When most people think of “Ukrainian Pioneers” what they usually have in mind is a large family of peasant settlers in sheepskin coats and traditional Western Ukrainian dress clearing bush on their homesteads, mudding thatched roof homes, and ploughing fields with the help of oxen. That, or working as miners and loggers in remote frontier settings, or laying railway tracks, building roads, digging sewers and doing construction work on buildings in booming towns cities.
Neither stereotype really applied to Michael Gowda, though he did spend a year working at various labouring jobs as he made his way across Canada to Edmonton—his chosen destination—after landing in Halifax harbour in the summer of 1897. By the time he finally disembarked from the train at Strathcona station on 18 May 1898 in what is now south Edmonton, he had picked up enough English to get himself hired within days as an interpreter and salesman for the Bellamy Agricultural Implements Company—in the process becoming the first Ukrainian to take up permanent residence in the city of Edmonton. That is why he could describe himself as “the First Ukrainian Citizen in Edmonton” in a letter to the editor published in the Edmonton Bulletin on 27 October 1933. Michael’s life-story is an example of the often overlooked “Urban Ukrainian Pioneer Experience,” which was no less challenging, or rewarding, than that of fellow pioneers who carved productive farms out of the wilderness or helped build the economy of Canada with their sweat and physical labour.
A video recording of Jars Balan’s Webinar presentation can be found here. We also have recordings of the Introductory and Closing segments from that evening.
© Jars Balan 2025. All rights reserved. No images or content from this presentation may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the presenter. Access to this recording is solely for educational and informational purposes.