Ukraine was devastated during the Second World War and many Ukrainians were scattered across Europe as refugees, prisoners-of-war, political exiles and forced labourers. At the end of the war, many eastern Ukrainians were forcibly repatriated or willingly returned to Ukraine. However the western Ukrainians were granted refugee status and preferred to stay in Displaced Persons camps in western Europe rather than return to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Canadian Committee, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund, helped these refugees and displaced persons settle in Canada. As a result, these refugees became the third wave of immigration to Canada and by 1952, a total of 32,000 Ukrainians had landed in Canada. Most came to Canada under various bulk labour schemes. They agreed to work in designated industries or farms for a specified period of time before they could move to other parts of Canada. Immigrants worked on sugar beet farms in Alberta, lumber camps and mines in northern Ontario and Quebec, on railroads and heavy construction projects. Once they completed their terms of employment many left for the large industrial centers in southern Ontario.

Compared to the previous two waves of immigration, a significant proportion of the third wave were professionals, politically active and strongly anti-communist. Some of these immigrants assisted in the establishment of Ukrainian language and literature programs at universities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and at a few other institutions of higher learning.