Granddaughter of Immigrants

How do you know where you are going if you don’t know where or who you come from? The age old question that has a different answer for each person that asks it. A search for family uncovers a century of secrets, where each memory is a clue and each revelation rewrites the story.

Erika is joined by Lyudmyla Pogoryelova - Director of Toronto’s Shevchenko Museum, who shines a light on the history and importance of The Kobza...

What is one tiny thing that you have done that set your life on to a completely different track? A simple question at a garage sale in 2006 prompts a 20 year quest that starts with a pile of old documents and some dusty ceramic figurines.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is the story of one family's journey into the past. Discovering hidden stories, people and secrets that affect the current timeline and shifts the future.

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Travel back in time 100 years to the tiny village of Antoniv, Ukraine. Where the places and people who were once just a birth and death date on an old document, now ignite a deeply emotional beginning.

Erika is joined by Jars Balan - Author, historian and administrative coordinator at the University of Alberta’s Ukrainian Studies Centre. As the foremost leader in historical research on Ukrainian diasporic life in Canada in the...

Desolate prairie landscapes, sod houses, the 2nd Ukrainian diaspora and a few government parcels of land. Alberta didn’t seem like much to write home about back then, but one family’s dream for a better life had to start somewhere.

Erika is joined by Jars Balan - Author, historian and administrative coordinator at the University of Alberta’s Ukrainian Studies Centre. As the foremost leader in historical research on...

A potentially misspelled name takes us down a rabbit hole of possibilities. From Ellis Island in New York, to a Christian mission in Alberta, Canada. Even with documents, proving facts nearly 100 years later proves to be more difficult than one could expect.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisi...

A story of a plan for a better life in Canada. Escaping the threat of famine and poverty, an immigration journey turns quickly from a plan for a better future into a permanent jail sentence.

Erika is joined once again by Jars Balan - Author, historian and administrative coordinator at the University of Alberta’s Ukrainian Studies Centre. As Canada’s leader in historical studies of Canadian Ukrainian life. Jars is here ag...

A candid wedding photograph draws emotions and lost stories of divorce to the surface. As an immigrant woman in the late 1930’s, leads her own private rebellion, and chases survival over the empty promises of marriage.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lor...

A young man’s fragmented memories reveal a work opportunity under nazi occupation that quickly turns into forced labour genocide and mysterious escape.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history ...

A 16 year old girl is handed over to nazi forced labour by her own parents, but even in an idyllic location captivity can still exist under the guise of freedom.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral hist...

An abandoned ambulance, a mistaken identity and a moment of sheer luck leads a displaced young man to a chance at love and connection in the aftermath of war.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history...

Two displaced survivors take a chance on a new life. Crossing continents and borders to reunite in Canada all while outrunning the threat of repatriation.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history and...

When a chance visit to the Canadian Museum of Immigration turns into a breakthrough, putting real names and ship records into a somewhat stagnant storyline reignites a family search, Erika takes a shot in the dark, and tests out some new options.

Erika is joined by Steven Schwinghamer - Author and resident historian at Pier 21, the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax. Steven walks us through Pier 21 the building and the early ...

A shot in the dark and one email illuminates a new path, cracking open an 80 year old mystery. But would you want to know the truth? Kyiv unlocks the archives of a long separated family.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backd...

A long awaited return to the ancestral village and homeland, confirms family myths and confronts new revelations. But does it really change anything?

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history and home...

A DNA match reframes and reveals generations of sacrifice, and betrayal wrapped in secrets and survival.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history and homeland.

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A sudden loss reframes the entire journey. Revealing how memory and storytelling are passed down just before they disappear.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her family, set against the backdrop of her ancestral history and homeland.

Download Episode Tra...

Donating a family archive transforms a private search into a shared cultural record, passing the role of storyteller to the next generation.

Erika is joined by Oleksandr Pankieiev, Director of the Bohdan Medwidsky Kule Folklore Centre at the University of Alberta. Oleksandr delivers a strong message about the mandate to preserve Ukrainian culture, stories and physical documents of early Ukrainian pioneer life and how it has impacted...

A post script, and a tiny peek into the future.

Erika is joined by her nephew. In an adorable exchange that circles back on the reasons why family history is more than just documents and names on a family tree.

Granddaughter of Immigrants is a mini series about a woman's 20 year journey to discovering family and purpose. In a story where navigating her own “forever identity crisis” unfolds mysteries and lore of her famil...