In the 19th century, immigration from Russia to Canada was primarily driven by religious motives. One of the first groups of settlers was several thousand Russian-German Mennonites who settled in the area of modern-day Saskatchewan in the 1870s. At the end of the 19th century, the next large group to arrive in Canada was the Doukhobors, a Christian denomination that faced persecution in Russia. Their relocation was financially supported by L.N. Tolstoy, who donated his fee for the novel "Resurrection." In 1898 and 1899, about 8,000 Doukhobors settled in Saskatchewan, but later they had to move to British Columbia. At the same time, a significant number of people from Poland and Finland, which were then part of the Russian Empire, also emigrated to Canada. For example, the famous actress Pamela Anderson has Finnish roots and Russian ancestors on her mother's side.

Mass immigration began after the 1917 revolution and was forced. Primarily, it included representatives of the intelligentsia, military, and nobility who disagreed with the communist regime. They established the first Russian communities in Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. One prominent figure from this wave was Canadian diplomat Georgy Pavlovich Ignatieff, the son of Count P.N. Ignatieff and Princess Natalia Meshcherskaya. The family left Russia when he was 5 years old. He later became Canada's ambassador to Yugoslavia and a permanent representative to NATO and the UN. The descendants of these emigrants preserve the Russian language and culture but avoid contact with later waves of Soviet emigration.

The next influx of Russian-speaking immigrants occurred in the 1940s. After the war, former prisoners of war who feared returning to the USSR and those considered "enemies of the people" under Stalin came to Canada.

In the 1970s and 80s, the next wave of emigration consisted of dissidents and human rights activists, as well as those who managed to cross the border illegally. For example, in 1980, during a layover at the airport, Soviet chess grandmaster Igor Ivanov fled to Canada.