Ukrainian Canadian Internment - Legacy

Legacy

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. The campaign 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 Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association and its supporters.

In 1994, award-winning producer-director Yurij Luhovy and the National Film Board of Canada released a feature-length documentary about the internment operations entitled Freedom Had a Price. While 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, Conservative MP Inky Mark's Private Member's Bill C-331, "Internment of Persons of Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act", received Royal Assent. This act acknowledges that persons of Ukrainian origin were interned in Canada during the First World War and it 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.

On May 9, 2008, the Canadian government established a $10 million fund. 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.

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

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

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

On 26 November 2011 the Spirit Lake Camp Interpretive Centre was opened officially, a ceremony attended by the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Canadian 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 (more details are available in the annual reports of the CFWWIRF, found at www.internmentcanada.ca).