Ukrainian Heritage Month

After several years of effort and discussion, the Canadian Government passed Bill S-210 declaring September each year national Ukrainian Heritage Month.

What does this mean?

It’s a symbolic recognition of the contributions of Ukrainian-Canadians to our nation-building project. Canadians can plan or engage in community events or exhibits such as at museums, libraries and in local public spaces, or do something personal/meaningful as an individual. Schools may choose to hold lessons or events during September.  

Join our Ukrainian Heritage Month Challenge!

We invite you to join our Ukrainian Heritage Month challenge. Every day, we’ll post one idea on our website and on social media – Instagram / Facebook – that we ask you to consider as one way to celebrate/support Ukrainian history/culture/heritage. Most ideas will be postcard-related – of course – but there will be others.

Anyone can participate! You don’t have to be Canadian.

• Ultimate Heritage Challenge: one postcard per day during September. During the thirty days, try some of the postcard ideas we offer. Prizes will be drawn for three winners of the Ultimate Heritage Challenge who have tried at least three of the ideas that we’ve shared. We’ll know because your cards will ‘show’ us. Deadline: we must receive your 30-day challenge package of postcards in our mailbox by October 20. If you think your Ultimate Challenge package will take longer than that to get to us, let us know. After all, mail can take up to a month from faraway places. We’ll hold off announcing the winners until all [known] packages arrive.

• Of course … ! … gather with a group of family / friends / book club members / faith group / youth group / knitting club / motorcycle club to write postcards to Defenders. 😊
• Ask your local library: what are they doing to celebrate Ukrainian Heritage Month? They hadn’t thought of it? Offer to run a postcard-writing workshop. See our “Run a Workshop” feature on our Practical Tools page.
• Contact your Member of Parliament indicating your support for Ukraine and ask them where they stand on Ukraine. Invite them to write a postcard to a Defender. 😉
• Ask your favourite radio station to play something that celebrates Ukrainian music / music history.
• Tell at least 3 people about Ukraine, about why you support Ukraine, and offer suggestions about how they can help. We have a few right here. 😉
• Try a Ukrainian recipe. Borscht is perfect in September as beets are freshly harvested. Here’s one, Baba’s recipe, but there are soooooo many other delicious Ukrainian dishes … why not try a different one every day?! You could probably make 30 iterations of borscht throughout September! 😉
• Learn about Ukrainian embroidery patterns, and maybe try some! Like postcard warrior Laura from Saskatchewan did, embroidering traditional Ukrainian patterns on her stunning Saskatchewan landscape postcards!
• Buy Ukrainian. Support a Ukrainian business or a business in Canada that shares profits for humanitarian or other support for Ukraine. Here are some Ukrainian postcard shops that you can buy from: PostalUkraine, UA Postcards which also offers Postcards for a Purpose, where you can buy a postcard to be written to a Russian embassy or consulate, one for the Hospitals and Healing project, or send one to a US leader, among other options. If you like stamps … UkrPoshta produces stamps that tell the story of Ukraine since the invasion, in real time. The Snake Island standoff is a pretty popular issue.
• Share your ideas and ways in which you celebrate Ukrainian Heritage Month by email. Tag us on Instagram, Facebook, Threads. We’d love to share your stories with others.
• Take photos of your gathering or event or of you writing postcards or cooking borscht or learning embroidery or whatever you decide to do and share them on social media to feature your way of celebrating Ukrainian Heritage Month. Don’t forget to tag us!
• Find a reputable charity to donate to and be sure to let them know that you are donating in honour of Ukrainian Heritage Month. Perhaps your faith group sponsors a Ukrainian family sheltering in Canada or raises funds for medical supplies? We are certain that the Canada Ukraine Foundation would welcome your support.
• Concerned about children in Ukraine struggling through the war, or children who have been orphaned or abducted by Russia? There are many reputable organizations doing tremendous work to help Ukrainian children. Start with DETY Project, a Canadian international awareness initiative focused on the impact of war on Ukrainian children.
• Other ideas? Please tell us about them! We’ll share …

IG and Threads: @postcardstothefront_canada 

Tags: #ukrainianheritagemonth #standwithukraine #canadaukraine #postcardstothefrontcanada #postcardstothefront 

Email us with images and we’ll share: postcardstothefront.canada@gmail.com