Ukrainian Canadian internment

Last updated
Commemorative plaque and a statue entitled "Why?" / "Pourquoi?" / "Chomu (Chomu)?", by John Boxtel at the location of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp, Banff National Park Castle mountain internment camp.jpg
Commemorative plaque and a statue entitled "Why?" / "Pourquoi?" / "Чому (Chomu)?", by John Boxtel at the location of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp, Banff National Park

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 .

Contents

Canada was at war with Austria-Hungary. Along with Austrian-Hungarian prisoners of war, about 8,000 Ukrainian men, women, and children – those of Ukrainian citizenship as well as naturalized Canadians of Ukrainian descent – were kept in twenty-four internment camps and related work sites (also known, at the time, as concentration camps). [1] Their savings were confiscated and many had land taken while imprisoned as the land was "abandoned". Some were "paroled" from camps in 1916–17, many were put to work as unpaid workers on farms, mines, and railways, where labour was scarce. Much existing Canadian infrastructure from 1916-1917 was built by this unpaid labour.

Another 80,000 were not imprisoned but were registered as "enemy aliens" and obliged to regularly report to the police and were required to carry identifying documents at all times or suffer punitive consequences.

The embarrassment and trauma of internment caused many Ukrainians to change their family names, hide their imprisonment and abandon traditions due to fear of negative repercussions – causing PTSD and intergenerational trauma. In addition, some maintain that the Canadian government approved key records to be destroyed in the 1950s, leaving documentation to be based on individual family records and pleas to the local communities where the camps were located. [2]

Internment

During the First World War, a growing sentiment against "enemy aliens" had manifested itself amongst Canadians. The British government urged Canada not to act indiscriminately against subject nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who were in fact friendly to the British Empire. [3] However, Ottawa took a hard line. These enemy-born citizens were treated as social pariahs, and many lost their employment. Under the 1914 War Measures Act , "aliens of enemy nationality" were compelled to register with authorities. About 70,000 Ukrainians from Austria-Hungary fell under this description. 8,579 males and some women and children were interned by the Canadian Government, including 5,954 Austro-Hungarians, most of whom were probably ethnic Ukrainians. [4] Most of the 8,600 people interned were young men apprehended while trying to cross the border into the U.S. to look for jobs; attempting to leave Canada was illegal. [5] Most of the interned were poor or unemployed single men, although 81 women and 156 children (mainly Germans in Vernon and Ukrainians at Spirit Lake) had no choice but to accompany the men to two of the camps, in Spirit Lake, near Amos, Quebec, and Vernon, British Columbia. Some of the internees were Canadian-born and others were naturalized British subjects,[ citation needed ] although most were recent immigrants. Citizens of the Russian Empire were generally not interned.

Commemorative statue entitled "Never Forget" / "Ne Jamais Oublier" / "Nikoli Ne Zabuti (Nikoly Ne Zabuty)", by John Boxtel, and damaged plaque at the cemetery of the Kapuskasing Internment Camp; Kapuskasing, northern Ontario Kapuskasing ON 3.JPG
Commemorative statue entitled "Never Forget" / "Ne Jamais Oublier" / "Ніколи Не Забути (Nikoly Ne Zabuty)", by John Boxtel, and damaged plaque at the cemetery of the Kapuskasing Internment Camp; Kapuskasing, northern Ontario
Commemorative stone at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum, formerly "Eaton Siding" near the Eaton Internment Camp, one of twenty-four, where 8,579 civilians were interned. It reads "Fortitude. To the memory of those who were interned at this site during the Great War. Eaton Internment Camp 1919." Hawker-Eaton-InternmentCamp.jpg
Commemorative stone at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum, formerly "Eaton Siding" near the Eaton Internment Camp, one of twenty-four, where 8,579 civilians were interned. It reads "Fortitude. To the memory of those who were interned at this site during the Great War. Eaton Internment Camp 1919."

Many of these internees were used for forced labour in internment camps. [7]

There was a severe shortage of farm labour, so in 1916–17 nearly all of the internees were "paroled". [8] Many parolees went to the custody of local farmers. They were paid at current wage rates, usually 20 cents per hour, with fifty cents a day deducted for room and board. Other parolees were sent as paid workers to railway gangs and mines. [9] The internees turned over all their cash to authorities – $329,000 in total, of which $298,000 was returned to them on release. [10]

Camps

Conditions at the camps varied, and the Castle Mountain Internment Camp [11] – where labour contributed to the creation of Banff National Park [12] – was considered exceptionally harsh and abusive. [13] The internment continued for two more years after the war had ended, although most Ukrainians were paroled into jobs for private companies by 1917. Even as parolees, they were still required to report regularly to the police authorities. Federal and provincial governments and private concerns benefited from the internees' labour and from the confiscation of what little wealth they had, a portion of which was left in the Bank of Canada at the end of the internment operations on June 20, 1920. [14] A small number of internees, including men considered to be "dangerous foreigners", labour radicals, or particularly troublesome internees, were deported to Europe after the war, largely from the Kapuskasing camp, which was the last to be shut down.

