What Dauphin is known for
Dauphin is a Manitoba city of 8,368 people at the 2021 census. It is home to Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival, a national event that grew out of a Dauphin Chamber of Commerce meeting and has been held annually since 1966.
Treaty 2 land and a Ukrainian settlement
Dauphin lies in Treaty 2 territory. The treaty was entered in August 1871 at the Manitoba House trading post, and the Manitoba government’s own Treaty 2 statement names Dauphin among the communities that share the territory, which takes in the Riding Mountains and was signed by nine First Nations, Dauphin River among them. It is a land of long Anishinaabe presence and part of the Métis homeland. Ukrainian settlers arrived on that treaty land in 1896, in a settlement described as one of the oldest in Canada. By 1971 Ukrainians made up 34.6 percent of the town.
A chamber meeting, letterheads and a name
The festival’s founding board, formed in 1965, wanted a truly national event and had almost nothing to spend: they started with a box of letterheads and five dollars worth of stamps. They decided the festival should show Ukrainian culture as it is lived in Canada, so its name had to include both Canada and National. They set it as a three-day event on the August long weekend, inspired by the harvest celebration Obzhynky, and held the first one in 1966. In 1985 the festival moved to Selo Ukraina, a heritage site that Queen Elizabeth II had opened in 1984.
Selo Ukraina today, and the 2026 flood
Selo Ukraina has a 10,000-seat amphitheatre and a restored pioneer heritage village, and has hosted the Countryfest music festival since 1990. Since 2003 its grounds have also held Behind Canadian Barbed Wire, a sculpture remembering Ukrainians and other Europeans Canada interned as enemy aliens from 1914 to 1920. Manitoba has marked the Saturday of festival weekend as a provincial heritage day since 2013. In July 2026, with the community already under local states of emergency, floodwater damaged the Dauphin hospital’s emergency department; all 54 patients were safely evacuated, and without emergency medical cover nearby, the board cancelled that year’s festival, parade included.
Questions people ask about Dauphin
Why is Dauphin, Manitoba famous?
Dauphin is known for Canada's National Ukrainian Festival, founded by the local chamber of commerce and held annually since 1966 at Selo Ukraina, a heritage site south of the city. Dauphin's own Ukrainian settlement dates to 1896 and is described as one of the oldest in Canada.
How did Canada's National Ukrainian Festival start?
In 1965 a meeting of the Dauphin Chamber of Commerce formed a founding board with almost nothing to spend, a box of letterheads and five dollars worth of stamps. They required the name to include Canada and National, and set it as a three-day event on the August long weekend. The first festival was held in 1966.
What is Behind Canadian Barbed Wire?
It is a sculpture on the festival grounds at Selo Ukraina, unveiled in 2003, that remembers Ukrainians and other Europeans interned by Canada as enemy aliens from 1914 to 1920. It keeps a difficult chapter of the community's own history visible beside the festival.
Why was the 2026 festival cancelled?
In July 2026 floodwater damaged the emergency department at the Dauphin hospital, and all 54 patients had to be evacuated. With the community under local states of emergency and no emergency medical cover nearby, the festival's board cancelled that year's event, including the parade.