[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Ukranian immigrants calling themselves Russian

[Jan Hemmings]

I may be totally looking the wrong place by asking your group, but I am
looking for information for my stepfather, Alfred Gerlinsky, whose
grandfather, Jacob Gerlinsky (or then sonetimes, Gerlinski), immigrated to
Canda, to Saskatchewan. He arrived in Montreal in 1904, and settled in
Saskatchewan by 1905, with his wife Barbara and several children, Matilda,
Martin, Valentin....

Jacob said in the census that they were all born in
Russia, but Alfred says, Ekatarinslav, Mariopol. All I can find is Mariupol
in the Ukraine, and of course, Gerlinsky is a Slavic name. Is there any way
of finding anything more about this family before they went to Canada?
Thanks,
Jan Hemmings