Behind the Wire

Nykyta Budka, the first bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada, took up his duties in December 1912. He was hard-working and toured the dominion, reaching out to the Galicians (as most Ukrainians were then called) who had been urged by the Laurier Liberals to help populate the Canadian West. On July 27, 1914, when war seemed likely in Europe, he issued a pastoral letter urging reservists of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to return home to do their duty.

That call, not alarming when made, looked very different when Britain declared war on Germany and on the Austro-Hungarian Empire in early August. Not yet in control of its own foreign affairs, Canada was automatically at war, and Budka hastily withdrew his letter on August 6. Too late, however. The Canadian public, not particularly sympathetic to immigrants from central Europe, now was both hostile to and frightened of Ukrainian settlers. Ottawa would have to act.

Bohdan S. Kordan is a historian of...