In 1902, they arrived in Canada with their four sons, Harry, John, Michael, and Peter, with ages ranging from nine to two.  They settled on NE-18-53-16-W4, half a mile south of where Mundare stands today.

Arriving on his homestead, Wasyl immediately went to a neighboring rancher at Beaver Lake and bought a couple of range steers which he wanted for oxen.  To the amazement of the rancher, he blindfolded the steers and tried to put a yoke on them.  However, range steers are not that easy to handle.  They broke away and became entangled in a nearby bush, strangling themselves in the process.  Though Wasyl returned home penniless and despondent, Tekla thought they were fortunate because he was at least safe and sound.  Things could have been much worse.  There was nothing else to do but to seek work.

Leaving his wife and four sons at home, Wasyl found work as a cook on a railroad "extra-gang".  As he had been a cook in the Austrian army, his experience was very valuable.  Meat tended to become tainted very quickly, and only his knowledge of the use of spices, garlic, and other methods of seasoning could make it palatable.

Once a week all the women of the settlement assembled at the post office in Beaver Lake to await letters from their husbands who were away at work.  As she had been left penniless, Tekla had an additional incentive to accompany the other women.  However, she was turned away each time she asked for mail in the name of Wasyl Miskew.   Finally, in desperation, she asked if there was any mail in the name of Tekla Miskew, and found that a letter had been waiting there for weeks with money which she needed so urgently.  Undoubtedly, the postmaster had not meant to be cruel, but much of the suffering of immigrants came from their ignorance of the English language and the occasional indifference of officials.

By the time Wasyl returned, he knew enough English to "get by" and began to farm seriously.  To obtain logs for buildings, the settlers traveled to more forested areas further north for them.  On one of these trips, because of the severity of the weather and the lack of warm clothing, one of the two older brothers, John, became seriously ill through exposure and died at the age of sixteen after being bedridden for a year.

As the pioneers slowly adjusted themselves to the new country, they began to take an active part in community affairs.  Wasyl Miskew became a trustee when the first Ukrainian Catholic church in Alberta was being built in Mundare.  Work began in the spring of 1910, and was completed in December of the same year.  He also became a school trustee of the Mundare School District No. 1603.  In the first one-room school, grades one to eight were taught.  There was no problem with Robert Fletcher, the school organizer; as the first teachers were English.

During the summer holidays, the children attended Ukrainian classes at the Basilian Fathers' Monastery, three miles east of Mundare village.  The children of that period learned English and, at the same time, could read, write, and speak Ukrainian.

Tekla was a devoted Christian.  As part of the Easter activities she would go to the church on Easter Saturday to have a basket of goodies blessed.  In the basket were hard boiled eggs, keilbasi, paska, beets and horseradish.  It always included a small bottle of water so that she always had holy water at home.  The ladies at the church would line up and put the baskets on the ground. Then the priest would come by and bless them.

Wasyl was also a councilor in Pines Municipality for a number of years, while his wife became a member of the Apostleship-of-Prayer Group to which she belonged to the end of her days.  As the years went by and they prospered, the parents would sit outside late in the evening and watch golden fields of wheat, hoping and praying that there would be no frost or hail.  They began to love this land where they had achieved success both for themselves and their children.  It was a sad blow and a great disappointment to them when the Canadian Government temporarily disfranchised them toward the end of the First Great War.

The family began to drift away as the older children matured.  In one year the oldest sons married (though Michael was only nineteen at the time) and went on their own. Peter decided to get an education and was away at school.  The parents were left with the four children who were born in Canada: Anna, Nellie, John, named after his dead brother, and Paul.  The daughters helped with the chores but more help was needed during seeding and harvesting.  The older sons could help with seeding in the spring but they just could not afford the time at harvest.  Though Wasyl was too old to run a binder he could help his young sons, John and Paul, one nine years of age and the other seven.  By tightening harness straps and watching from the side of the field he ensured that no mishap would occur.  John would sit on the binder and hold the reins and, as his voice was too weak to carry, Paul would run along with a whip to keep the horses moving.  As the farm was along the main road to town, people would stop their teams or cars and watch with sympathetic wonder.  The work did not hurt the boys. They grew up strong and healthy, confident and secure in their conviction that they had already played the part of men on the farm.

The parents got into financial difficulties during the depression just when Peter and John were attending university.  The two sons were able to complete their studies and graduate into their professions only because their father could borrow money.

Wasyl and Tekla lived to see all their children married and settled and to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary.  By this time they had two quarters clear of encumbrances, and life became somewhat easier.

Tekla died in 1941 and her husband followed her two years later in 1943.  They are both buried in the cemetery one mile east of the Mundare Catholic church which they had helped to build.

Click here to link to Wasyl and Tekla's family tree.