Of those interned, 109 died of various diseases and injuries sustained in the camp, six were killed while trying to escape, and some – according to Major-General Sir William Otter's final report – went insane or committed suicide [15] as a result of their confinement.

A list of the camps follows: [16]

LocationDate of openingDate of closingDescription
Montreal, QuebecAugust 13, 1914November 30, 1918Immigration Hall
Kingston, OntarioAugust 18, 1914November 3, 1917 Fort Henry
Winnipeg, ManitobaSeptember 1, 1914July 20, 1916Fort Osborne Barracks
Halifax, Nova ScotiaSeptember 8, 1914October 3, 1918 The Citadel
Vernon, British ColumbiaSeptember 18, 1914February 20, 1920Provincial Government Building
Nanaimo, British ColumbiaSeptember 20, 1914September 17, 1915Provincial Government Building
Brandon, ManitobaSeptember 22, 1914July 29, 1916Exhibition Building
Lethbridge, AlbertaSeptember 30, 1914November 7, 1916Exhibition Building
Petawawa, OntarioDecember 10, 1914May 8, 1916 Militia Camp / Tents
Toronto, OntarioDecember 14, 1914October 2, 1916 Stanley Barracks
Kapuskasing, OntarioDecember 14, 1914February 24, 1920Bunk Houses
Niagara Falls, OntarioDecember 15, 1915August 31, 1918The Armoury
Beauport, QuebecDecember 28, 1914June 22, 1916The Armoury
Spirit Lake, QuebecJanuary 13, 1915January 28, 1917Bunk Houses
Sault Ste. Marie, OntarioJanuary 13, 1915January 29, 1918The Armoury
Amherst, Nova ScotiaApril 17, 1915September 27, 1919Malleable Iron Works
Monashee-Mara Lake,
British Columbia		June 2, 1915July 29, 1917Tents & Bunk Houses
Fernie-Morrissey,
British Columbia		June 9, 1915October 21, 1918Rented Premises
Banff-Castle Mountain and Cave & Basin, AlbertaJuly 14, 1915July 15, 1917 Dominion Park Building at Cave & Basin, Tents at Castle Mountain
Edgewood, British ColumbiaAugust 19, 1915September 23, 1916Bunk Houses
Revelstoke-Field-Otter, British ColumbiaSeptember 6, 1915October 23, 1916Bunk Houses
Jasper, AlbertaFebruary 8, 1916August 31, 1916Dominion Parks Buildings
Munson, Alberta-
Eaton, Saskatchewan		October 13, 1918March 21, 1919Railway Cars
Valcartier, QuebecApril 24, 1915October 23, 1915 Militia Camp / Tents

Legacy

Memorial at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, east of Edmonton, Alberta. Includes a map showing the locations of the internment camps across Canada. Dedicated on August 11, 2002. Ukrainian Internment Memorial Alberta.jpg
Memorial at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, east of Edmonton, Alberta. Includes a map showing the locations of the internment camps across Canada. Dedicated on August 11, 2002.

Since 1985, the organized Ukrainian-Canadian community has sought official acknowledgment for this World War I internment, conducting a campaign that underscored the moral, legal and political obligation to redress the historical wrong. [17] The campaign, spearheaded by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), included the memorialization of places of internment as historic sites. Currently there are twenty plaques and memorials across Canada commemorating the internment, including two at the locations of former concentration camps in Banff National Park. These have been placed by the UCCLA and its supporters.

In 1994 Yurij Luhovy and the National Film Board of Canada released a feature-length documentary about the internment operations entitled Freedom Had a Price. [18] While researching for and shooting the film, Yurij discovered never before seen pictures of the camps and donated them to the National Archives of Canada.

On November 25, 2005, the Senate of Canada voted unanimously to pass Bill C-331, the 'Internment of Persons of Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act', closely following the vote of the House of Commons on November 23, 2005, and it received Royal Assent. [19] This act acknowledges that persons of Ukrainian origin were interned in Canada during the First World War and legally obliges the Government of Canada to negotiate "an agreement concerning measures that may be taken to recognize the internment" for educational and commemorative projects.

