The UCRDC was established in 1986. It evolved from a committee formed by a group of Ukrainian Canadians in Toronto who were organizing a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine—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 eyewitnesses of the famine living in Canada and set up a research fund, which in 1982, was formalized into the Ukrainian Famine Research Committee.

Using the collected material, the Famine Research Committee produced a documentary film Harvest of Despair four years later which enjoyed great success. 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 researchers.

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