Some 170,000 Ukrainian immigrants came to western Canada in the years leading up to the First World War. They primarily settled in a belt extending from Edna, Alberta, through the Rosthern and Yorkton districts of Saskatchewan, to Dauphin and the Interlake region of Manitoba. With such a large population base to draw upon, it was possible for many Ukrainian communities to support their own vernacular schools. Pictured here is the orchestra and drama club of one such school in Edmonton in 1924. Although vernacular schools were at times criticized for retarding assimilation, they in fact cushioned immigrant adjustment to a new life in Canada.