Joseph Oleskiw

Who was Joseph Oleskiw?

Dr. Joseph Oleskiw or Jósef Olesków was a Ukrainian professor who promoted Ukrainian immigration to the Canadian prairies. His efforts helped encourage the initial wave of settlers which began the Ukrainian Canadian community.

After hearing of the struggles of Ukrainian immigrants in Brazil, Oleskiw investigated alternative choices. He determined that the Canadian prairies were the most suitable for the Ukrainian farmers. This led to two pamphlets in Ukrainian – "On Free Lands", and "On Emigration" – and one in Polish. Oleskiw believed in selective emigration. His first group of settlers were thirty hand-picked families, led by his brother Vladymir, who arrived in Canada in Quebec City on April 30, 1896. The majority of these immigrants settled in Edna, Alberta.

Due in part to the widespread distribution of Oleskiw's literature, Ukrainians became the largest Slavic group in Canada, with a population of 170,000 by 1914. Although Oleskiw promoted emigrants based on their assimilationist tendencies, the mass of Ukrainians that followed them tended to retain their cultural heritage.