Saint Raphael’s Ukrainian Immigrants’ Welfare Association of Canada

Saint Raphael’s Ukrainian Immigrants’ Welfare Association of Canada (Товариство опіки над українськими поселенцями ім. Св. Рафаїла в Канаді; Tovarystvo opiky nad ukrainskymy poselentsiamy im. sv. Rafaila v Kanadi). A benevolent society formed in Winnipeg in January 1925 to assist Ukrainians in emigrating to Canada. The founding committee included Bishop Nykyta Budka, A. Zahariichuk, Kornii Prodan, and Dmytro Elcheshen, its longtime secretary. It published Providnyk, Nove pole, and Preriia and worked with its Lviv-based counterpart, the Ukrainian Emigrant Aid Society (which continued the tradition of Saint Raphael Galician and Bukovynian Emigrant Aid Society). It ceased activities in 1938, after the Depression and restrictive government policies had brought Ukrainian immigration to Canada to a virtual halt.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]