian government. He shows how this triangular relationship coloured federal attitudes to both the resident old-guard Ukrainian population and the ancestral Ukrainian homeland. Luciuk draws on personal diaries and correspondence, over 300 in-depth interviews, and previously unmined government archives to interpret the meaning and value of the Ukrainian experience in Canada. Using a host of contextual sidelights to illuminate larger historical issues, Luciuk produces an account that is both scholarly and intimate. Above all, he reveals how the Ukrainian-Canadian identity has been manipulated, negotiated and recast during the 100 years of its existence. Treating matters that were virtually incendiary in their day, Luciuk tells his story with journalistic skill and a clear interpretive vision.
"Searching for Place" is a thorough, meticulous and original contribution to the study of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.