The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, respectfully requests that the Government of Canada:
[1] Ensure all Canadians know about the unwarranted and unjust internment of Ukrainian Canadians as "enemy aliens" during Canada's first national internment operations by a statement in the House of Commons from the Prime Minister of Canada, with the participation of all the parties now represented in the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada, and,
[2] Review and, if desirable, amend The Emergencies Act (1988) to ensure that no other Canadian ethnic, religious or racial minority ever suffers as Ukrainian Canadians did during Canada's first national internment operations,
[3] Develop a major interpretive centre, library, museum, conference facility and archival repository dealing with Canada's first national internment operations and Ukrainian Canadians, at or near the site of the Castle Mountain internment camp, in Banff National Park;
[4] Establish a Scholar-in-Residence program connected with the Castle Mountain interpretive centre, providing students of the Ukrainian Canadian experience, and in particular of the internment operations, with an opportunity to undertake graduate-level research and writing in a properly equipped facility;
[5] Locate and acquire any artifacts connected with Canada's first national internment operations and the Ukrainian Canadian community in that time period and protect these, under museum conditions, in the Castle Maountain centre;
[6] Collect and prepare microfiche copies of all archival records, photographs and other available materials pertaining to the internment operations, develop trilingual (English/French/Ukrainian) finding aids to these documents and include these as part of the Castle Mountain centre's library and archives;
[7] Undertake archeological surveys and retrieve any remaining historical artifacts still located at the internment camps and temporary work sites where Ukrainian Canadians and others were kept or worked during Canada's first national internment operations;
[8] Place historical markers at all of the 26 internment camp sites and at all temporary work sites where Ukrainian Canadian and other internees were incarcerated or forced to work during the time period from 4 August 1914 to 20 June 1920 and properly maintain them thereafter, the texts of all plaques to be site-specific and consistent across Canada, developed in consultation with the UCCLA. No entrance fee should ever be charged for anyone wishing to visit and of these sites.
Particular attention should be given to the following projects at several, selected concentration camp sites:
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The internees' cemetery at Spirit Lake (La Ferme), Quebec should be restored to its original condition, properly maintained hereafter and, should the family so request, the remains of Carolka (Nellie) Manko should be exhumed and reinterred beside her parents, in Toronto, Ontario |
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The Kapuskasing internees' cemetery should be restored to its original condition and properly maintained hereafter |
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A historical marker, in English, Ukrainian, French, Japanese and German should be placed on the shore of Lake Minnewaka, in Banff National Park, near the location of a temporary work site for internees and a second, identical plaque should be placed underwater at or near the location where the internees worked |
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The Cave and Basin Tea House, in Banff National Park, should be used to house a permanent exhibit concerning the Ukrainian Canadians interned on that site during the First World War |
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The shopping market located on the site of the Brandon internment camp should be purchased and removed from that location and a commemorative park developed on that location; a similar effort will have to be undertaken at the Lethbridge internment camp and at any location where commercial enterprises are now located on a former concentration camp site; allowing any such site to be used for commercial purposes is an affront to the memory of those who suffered there |
[9] Provide financial support for separate and public school boards in every province of Canada to develop educational materials about Canada's first national internment operations and the Ukrainian Canadians, for use in the high schools of each province, in both official languages and in Ukrainian;
[10] Endow a fund for the purposes of providing financial support and grants-in-aid-of publication to any Canadian scholars working on the preparation of manuscripts or other educational materials having to do with Canada's first national internment operations;
[11] Place a historical marker in the House of Commons, to permanently remind Members of Parliament and the public about the injustices done to Ukrainian Canadians as a result of the passage of the War Measures Act (1914) and the War Time Elections Act (1917) and as a caveat to future legislators, reminding them of their sacred trust to defend the civil liberties and human rights of all Canadians, in times of peace and in times of war;
[12] Endow generous scholarships at the graduate level for students in the social sciences and humanities, and in faculties of law, who are preparing MA, PhD, or post-doctoral studies on Ukrainians in Canada, in particular, on the Ukrainian Canadian internment experience, such scholarships to be set up at the following universities: University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Sakatoon, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, Queen's University and McGill University. These scholarship funds will be independently administered by the universities themselves, according to guidelines developed by the UCCLA;
[13] Ensure that Canada Post issues a bloc of stamps commemorating Canada's first national internment operations and the Ukrainian Canadians, the appearance of the stamps to be determined after a national design competition and the stamps to be issued on 20 June 2000, the 80th anniversary of the end of Canada's first national internment operations;
[14] Erect a monument to the memory of those unjustly interned during Canada's first national internment operations on federal lands in Ottawa, the design to be based on the results of a nationally-advertised competition, submissions to be judged by one representative from the UCCLA and one-representative of the federal government, who will oversee the competition and selection process;
[15] Permanently endow an annual, distinguished speaker's lecture dealing with any human rights or civil liberties issue, with a preference for Canadian themes, in honour of the memory of Justice Walter Tarnopolsky. These lectures will be scheduled in various cities/university campuses across Canada and will be published annually by the University of Toronto Press on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community;
[16] Instruct the Canadian Museum of Civilization to develop a permanent exhibit about Canada's first national internment operations and the Ukrainian Canadians and to prepare a travelling exhibit concerning this same theme, to be displayed across Canada.
These requests represent the considered opinion of the Ukrainian Canadian community.
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J.B. Gregorovich |
L.Y. Luciuk, PhD |
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Originally Composed: Tuesday January 21st 1997.
Date last modified: Sunday October 26th 1997.