Ukrainian Canadian Internment

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Workers at a British Columbia internment camp, 1916
Workers at a British Columbia internment camp, 1916

The Ukrainian Canadian internment was the confinement of over 5,000 Ukrainian immigrants from 1914 to 1920. These "enemy aliens" were kept in 26 internment camps across Canada. 80,000 other Ukrainian immigrants, deemed "enemy aliens" were required to report to the police. The internment was the result of rampant racism and xenophobia in Canada at the time.

Contents

Terminology

The camps that the immigrants were placed in were, both now and at the time, regarded as concentration camps.[1]

In 1914, Canada passed the War Measures Act, which required "aliens of enemy nationality" to register with the police.[2] Because of their emigration form territories under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this effected around 80,000 Ukrainians.

The Internment

Internees hauling in stove wood at the Spirit Lake, Quebec internment camp
Internees hauling in stove wood at the Spirit Lake, Quebec internment camp

From 1914-1920, 8,579 men were interned by the Canadian government and placed in concentration camps. Of these, over 5,000 were Ukrainians. The others were mostly Poles, Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, and Slovaks. Most of these were men, though some woman and children were also interned. Victims had all of their property and wealth confiscated by the Canadian government, and never returned. Those interned were placed in one of twenty four concentration camps across Canada. There they were forced to do heavy labor to profit the government under abusive conditions.[3] They were used to develop Banff National Park, the logging industry in Northern Ontario & Quebec, and the steel mills in Ontario & Nova Scotia, and in the mines in British Columbia, Ontario & Nova Scotia. This was so beneficial to Canadian corporations that the internment was carried on for two years after the end of World War I.[4] Over 100 Ukrainians died through injuries and diseases sustained in the camps, or trying to escape.

Legacy

The internment of the Ukrainians marked one of the most shameful times in Canadian history. Racism and xenophobia persisted and the same act was used as the basis of the internment of the Japanese Canadians in 1941. In 2005, the Canadian government, through Bill C-331, acknowledged that the Ukrainians were unjustly interned in concentration camps and agreed to "an agreement concerning measures that may be taken to recognize the internment".[5] Nothing has been done so far. The last living survivor of this tragedy, Mary Manko Haskett, passed away on July 14, meaning that no victim was ever able to witness a reconciliation.[6]

References

  1. ↑ The term "concentration camp" was used at the time. See for example, the Officer Commanding, 5th Military Division, Quebec, to Major General Otter, 4 January 1915 in National Archives of Canada (NAC) Record Group (RG) 24, Volume 4513, File 2
  2. ↑ Text of Act
  3. ↑ Peter Melnycky Badly Treated in Every Way
  4. ↑ Lubomyr Luciuk A Time For Atonement
  5. ↑ Bill C-331
  6. ↑ http://ucclanews.livejournal.com/4306.html

Links

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