Ukrainian culture in Saskatchewan

Today was the first day we made it to an official church service since arriving in Canada. Last week we were at family camp. We went to the Hafford Gospel Fellowship. Melody's parents have been going there for a few years now. They were at the Anglican church in Borden previously, but left after rampant liberalism has dominated in the Anglican Church of Canada. Related issues are likely to arise in Australia over the next few years.
Before we left for Russia in May 2006 the Hafford Fellowship took us under their wings. It was nice to have a fellowship of people take a keen interest in us in Canada, even if I did not know them all very closely. Melody has known some of them all her life.


The Hafford Gospel Fellowship celebrated their 25th birthday today. It was fun to be a part of their special day. Hafford is a little Ukrainian town about half an hour further north of Borden. ("Where is Borden?" you ask. Borden is the little town we are living in at the moment. It's where Melody grew up, and where we spent our first year of marriage. It's half an hour out of Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan. Look it up on Google maps, if you are still completely puzzled.) Ukrainians settled there in the early part of the 1900s. In fact much of Saskatchewan was settled in the early 1900s, when cheap farm land was sold. Ukrainians were one of the groups of people to settle Saskatchewan. Hafford is not the only Ukrainian town, but it is the largest in the area.


People all speak English in Hafford these days, although many of them still know Ukrainian and speak it to each other. These street signs are a little evidence of living Ukrainian language in Saskatchewan.


The Ukrainian Orthodox church in Hafford.


The Ukrainian Catholic church in Hafford.


The Ukrainian Catholic church in Krydor, a little ghost town down the road from Hafford.


The Ukrainian Orthodox church in Krydor.

More of the beautiful Prairies, so green these days.