Reflections on the 111 - Ukrainian Settlement Manitoba, Canada
July 30, 2019
I attended a service for remembering the Ukrainian settlements and the mass graves of the people who perished on their journey's from the old world seeking the new, arriving in rural (Olha) Rossburn, Manitoba.
In order to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been. Long standing communities and culture binds people together like a cozy patch work quilt. Each square representative of a story. A mosaic of a persons, family, history, township or range.
In the 1800's, early 1900's, boldly going to where no Ukrainian had gone before, my ancestors sought out to discover the new world. Arriving to Canada. Some, put into "concentration camps", others fielded to work the lands and built little houses on the prairies.
All people, searching for something better.
Until they are ready to bring us to the cemetery to bury us. The long journey home to freedom is sometimes tainted with tears of joy and bloodshed. However, that which does not kill us, will only make us stronger. Beginning again at ground zero in Manitoba, Canada. There is always hope for a life of peace, prosperity and progress.
Source
https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/mun/m045.html Government of Manitoba
Manitoba Municipal Heritage Site No. 45
Ukrainian Pioneer Mass Grave Site SW 22-19-23 WPM Oakburn area
The Ukrainian Pioneer Mass Grave Site is a tangible link to the struggle, devastation and loss experienced by newly arrived Ukrainian immigrants in the Vista area in 1899. After enduring an arduous journey to escape persecution in the Ukraine and to seek a better life, a group of immigrants temporarily camped at this location (pending the allocation of homesteads) suffered an outbreak of scarlet fever that took the lives of over 40 children and three adults.
They were buried en masse as the frozen ground made individual burial too difficult. About 50 years later the remains were removed to the present location, approximately 100 metres north of the original burial site. The gravesite, a unique example of a pioneer mass burial in Manitoba, is now a place of mourning, pride, gratitude and celebration for surviving Ukrainian pioneers and their descendants.
This continued importance is demonstrated by various monuments erected in association with significant events and by regular use of the site to celebrate Ukrainian settlement in Canada.
2019 Photographs To Follow
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