Jajo's Secret | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Motluk |
Starring | Lubomyr Luciuk Inky Mark |
Theme music composer | Tad Winklarz |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original languages | English Ukrainian |
Production | |
Cinematography | Lance Carlson |
Editor | Jack McLuskie |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Release | 8 June 2009 |
Jajo's Secret is a 2009 made for TV documentary film about the internment of Ukrainians by the government of Canada during the First World War. It was produced and directed by James Motluk (credited as James E Motluk) [1] and broadcast on OMNI TV. [2]
The movie begins with the discovery by filmmaker Motluk of a parole certificate issued to his late grandfather, Elias, in 1918. Trying to uncover the truth about why the certificate was issued, he begins a journey that is chronicled in the film, first to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and then to Ottawa. What he discovers is that the Canadian government created legislation known as The War Measures Act to arrest and intern thousands of Ukrainians whom they perceived as enemy aliens during the war. After the war, these prisoners were paroled and made to work as forced labour in many private Canadian companies on the railroad, in the mines and even building the national park system. [3] Motluk traces his own grandfather to a camp located in the northern Ontario town of Kapuskasing.
Until recently, the Canadian government tried to hide what had happened. During the production of the film, the government finally apologized to the Ukrainian community and agreed to pay restitution. [4] The title refers to Motluk's grandfather whom he would call Jajo, a child's version of Tato which is Ukrainian for father.
The film has received a lot of praise since its debut on OMNI TV in June 2009. In 2011 it was invited to screen at Columbia University [5] in New York and later at the Ukrainian Museum in Manhattan.
Lorne Hyman Greene was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western Bonanza and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness and in television commercials.
The War Measures Act was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken. The Act was brought into force three times in Canadian history: during the First World War, Second World War, and the 1970 October Crisis.
Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately 92 kilometres (57 mi) east of Hearst and 130 kilometres (81 mi) northwest of Timmins. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another railway stop in Manitoba.
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The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War. It lasted from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act.
James Motluk born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, is a filmmaker of Ukrainian descent. After studying philosophy at Trent University he travelled to Toronto and worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as an assistant director on a television show called Seeing Things. He wrote and directed his first feature film called Nasty Burgers which was released to cinemas in 1993. Nasty Burgers gained him entry into the Writers Guild of Canada. For much of the 1990s he worked as a writer for television. His credits included a season on the hit show Road to Avonlea.
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The Canadian Race Relations Foundation is a charitable organization and Crown corporation responsible to foster racial harmony and cross-cultural understanding and help to eliminate racism in Canada.
The Castle Mountain Internment Camp, located in Banff National Park, Alberta, was the largest internment facility in the Canadian Rockies, housing several hundred prisoners at any one time. Established on July 13, 1915, a total of 660 enemy aliens were interned at the facility during its entire operation.
Italian Canadian internment was the removal and internment of Italian Canadians during World War II following Italy's June 10, 1940, declaration of war against the United Kingdom. Through the War Measures Act, the government of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King gave itself the power to suspend habeas corpus, revoke rights, seize property and arrest those who were deemed a threat to the safety of Canada—labelling 31,000 Italian Canadians as "enemy aliens". Between 1940 and 1943, between 600 and 700 Italian Canadian men were arrested and sent to internment camps as potentially dangerous "enemy aliens" with alleged fascist connections. In the decades that followed, political apologies were made for the internment of Italian Canadians.
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The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) (French: L'Association ukrainienne-canadienne des droits civils (AU-CDC)) is a Ukrainian organization in Canada. Established in 1986 after the Civil Liberties Commission (affiliated with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress) was disbanded, its members – all of whom are volunteers – have been particularly active in championing the cause of recognition, restitution and reconciliation with respect to Canada's first national internment operations, helping secure a redress settlement in 2008 with the Government of Canada along with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Taras Shevchenko Foundation. They have also challenged unfounded allegations about the supposed presence of "Nazi war criminals" hiding in Canada, and documented the presence of veterans of the NKVD, SMERSH, and KGB in Canada. The first chairman of the CLC/UCCLA was John B. Gregorovich, a lawyer. The current chairman is Roman Zakaluzny; the immediate past president was Lubomyr Luciuk.
Whose University Is It? is a 2003 made for TV documentary film that takes a critical look at the role of corporate funding on university education. It was produced and directed by Canadian filmmakers Mark Wright and James Motluk. It enjoyed a limited release to theaters in 2003 in Ontario and was broadcast on TV on ichannel in 2004.
Masumi Mitsui,, was a Japanese-born Canadian veteran of World War I who had his property confiscated and was detained during World War II as part of the Japanese-Canadian internment.
An Internment Camp in Vernon, BC was established to hold enemy aliens and POWs during the First World War. Once Canada entered World War I, fears of enemy aliens on the home front began to arise. To combat this, the Canadian Government implemented the War Measures Act which gave them the authority to intern and disenfranchise enemy aliens living in Canada. Approximately 8,500 enemy aliens were interned across Canada, with majority of the 24 camps located around the Rocky Mountains and large population centres in Ontario. Vernon housed the permanent camp in British Columbia, operating from September 18, 1914, to February 20, 1920.