On December 2, 1991, Canada recognized Ukraine's independence—the second country in the world (along with Poland) and the first overseas 🇨🇦🇺🇦.
The Ukrainian community in Canada, which now numbers over 1.5 million people, played an important role in this. It is one of the largest Ukrainian ethnic communities in the world, as well as one of the most organized and influential. It is here that Ukrainians, united in over a thousand organizations, the most prominent of which is the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, have achieved a high level of integration into the social and political life of the country and gained significant influence at the highest levels of government. On January 27, 1992, diplomatic relations were established between Ukraine and Canada. In April 1992, the Canadian Embassy opened in Kyiv, and at the end of the same year, the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada began operating in Ottawa. A telling fact: since the young Ukrainian state was in a difficult financial situation at the time, the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada provided invaluable assistance in setting up the Ukrainian embassy. In the fall of 1992, businessman and philanthropist of Ukrainian origin Erast Hutsulyak purchased a building for the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada in a prestigious area of Ottawa, not far from the Parliament, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada, and the city hall. On December 1, 1992, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada was officially opened: priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches consecrated the national flag of Ukraine along with a handful of soil brought from the homeland. Currently, this building houses the consular section of the Embassy of Ukraine.
In 1994, the Embassy of Ukraine moved to a more spacious building at 310 Somerset West Street in downtown Ottawa, which cost $1.8 million. Most of the funds for its purchase were provided by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. That same year, during a visit to Canada by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (organized largely by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress), a Kyiv chestnut tree was planted on the embassy grounds, bringing the atmosphere of Ukraine to Ottawa.
Based on materials from Diaspora.ua