The UCRDC was established in 1982, initially under the name of Ukrainian Famine Research Committee. The Committee was formed by a group of Ukrainian Canadians in Toronto to  commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Holodomor - the famine genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime in 1932–1933 that claimed an estimated seven million Ukrainian lives.

The Committee collected personal accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses of the famine living in Canada, the USA and Western Europe. (It was not possible, at that time, to collect any documentation in the then existing USSR since the Soviet authorities denied the genocidal famine.

Using the collected material, the Ukrainian Famine Research Committee produced a documentary film “Harvest of Despair”, which premiered in Toronto in 1984. It was shown at various film festivals and on major TV channels in Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia and other Western countries.  Versions of the film were also produced in French, Spanish and Ukrainian languages. The film enjoyed considerable success.

In the process of making the film the Committee collected many hours of filmed documentation about the Holodomor, only a fraction of which was actually used in the film “Harvest of Despair”. Thus, in 1986 the Committee restructured into a research institute and changed its name to the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre.

Its scope, while continuing to encompass work on the Holodomor, was broadened to include research on other historical events relating to Ukrainians in Canada, Ukraine and other parts of the Ukrainian diaspora.

UCRDC also developed an Archive of oral history and other documentation, which could be used by educators, scholar and researchers.

The work undertaken by UCRDC has received recognition and accolades from individuals, academic organizations and government institutions in Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ukraine, the United States, and other countries.