Ukrainian immigration began in 1891 when Ivan Pylypow of Nebyliv, Kalush district, Galicia, learned about the "free lands" available on the Prairies from German acquaintances who had emigrated some years earlier. After investigating settlement possibilities in Manitoba and Alberta with Wasyl Eleniak, a fellow villager, Pylypow returned to Galicia to bring back both men's families and as many friends and relatives as could be persuaded to accompany them. Although he was arrested and put on trial for sedition (saying bad things about the government) by the Austrian authorities, and prevented from making his way back to Canada until 1893, the publicity generated by his trial advertised Canada more effectively than he himself could have done. While Pylypow was in jail in Nebyliv, A group of Ukrainian immigrants came from Nebyliw to Canada in 1892. They were part of the group that Ivan Pylypow was organizing for emigration upon his return to Nebyliw early in 1892. The Edna-Star settlement was referred to as the Nebyliw Colony and is considered by many Ukrainian Canadian historians to be the oldest Ukrainian settlement in Canada. It formed the centre of the large Edna-Star bloc of Ukrainian settlers. A "bloc" is a group of people or countries united by a common cause. The Chipman district into which Wasyl Eleniak moved in 1898 was part of this bloc.
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