Lecture | Jessy Lee Saas / Revisiting Ukrainian Settler Stories in the Context of Colonialism

Indigenous and Ukrainian settler relationships during the early homesteading period in Saskatchewan were commonplace. These everyday encounters are visible in art and literature and are found in many stories told by Ukrainian families. Yet, what is really happening in these stories? What is being talked about and what is not? Why is it important to rethink these stories? In this lecture, Saas revisits stories of early homesteading Ukrainians’ relationships with Indigenous peoples.

Just as Ukrainian homesteading stories are about hardship and perseverance, they are also stories about displacement and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Saas argues that it is the responsibility of all settlers, Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian, to confront their own settler stories as people continuing to live on Indigenous lands. The goal is not to minimize Ukrainian homesteader experiences, but to reexamine these everyday stories and experiences in the context of settler colonialism.

Jessy Lee Saas is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on Canadian prairie history, specifically in areas of gender, decolonization, and Indigenous histories. Saas’s previous research examined settler and Indigenous stories and relationships in southern Saskatchewan during the homesteading period. Recently, Saas worked on an oral history project recording the lived experiences of Ukrainians in Saskatchewan.

Recorded on Tuesday, February 13, 7 PM CT