ST. PAUL – A commemorative plaque honouring Ukrainians interned at concentration camps in Canada during the First World War, will be erected at St. Michael’s Cemetery before the end of the year.
County of St. Paul council approved the installation of the plaque at the July 8 council meeting. St. Michael’s Cemetery is located along Highway 881 and Township Road 554, north of the Saskatchewan River, and southwest of Lake Eliza.
The commemorative plaque is a project being done by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF).
Amil Shapka, a member of the Foundation, said the organization aims to build awareness and advance knowledge regarding the “historic and contemporary liberties issues affecting” Ukrainian Canadians, which includes raising awareness about Canada's First National Internment Operations from 1914 to 1920.
The War Measures Act led to internment and labelling of 8,579 Canadians as “enemy aliens,” of which over 5,000 were Ukrainians, according to information from the UCCLF.
About 80,000 individuals were required to register as “enemy aliens” and report regularly to police at the time. Other affected communities included those of European descent from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who was also at war against the British Empire during the First World War.
During the First World War, Ukraine was split between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and an ally of the British Empire – the Russian Empire.
Due to this split, Ukrainians originating from Ukrainian territories under the Austro-Hungarian Empire were targeted due to wartime fervour, fear, and xenophobia, according to information from the Canadian War Museum.
According to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the interned Ukrainians were forced to labour for free to develop Canadian infrastructure, which include the development of Banff National Park, and development of multiple industries across Canada, like logging, steel mills, and the mining industries.
Even after the First World War ended in 1918, the camp internees were forced to labour for two more years due to how beneficial the infrastructure development program was to Canadian corporations, according to the UCC.
Shapka said it is important to remember history so that society is reminded not to repeat the atrocities of the past.
Many of the Ukrainian camp internees were innocent civilians, he said. They were invited to come to Canada as settlers, but they were slaved instead. Some of the internees were already born in Canada. “Some were already naturalized citizens,” said Shapka. “Some committed suicide. Some were shot trying to escape.”
“They lost what they built. They lost everything,” even after they were released, he said. Many Ukrainians also lost the right to vote. They couldn’t congregate in public, and their language and culture were stifled.
Asked what inspired the UCCLF to erect a commemorative plaque at the St. Michael’s cemetery, Shapka said, “We had members of our local Ukrainian community who were interned.”
These members are Annie and Euphrosenia Hancherak who now rest at the St. Michael’s cemetery. He said the two individuals, and Euphrenia’s husband, Nikolai, were held at a remote camp in Quebec.
“After they were released, they ended up homesteading in Lake Eliza,” said Shapka.
For Shapka, raising awareness about the Ukrainian concentration camps is not about reparations or money, but ensuring future generations understand that “it’s not allowed to happen again.”
And unfortunately, Canada’s concentration camps did happen again.
“It happened again in World War II to the Japanese,” said Shapka.
So, it is important to always remember, added Shapka, quoting Mary Manko Haskett, who said, “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,” according to Haskett, whose words are engraved at multiple commemorative plaques across the nation.
Haskett, who died in 2007, was among the thousands of Ukrainian Canadians placed in concentration camps from 1914-1920. She was born in Canada and was six years old at the time.
