The Edna-Star colony is the largest and oldest of the Ukrainian Canadian block settlements. Located east of Edmonton, in east-central Alberta, the boundaries of the block settlement include all or part of multiple counties and municipal districts, census divisions numbers 12 and 10.
A block settlement is a type rural ethnic enclave found throughout Western Canada. The founding of this block settlement in 1891 marked the beginning of large-scale Ukrainian immigration to Canada. The region has been described at being as important to Ukrainian Canadian culture as Acadiana is to the Cajuns of Louisiana.
The colony was founded by a group of Ukrainian settlers led by Iwan Pylypow in 1891 (although he himself did not arrive until the next year). Pylypow’s first farm was near the present-day village of Star, Alberta, then called Edna, and the name Edna-Star was applied to the whole area retrospectively. Most of the settlers were from Pylypow’s home village of Nebyliv, Ukraine and the area was sometimes called the Nebyliv colony in their honour, although later settlers were from other areas of Austrian-controlled Ukraine, namely the provinces of Galicia and Bukovyna.
The location of the new settlement was chosen partly because of the existing Galician German settlement nearby at Josephburg. Ukrainians in Galicia were used to working with their German neighbours in the “Old Country” and many could speak some German. For new settlers, having a place to earn cash wages until their farm became productive was also extremely important, and the Germans were the logical place to turn. Another prime concern of the settlers was timber. This part of Alberta is part of the aspen Parkland biome, a relatively heavily-wooded area compared to the prairies further to the south. Much to the consternation of Anglo-Canadian authorities, the Ukrainians were willing to sacrifice time and effort to clear the land, and would even take lands of poor soil quality in order to secure treed land. This was because there was a severe wood shortage in Austrian Ukraine, and peasants became reliant on the pan (landlord) for the precious commodity, used in making all manner of tools and buildings. In Canada one could receive 180 acres (73 ha) of forested (or prairie) land for free under the Dominion Lands Act.
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