Thought to be the last known survivor of the internment measures, Mary Manko Haskett was only a child of 6 when she was interned with her family at Spirit Lake. She died in July 2007. In 2007 another survivor – Mary Hancharuk, born in the Spirit Lake camp – was found; [20] then aged 92, making her the last known survivor of the internment operations. She died in 2008.

Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund

The Ukrainian Canadian campaign for acknowledgement and redress was spearheaded by members of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association from the mid-1980s (at that time within the Ukrainian Canadian Congress). On May 9, 2008, the Canadian government established a $10 million fund. [21] The Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund uses the interest earned on that amount to fund projects that commemorate the experience of thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans interned between 1914–20 and the many others who suffered a suspension of their civil liberties and freedoms. The funds are themselves held in trust by the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.

On September 12, 2009, the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (CFWWIRF) was announced formally with a notice published in The Globe and Mail [22] describing how individuals or groups can apply for funding for commemorative, educational and cultural activities recalling Canada's first national internment operations. [23]

One of the first projects funded by CFWWIRF was the documentary Jajo's Secret directed by filmmaker James Motluk and broadcast on OMNI TV in 2009. [23] This movie tells the story of Motluk's discovery of a parole certificate issued to his late grandfather, Elias, in 1918. More recently the CFWWIRF supported two additional films, The Camps and That Never Happened, by Ryan Boyko, as well as the preparation of lesson plans and other educational materials suitable for teachers across Canada (available for free on the website of the CFWWIRF).

The "Kingston Symposium" of the CFWWIRF's Endowment Council was held in Kingston, Ontario on June 17–20, 2010, bringing together community activists, descendants, academics and artists to discuss ways and means for commemorating Canada's first national internment operations. [23]

Construction of the 'Spirit Lake Camp Interpretive Centre' was launched in July 2010 [24] and on November 26, 2011, opened officially in a ceremony attended by the Honourable Jason Kenney, then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who referred to the internment operations as "a blight" on Canadian history. The CFWWIRF's Endowment Council made the funding of this interpretive centre one of its top granting priorities, budgeting $400,000 over five years for this project. A permanent exhibit on Canada's first national internment operations was opened at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site in Banff National Park in September 2013 by Kenney, then Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism. [25]

On August 22, 2014, one hundred bilingual English-French plaques were unveiled to recall the 100th anniversary of the implementation of the 1914 War Measures Act and the start of internment operations across Canada. [26]

In 2017 the CFWWIRF supported the installation of a permanent exhibit about Canada's first national internment operations in the Canada History Hall of the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. Funding has also been committed by the CFWWIRF for the unveiling of a major new exhibit in 2021 at the museum dealing with the War Measures Act and civil liberties during the First and Second World Wars and the October Crisis.

The 100th anniversary of the end of Canada's first national internment operations was commemorated on Saturday, June 20, 2020 – a notice was published by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (www.ucclf.ca) in the national edition of The Globe and Mail, [27] with the support of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>War Measures Act</i> Canadian legislation which provided the government emergency powers (1914–88)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ukrainian Canadians</span> Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent

Ukrainian Canadians are Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent or Ukrainian-born people who immigrated to Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatura</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, 167 kilometres (104 mi) north of the state capital (Melbourne) and 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the regional centre of Shepparton. At the 2021 census, Tatura had a population of 4,955.

In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed. Usually, the countries are in a state of declared war.

The internment of Italian Americans refers to the US government's internment of Italian nationals during World War II. As was customary after Italy and the US were at war, they were classified as "enemy aliens" and some were detained by the Department of Justice under the Alien and Sedition Act. But in practice, the US applied detention only to Italian nationals, not to US citizens, or long-term US residents. Italian immigrants had been allowed to gain citizenship through the naturalization process during the years before the war, and by 1940 there were millions of US citizens who had been born in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Boxtel</span> Dutch sculptor and art teacher (1930–2022)

John Boxtel was a Dutch-Canadian sculptor and art teacher. His works include sculpture, woodcarving, architectural drafting, design, and building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internment of German Americans</span> Detention during both World Wars

Internment of German resident aliens and German-American citizens occurred in the United States during the periods of World War I and World War II. During World War II, the legal basis for this detention was under Presidential Proclamation 2526, made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lubomyr Luciuk</span> Canadian academic and author

Lubomyr Yaroslav Luciuk is a Canadian academic and author of books and articles in the field of political geography and Ukrainian history. He is currently a full professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. and a Senior Research Fellow of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crystal City Internment Camp</span> United States historic place

