|
..What was done to us was wrong. And,
because no one bothered to remember or learn about the wrong
that was done to us, it was done to others again, and yet
again. Maybe there's an even greater wrong in that...
Mary Manko Haskett (a former internee)
Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre's
travelling exhibiton - The Barbed Wire Solution: Ukrainians
and Canada's First Internment Operations 1914 - 1920.
In recognition of the 80th anniversary of the First
Internment Operations in Canada.
During World War I and after, between 1914 - 1920, the
Canadian Goverment used the War Measures Act for the first
time to intern over 8,000 men, women and children, the
majority of whom were Ukrainians. This act also declared over
80,000 persons to be "enemy aliens," forcing them to
register with authorities, carry identification documents,
report to police on a regular basis and refrain from travel
outside the country.
After this episode, Canada used the War Measures Act
twice again. During World War II it interned thousands of
Japanese, German, Italian and other Canadians. In 1970
citizens of Quebec were also arrested and jailed.
In the late 1800s as the frontier moved farther west,
Ukrainians responded to Canada's promise of free land with
many eager immigrants becoming pioneers of the prairies.
As the type of immigrant changed from farming to that of
the migratory worker, the depression of 1913 hit hard. Job
scarcity encouraged an anti-foreigner and "hire
Canadian" sentiment.
When war broke out, Canada, as part of the British Empire,
fought alongside Britain against Austria and Germany. Those
Ukrainians from Austria who had not yet become British
subjects, were in a vulnerable position. In August 1914,
Canada passed its first War Measures Act restricting movement,
forcing registration and thereby cutting important civil
liberties. Failure to comply made these persons liable to
arrest and incarceration in one of the 24 internment camps set
up across Canada.
Most of the prisoners were civilians, who without military
training found it difficult to deal with incarceration.
Conditions varied in different camps but generally they were
harsh with overcrowding, isolation, fatigue and desperation
being the norm.
Cold winters, long working hours of hard manual labour,
inadequate shelter, clothing and food were hard both on the
prisoners and their guards.
By 1916 Canada again experienced a shortage of labour, and
the Federal Government decided that the men in internment
camps could be used to do the work. Many of the internees were
paroled to individuals and corporations.
...I realized all the time what marvels you can do if
you had the labour...We had plenty of labour. Anybody who
asked us to do anything, we provided the slaves.
Colonel Anderson-Whyte,
(former camp guard)
As the war neared to an end, the Wartime Elections Act
disenfranchised most naturalized Ukrainian Canadians until
1919 when the act lapsed.
The internment camps at Vernon and Kapuskasing were still
operating sixteen months after the declaration of peace. They
were not closed until 1920.
Thousands of people were imprisoned in all areas of Canada
forging a permanent part of the history of these
municipalities and their provinces. For decades, this
regrettable part of Canadian history, buried in obscure
records had received only a cursory mention in history books
and courses.
The exhibit is a great idea, not merely as a reminder
of those who suffered the hardships and humiliations of
internment, but particularly because of a message it gives
all Canadians now...this historical reminder has to go out
to all Canadians, not to invite them to condemn dead
ancestors, but to ask themselves ... whether they too pass
cruel judgements on strangers they do not know.
Desmond Morton,
Director
McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
This special exhibition, sponsored by the
Ukrainian Professional and Business Association and The Ukrainian Canadian
Research Documentation Centre, consists of a video, photographs, documents,
and historical facts concerning this sad chapter in Canadian history.
It is on
display until October 15, 2000 at the
Basilian
Fathers Museum, Mundare, AB. For more information,
contact the museum at 403-764-3887.
|
