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[[Image:Figure09.jpg|right|thumb|Workers at a British Columbia internment camp, 1916]]  

[[Image:Figure09.jpg|right|thumb|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.  They were enemy aliens because they were citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with which Canada was at war.  They were kept in 26 internment camps across [[Canada]].  80,000 other Ukrainian [[immigrant]]s, mostly women and children, were required to report to the police.  The internment was the result of wartime fears of enemy sabotage, although the Ukrainians had little or no loyalty to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  

The '''Ukrainian Canadian internment''' was the confinement of over 5,000 [[Ukrainian]] adult men immigrants from 1914 to 1920.  They were enemy aliens because they were citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with which Canada was at war.  At the time many were called by the provincial origins in Europe as "Galician" and "Bukovynian", or as "Ruthenian."  They were kept in 26 internment camps across [[Canada]].  80,000 other Ukrainian [[immigrant]]s, mostly women and children, were required to report to the police.  The internees were kept separate from Ukrainian prisoners of war captured in France.  The internees mostly did construction work in rural areas; they were paid the same wage as Canadian soldiers, and given free food, shelter, clothing and medical care, but were not allowed to leave.  There was a riot in 1916 in the Kapuskasing internment camp, involving some 1,200 prisoners.  Most were released when the war ended; some were kept until February 1920..

 

The internment of the civilians was the result of wartime fears of enemy sabotage, although the Ukrainians had little or no loyalty to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Ukrainians were vulnerable because of the dominance of the restrictive, 'imperialist' understanding of how non-British immigrants ought to be integrated into the polity. Meanwhile, the outbreak of war worsened public attitudes against enemy aliens and increased levels of poverty and unemployment among immigrant Ukrainians. These developments led the national government to pass the War Measures Act of 1914, forcing immigrants into conscription into the army or assignment to work camps.

==Terminology==

==Terminology==

The camps that the immigrants were placed in were called [[concentration camps]] at the time.  The camps had adequate food and housing and there was no brutality.<ref>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</ref>

The camps that the immigrants were placed in were called [[concentration camps]] at the time.  The camps had adequate food and housing and there was no brutality.<ref>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</ref>

== Legacy ==

== 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''".<ref>[http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Parl=38&Ses=1&Mode=1&Pub=Bill&Doc=C-331_1 Bill C-331]</ref> 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.<ref>http://ucclanews.livejournal.com/4306.html</ref>

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police closely watched Ukrainians and concluded the community as a whole was loyal to Canada.<ref>Myron Momryk, "The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Surveillance of the Ukrainian Community in Canada.," ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies'' 2003 28(2): 89-112</ref>

 

The internment is considered by many Ukrainians in Canada to be 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''".<ref>[http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Parl=38&Ses=1&Mode=1&Pub=Bill&Doc=C-331_1 Bill C-331]</ref> 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.<ref>http://ucclanews.livejournal.com/4306.html</ref>

 

 

 

== References==

== References==

[[Category:Ukraine]]

[[Category:Ukraine]]

[[Category:Canada]]

[[Category:Canada]]