Community Life, Culture, and Religion

Soon after their arrival in Canada in the mid-1920s, Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants began to establish community organizations. The first of these was the Lemko Soiuz (Lemko Association), founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1929. Within a few years there were branches in Edmonton, Alberta; and Montreal, Quebec; and Hamilton, Windsor, and Fort William (Thunder Bay) in Ontario. The largest branch was in Toronto, and in 1935 it united with the other branches to form the Lemko Association of Canada. Composed largely of Carpatho-Rusyns (known locally as Lemkos) from Poland, the Lemko Association had as its goal the promotion of Carpatho-Rusyn culture in Canada through its own schools, theatrical groups, concerts, and lectures. The Canadian Lemkos joined their brethren in the United States to publish jointly – in their local Lemko Rusyn dialect – the newspapers Lemko (Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York, 1928–39) and Karpats’ka Rus’/ Carpatho-Rus’ (New York and Yonkers, N.Y., 1938– present).

The Lemko Association deliberately avoided any affiliation with Ukrainian-Canadian organizations, emphasizing instead the distinctiveness of Carpatho-Rusyn culture and/or its supposed affiliation with Russian culture. In that context, the group frequently referred to itself as “Carpatho-Russian.” The Lemko Association was also leftist in orientation and sympathetic towards the Soviet Union, which was perceived as an egalitarian state of Russian workers. As a result of these views, the Lemko Association came under suspicion by the Canadian authorities during the early years of World War II. But after the Soviet Union joined the Allied war effort, the large Toronto branch of the Lemko Association, hoping to capitalize on the Canadian public’s new, positive attitude towards the Soviet war effort, changed its name to the Karpatorusske Obshchestvo Bor’by s Fashyzmom (Carpatho-Russian Society for the Struggle Against Fascism). After the war, it was called the Karpatorusske Obshchestvo Kanady (Carpatho-Russian Society of Canada).

Under these various names, the Toronto organization was particularly active during the 1940s and 1950s, with its own Carpatho-Russian Choir, dance ensemble, dramatic circle, and youth magazine, Club 280 (Toronto, 1943–60). Through numerous concerts during World War II, the Carpatho-Russian Society helped maintain group consciousness and also raised over $40,000, which, in cooperation with the Canadian Red Cross and Russian Relief Fund, was used to purchase clothing and medicine for the Soviet army. After the war, the Toronto community opened a food cooperative and the Carpathian People’s Home, which today is still used for meetings. Led by the former youth activist Michael Lucas, the Toronto group adopted another new name, the Obshchestvo Karpatorusskykh Kanadtsev (Society of Carpatho-Russian Canadians). It also published a journal, Nash holos (Our Voice; Toronto, 1964–72), that was noted for its uncritical praise of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes it supported in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

In the years immediately following World War II, a new group of immigrants from Carpathian Rus’ arrived in Canada as displaced persons (DPs). Almost all settled in southern Ontario. Most of these newcomers identified themselves as Ukrainians, and they set up their own regional organizations such as the Canadian Lemkos’ Association and the Carpathian Sich Brotherhood (both based in Toronto). They did not interact with the older Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants but functioned instead as part of Canada’s much larger Ukrainian community.

Since the 1980s, the most active Carpatho-Rusyn community is the group from Yugoslavia’s Vojvodina Region (the Ba™ ka), based in Kitchener, Ontario. Because of Yugoslavia’s recognition of a distinct Rusyn nationality and its widespread support since World War II of Rusyn culture and education, these immigrants arrived in Canada with a clear sense of distinct identity. Their active community life, including an annual summer picnic and winter ball, has been spearheaded by a Kitchener businessman, Janko Sabadoš. In late 1995 the group founded the Ruske Druí tvo Sivernei Ameriki (Rusyn Society of North America), which publishes the Rusyn-language newsletter Hlasnïk (Kitchener, Ont., 1996–).

Perhaps even more important for Carpatho-Rusyns than secular organizations have been their churches. Whether Orthodox or Greek/Byzantine Catholic, Carpatho-Rusyns were, and still are, attached to their Eastern rite. Among its distinguishing features are the use of the Church Slavonic liturgical language in the divine liturgy; maintenance of the Julian calendar, with holidays like Christmas falling two weeks after 25 December; and, among the Orthodox, a married priesthood.

In contrast to the United States, Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants in Canada have never been numerous enough to have their own Orthodox or Greek Catholic church jurisdictions. Consequently, Rusyn-Canadian Orthodox joined Russian Orthodox churches, including the jurisdictions of the Synod Abroad, Patriarchal Exarchate, and especially the Orthodox Church of America. The status of Carpatho-Rusyn Greek Catholics was more complex. Initially they attended either local Roman Catholic churches, Ukrainian Catholic churches, or independent Eastern-rite Catholic parishes like the one in Lethbridge, Alberta. In the 1960s the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto appointed an auxiliary bishop, Michael Rusnak, for Greek Catholics from the former Hungarian Kingdom, that is, for Carpatho-Rusyns and Slovaks. Bishop Rusnak was given authority over eight “Slovak” Greek Catholic parishes throughout Canada. These formed the basis of a new Slovak Byzantine Catholic Eparchy created for Canada by the Vatican in 1980. As a result, most Carpatho-Rusyn Greek Catholics are today part of the Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church.