Ukrainian Internment Camps in Canada

[elkhunter11]

I wonder how many people are even aware of the fact that there were internment camps in Canada during and after the first world war, for people primarily of Ukrainian descent. I was wasn't even aware of this myself, it seems that like the situation with the Japanese Canadians during WW2, this has been suppressed and forgotten, and our government seems content to keep it that way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrain...ian_internment

[bessiedog]

if ... by suppressed you mean its in the current Alberta Social Studies curriculum.. gr 9 and grade 12..... and has been since 2006 then ok... yes its been suppressed.



Go goose hunting or pheasant hunting... better expenditure of time.

There's an ex WW1 camp plaque by Castle Falls

There's work camp historical plaques in Kanaaskis........... supressed for all to see.

[Phil McCracken]

Read somewhere that Saskatchewan will be getting these also ...

[-JR-]

Maybe they were held at Camp Wainwright along with the Germans .

[Grizzly Adams1]

Much of the infrastructure in Banff was built by internees, just a notch above slave labor. Think there's a monument to internment camps at Baker Creek, near Lake Louise.

https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldw...ian-canadians/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle...nternment_Camp


Grizz

[Smoky buck]

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

I will now need to take the whole month of November off work with compensation from the government so I can greave for my ancestors

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

I will now need to take the whole month of November off work with compensation from the government so I can greave for my ancestors

It says a lot for Ukrainians and the Japanese that they put it in the past and just got on to become some of the best immigrants this county ever had.

Grizz

[Ackleyman]

Yes , they went thru their share of brutal hardships , sucked er up, worked hard , paid taxes , were proud to be Canadians and contributed to Canada's growth.
I have a comparison but not going there...........

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

Much of the infrastructure in Banff was built by internees, just a notch above slave labor. Think there's a monument to internment camps at Baker Creek, near Lake Louise.

https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldw...ian-canadians/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle...nternment_Camp


Grizz

Yes they were treated so harshly by the Canadians that many continued to live here after the war instead of going back.

[Ebrand]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

I will now need to take the whole month of November off work with compensation from the government so I can greave for my ancestors

Me too please.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

if ... by suppressed you mean its in the current Alberta Social Studies curriculum.. gr 9 and grade 12..... and has been since 2006 then ok... yes its been suppressed.



Go goose hunting or pheasant hunting... better expenditure of time.

There's an ex WW1 camp plaque by Castle Falls

There's work camp historical plaques in Kanaaskis........... supressed for all to see.

Many of us graduated long before 2006, and I can't say I have ever seen any reference of it on the news, up until I saw mention of it on social media. It's not in the news every week , like other past oppression seems to be, and I have never heard of a protest about this. And the same can be said for the situation with Japanese Canadians during WW2.

And I am heading out for pheasants shortly.

Yes , they went thru their share of brutal hardships , sucked er up, worked hard , paid taxes , were proud to be Canadians and contributed to Canada's growth.
I have a comparison but not going there..........

Exactly my point. There is no political agenda to exploit, so it remains forgotten to most people.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

It says a lot for Ukrainians and the Japanese that they put it in the past and just got on to become some of the best immigrants this county ever had.

Grizz

Ok your kind words have made me consider a compromise

How about just the month of November off with pay

[jungleboy]

So Mulroney apologized to the Japanese interned in WW2, Trudeau did for the the Italians.

I am sure if someone were to write a letter to Trudeau he would happily issue one for the Ukrainians ,Germans and other Eastern Europeans who were interned at the time. He loves to get up and give those out along with a few crocodile tears for good measure.

[Big Grey Wolf]

I bought excellent book in Jasper couple years back. (Park Prisoners by Bill Waiser) It covers the whole sordid story of how Lougheed and Bennet MPs came up with a scheme to lock up Ukranian young men in barb wire stockades at Banff and Jasper. They were forced to build roads/hot springs in National parks in not only Alberta but Sask and Manitoba.
Next time you drive through the mountains say thanks for those pioneers that built these first National parks.

[308 man]

I am old enough to remember some prisoners from Japan or BC being in town with jackets that had a big circle on the back.
I also remember that there was an old German man down the road from us that said he liked Hitler and Canada would be better once Hitler had control of the world. He was arrested never here'd of him after.
Communication was not very good in 1939 and people were scared of things they didn't know or understand a lot of the people that were intered along with German prisoners chose to stay and become Canadians.
Best not to open old wounds as very hard to find any truth on both sides.

[elkhunter11]

I find it odd, because my mother's side of the family is Ukrainian, and I had heard nothing of this growing up.

Best not to open old wounds as very hard to find any truth on both sides.

Yet we are constantly opening old woulds whenever there is a political agenda.

[jeprli]

Are you aware why Ukrainian folk left old country, same with germans and the rest of European settlers?

Internment/Work camps were real, there is that obvious fact!

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

Yes they were treated so harshly by the Canadians that many continued to live here after the war instead of going back.

Then, along came Stalin, those here were the lucky ones. We forget, Life can be a bitch.

Grizz

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

I will now need to take the whole month of November off work with compensation from the government so I can greave for my ancestors

Lol. I like it. I'm only 25% but dammit, I want my share. And an apology from someone. Maybe a few extra privilege's as well. Ukrainian Lives Matter
Should probably demonstrate or block a train or something
Maybe I'll just have perogies for lunch instead

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

I will now need to take the whole month of November off work with compensation from the government so I can greave for my ancestors

If you click the links provided above you’ll see they already received an apology in 2008 from the government as well as a $10 million endowment. Interesting as i graduated in 2002 in Alberta, knew about the internment camps but ironically this appears to be one group that either a, is silenced from talking about it as you never really hear about it in the news or b, has accepted what has happened and moved on….

