ADVERTISEMENT
Music and Art at the Ukrainian Institute of America
Posted by Petunia on August 26, 2005 at 13:29:39:
In Reply to: Two life stories of how they ended up in posted by America - decades apart on August 26, 2005 at 07:26:13:
"Prime Minister Paul Martin has signed an agreement that acknowledges the Canadian government’s shameful decision to inter 5,000 Ukrainians and more than 3,000 other “enemy aliens” during the First World War and provides up to $25 million for cultural programs that recognize Ukrainian-Canadian achievements. ...
Although he may be forgotten while the Liberals enjoy their moment of glory, Conservative MP Inky Mark (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) deserves all the credit for this historic admission.
Since taking office in 1993, the Liberal government has ignored Ukrainian leaders’ efforts to right the wrongs. Mark’s bills to redress not only the wrongs inflicted on Ukrainians, but also on Chinese immigrants who were discriminated against during the 1800s, have brought attention to the issue and prodded the Liberals over the past few years to acknowledge Canada’s shame.
During the First World War, Ukrainians were kept in camps as “enemy aliens” because we were at war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose dominion stretched over part of what is now modern-day Ukraine. These people, who had come to Canada just a few years earlier to settle the West, were subjected to all kinds of human rights abuses, including being forced to register with the government as enemy aliens and having their assets confiscated.
Their forced labour, toil that also came at a camp at the corner of Tenth Street and Victoria Avenue in Brandon from 1914 to 1916, built Banff National Park and other Canadian public works during this period."
http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=1765
----------------
there is only ONE living person from that time who had been interned
"The last survivor find peace"
"Now, the 97-year-old sole survivor of this dark chapter in Canadian history can rest easy that her traumatic time in 1915 in a bush camp, where she watched her little sister die, will never be forgotten.
The internment of 8,579 Eastern Europeans, including 5,000 Ukrainian Canadians, is now part of Canada's historical memory, recognized this week by Prime Minister Paul Martin in a ceremony in Regina -- after years of lobbying by the Ukrainian-Canadian Civil Liberties Association."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050826/UKRAINE26/TPNational/TopStories
--------------------------
so many people without the opportunity to tell their life story of the events which transpired. I posted the two stories which started this thread because I did not see them listed in the Newstand.
Just as so many passed away without the opportunity to relate their lives I am HIGHLY UPSET that in this day and age of electronic media so many elders are living this world without their life stories being documented. We are in danger of losing our living history on distant shores. In our newspapers, websites, there should be more space devoted to personal interviews, and we not lose those voices telling their stories forever.