Crystal City Internment Camp, located near Crystal City, Texas, was a place of confinement for people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent during World War II, and has been variously described as a detention facility or a concentration camp. The camp, which was originally designed to hold 3,500 people, opened in December 1943 and was officially closed on February 11, 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torrens Island Concentration Camp</span> World War I concentration camp in Australia

The Torrens Island Internment Camp was a World War I concentration camp, located on Torrens Island in the Port River Estuary near Adelaide in South Australia. The camp opened on 9 October 1914 and held up to 400 men of German or Austro-Hungarian background, or crew members of enemy ships who had been caught in Australian ports at the beginning of the war. They were held without trial under the provisions of the War Precautions Act 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eaton Internment Camp</span>

Eaton Internment Camp, although short-lived, was one of twenty-four official internment facilities created in Canada to accommodate prisoners of war during the period from 1914 to 1920. It was the only facility of its kind in the province of Saskatchewan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Mountain Internment Camp</span> WW1 internment facility in Alberta, 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.

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.

Amherst Internment Camp was an internment camp that existed from 1914 to 1919 in Amherst, Nova Scotia. It was the largest internment camp in Canada during World War I; a maximum of 853 prisoners were housed at one time at the old Malleable Iron foundry on the corner of Hickman and Park Streets. The most famous prisoner at the camp was Leon Trotsky. There was a commemoration of the guards and prisoners for the 100th anniversary of the closing of the Amherst Internment Camp on July 2, 2019, at the Amherst Armoury. Archived 2019-06-28 at the Wayback Machine

Holsworthy Internment Camp was the largest camp for prisoners of war in Australia during World War I. It was located at Holsworthy, near Liverpool on the outskirts of Sydney. There are varying estimates of the number of internees between 4,000 and 7,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in the Isle of Man</span>

The history of the Jews in the Isle of Man goes back to at least the early 19th century.

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Internment of Ukrainians in Canada 1914–1920" . Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "Internment of Ukrainians in Canada 1914-1920".
  3. ↑ Luciuk 2006, p 50.
  4. ↑ Kordan 2002, pp 16–51.
  5. ↑ Frances Swyripa, and John Herd Thompson, eds. Loyalties in Conflict: Ukrainians in Canada During the Great War (1983) p 4
  6. ↑ "100 years since first death in Kapuskasing internment camp". Sudbury: CBC News. June 3, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ Kordan 2002, pp 90–115.
  8. ↑ Swyripa and Thompson, eds. Loyalties in Conflict: Ukrainians in Canada During the Great War (1983) p 14
  9. ↑ Lubomyr Y. Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk, eds. Canada's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity pp 288–303 (1991) pp 297–98
  10. ↑ Luciuk and Hryniuk, eds. Canada's Ukrainians (1991) p 298
  11. ↑ Article 26 June 1915 Crag & Canyon – "Internment Camp Started"
  12. ↑ Article 19 June 1915 Crag & Canyon – "Internment Camp Formed"
  13. ↑ Kordan & Melnycky 1991.
  14. ↑ Kordan & Mahovsky 2004, pp 27–41.
  15. ↑ Suicide attempt at Cave & Basin camp
  16. ↑ source: Report on Internment Operations Canada • Report By Major-General Sir William Otter, K.C.B., C.V.O • Ottawa, Thomas Mulvey
    Internment Operations, 1914 1920 Director Internment Operations Printer To the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1921
    Canada's first national internment operations, 1914–1920
  17. ↑ Kordan & Mahovsky 2004, pp 45–62.
  18. ↑ Please see the film's page at Luhovy's website.
  19. ↑ "Bill C-331". openparliament.ca. 25 November 2005. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "Internment camp survivor found" Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved February 10, 2014)
  21. ↑ "About the Fund" (official website). The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund and The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko. 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  22. ↑ The Globe and Mail national edition, September 12, 2009 (Focus & Book section).
  23. 1 2 3 "Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund" (official website). The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund and The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko. 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "Launch of Quebec Internment Spirit Lake Interpretive Centre" (PDF). press release. Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund. July 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Enemy Aliens, Prisoners of War: Canada's First World War Internment Operations, 1914–1920". Exhibition. Public Works and Government Services Canada. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  26. ↑ For a complete list of all of the "Сто" ( translit. Sto, "One Hundred") plaque sites please go to http://www.uccla.ca/CTO_100plaques.htm.
  27. ↑ The Globe and Mail national edition, June 20, 2020

Further reading

Comparative studies

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.