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

if ... by suppressed you mean its in the current Alberta Social Studies curriculum.. gr 9 and grade 12..... and has been since 2006 then ok... yes its been suppressed.

I’m not certain but I think it’s been in there longer than that, I seem to remember it being a topic the early 90s as well. I could be confusing something came up in Outdoor Ed with Social Studies though.

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Lol. I like it. I'm only 25% but dammit, I want my share. And an apology from someone. Maybe a few extra privilege's as well. Ukrainian Lives Matter
Should probably demonstrate or block a train or something
Maybe I'll just have perogies for lunch instead

That made me laugh....lol!

[gman1978]

Heck with it, I am going to go right back to the old country with my hand out. My family’s farm was taken away by the state! Will Putin cry and apologize and toss some money at me.

[bat119]

I knew about the camps because I lived in east Regina with a large Ukrainian population I don't remember taking it in school.

Labour Camps
Internees were forced to work in the national parks of Western Canada. They were used to build roads, clear bush and cut trails. They even built a portion of the golf course at Banff National Park. Others helped carve experimental farms out of the boreal wilderness near Kapuskasing, Ontario, and Spirit Lake, Quebec.

Conditions were trying and the guards were sometimes brutal. Resentment at what many regarded as their unjust confinement was widespread. This provoked resistance, some of which was passive, such as work slowdowns. Other efforts were more determined. There were escape attempts and even a riot involving 1,200 internees at Kapuskasing in May 1916. Three hundred armed soldiers were needed to put it down.

In total, 107 internees died in captivity. Six were shot dead while trying to escape. Others died from infectious diseases, work-related injuries and suicide. In many cases, they were buried in unmarked graves or cemeteries far from their communities and loved ones.

Parole
Due to the war effort and the number of soldiers overseas, able-bodied men were needed on various labour projects and on farms across Canada. In 1916–17, many internees were paroled to perform these duties. They were paid a wage that was confiscated by the authorities, to whom they were required to report. However, the revolution in Russia and the Bolshevik coup d’état in October 1917 led to a Red Scare and more arrests. Many men were confined again, sometimes in prisons such as the Kingston Penitentiary.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia....ment-in-canada

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by gman1978

Heck with it, I am going to go right back to the old country with my hand out. My family’s farm was taken away by the state! Will Putin cry and apologize and toss some money at me.

My mother's family was driven out of that part of eastern Germany that became Poland. They were compensated by the West German government. Former Commy governments don't tend be that generous.

Grizz

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

Then, along came Stalin, those here were the lucky ones. We forget, Life can be a bitch.

Grizz

That actually is suppressed, at least in the sense that many teachers and politicians (Bessie excluded of course) refuse to criticize socialism aka communism.

Fortunately we are now the best armed ethnic group in western Canada, so if jagbitch or knotwad try it again, they will get their answer rather quickly

I like Smokey Bucks idea.

How about this: we built the parks, so they’re actually our traditional territory therefore only Ukrainians get to hunt in them.

[jednastka]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

I expect an apology from the Trud and a million or two cash for the oppression and mistreatment my people experienced at the hands of the Canadian government

Apology was actually given by Kenny when he was part of the Harper government.


Excellent Canadian movie on the topic, produced by an Albertan! "That Never Happened"


https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/ar...ent-operations


It gives an excellent overview of the event, and also explains, to some degree, why the survivors never talked about it.


Vic

[riden]

Originally Posted by jeprli

Are you aware why Ukrainian folk left old country, same with germans and the rest of European settlers?

Internment/Work camps were real, there is that obvious fact!

Well made point.

Their bar for freedom, wasn’t very high. Not at all comparable to today.

[bessiedog]

Jepril makes a valid point.

Ukrainians are in some ways the historical ‘whipping boy’ group of Europe and Asia.

The Poles, the Ruskies, the mongols, the Prussians, them Bolsheviks….. and on and on.

Both sets of my ancestors (on both sides) left the tyranny of the Tsar….. and barely missed the Bolsheviks.

Such a prolonged history of living under oppression… well…. Whatever the Canadian govt did to us wasn't as bad (don’t get me wrong, it WAS bad) as what they left.
My grandparents and great grandparents took a very pro assimilation stance to living and coexisting here.
Tonnes of cases of my dad and my uncles getting into fights because they were ‘stupid useless bohunks’ when they moved to Edmonton. The old folks preached stoic acceptance.
My last name was even changed so that people hiring us might mistake the name for English instead of Ukrainian.

I don’t know if stoic ‘take it on the chin and move on’ was the best approach. But it was a common approach from many northeast Uke families that I know.

Being a rare ‘pure blood’ Canadian uke…. I don’t really appreciate people using the Ukrainian experience to belittle or mock what the natives are doing with reconciliation and such.

It’s an apples-perohi comparison….. can’t compare…. Ya jus can’t.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by 3blade

That actually is suppressed, at least in the sense that many teachers and politicians (Bessie excluded of course) refuse to criticize socialism aka communism.

Fortunately we are now the best armed ethnic group in western Canada, so if jagbitch or knotwad try it again, they will get their answer rather quickly

I like Smokey Bucks idea.

How about this: we built the parks, so they’re actually our traditional territory therefore only Ukrainians get to hunt in them.

OK, we'll let you hunt for wild kielbasa, heard they're plentiful in various areas.