BRAMA, December 4, 2002, 1:00 am ET
Press Release
Settlement Proposal Tabled with Minister of Canadian Heritage
Toronto, 3 December 2002 — For over a decade the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) has sought recognition and restitution for
the wrongs done to Canadians of Ukrainian and other European origins during this country's first national internment operations
of 1914 to 1920. Thousands of men, and some women and children, were labeled "enemy aliens," herded into Canadian
concentration camps, forced to do heavy labour, had assets confiscated, were disenfranchised and subjected to various other
state sanctioned censures. These government policies were the result of wartime xenophobia, ignorance and prejudice.
Working with the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, UCCLA
recently crafted terms for a proposed settlement with the Government of Canada, involving recognition of the injustices done
coupled with educational and commemorative projects collectively aimed at initiating a timely and honorable reconciliation.
In Hamilton on Monday, 2 December 2002, Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, UCCLA's director of research, Andrij Hladyshevsky,
president of the Shevchenko Foundation, and Pavlo Grod of the UCC, accompanied by Mrs Irene Sushko, president of the
UCC's Ontario Provincial Council, tabled the resulting proposal with the Honourable Sheila Copps, MP, Minister of Canadian
Heritage. A copy of that document will soon become available on the UCCLA web site (www.uccla.ca). Among other items,
it calls for the development of a permanent museum about the internment operations in Banff National Park, six
commemorative stamps, historical markers at all internment camp sites and the development of educational and other
commemorative materials for Canadian schools and universities, including 4 permanently endowed scholarships for those
intending post-graduate studies in the Social Sciences & Humanities, Law, Education, and the Arts having to do with the
Ukrainian Canadian experience. The total amount that will be committed to the proposed Ukrainian Canadian
Reconciliation Fund, to be administered by the Shevchenko Foundation, will be determined after negotiations with the federal
government have arrived at an agreed contemporary value of the internee's forced labour and of that portion of their
confiscated wealth that was never returned.
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Luciuk remarked: " The Minister was very sympathetic to the proposal we tendered, which
represents the united position of our community on this matter. She has promised to work with us to action some of our
requests in the near future, and to follow up with other government ministries to ensure that all relevant departments within the
government are engaged in helping us right this historical injustice. We are now scheduled to meet with the Minister, as well as
the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, Jean Augustine, and other senior government officials, in Ottawa next Wednesday,
11 December, there to continue our dialogue and work toward a good settlement. This is most encouraging news, a
noteworthy measure of the Minister's own commitment to human rights and civil liberties and, I must say, a great gift of hope, a
Christmas gift if you will, for the entire Ukrainian Canadian community."
For more information please contact:
Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, director of research, UCCLA, tel: 613 546-8364 or visit our web site at www.uccla.ca.
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