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WW1 Internment Monument Unveiled in Vegreville
WW1 Internment Monument Unveiled in Vegreville
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
An estimated crowd of 100 people gathered in Pysanka Park in Vegreville the afternoon of June 23 for the official unveiling ceremony of the WW1 Internment Monument, titled ‘Endurance’ by sculptor Herman Poulin.
The monument project was initiated and carried out by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation in cooperation with the Town of Vegreville, with support from the Shevchenko Foundation Canadian WW1 Internment Legacy Fund as well as other supporters from various other organizations.
Borys Sydoruk, Chair of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, gave a special thank you to the Shevchenko Foundation Internment Legacy Fund for its financial support. “Without their funding, projects like these would never happen.”
Sydoruk was born and raised in Calgary. “Until 1989, I never knew that there were Internment camps in our national parks in the Rocky Mountains where millions of people come every year to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I suspect that many of you growing up in Alberta did not know that there were five internment camps in Alberta and many projects in Banff and Jasper National Parks that were built by internee labour.
During Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920, 8,579 men and some women and children were interned by the Canadian government under the authority of the War Measures Act. While most were recent immigrants from the multinational Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman empires and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, some were Canadian born or naturalized British subjects. Most of the civilian internees came from the western Ukrainian regions of Halychyna (Galicia), Bukovyna and Zakarpatia.
Held in 24 receiving stations and internment camps across the country from Nanaimo, BC to Halifax, Nova Scotia. These ‘second class’ prisoners of war (POW) were generally separated from ‘first class’ German and Austrian POWs. Many were transported into the country’s frontier wilderness and obliged to work for the profit of their jailers. Personal wealth and property were confiscated, not all of which was returned on parole or following the end of the internment operations.”
Boris Balan, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, also reflected on this “dark chapter” in the history of Canada. “Thousands of men, women and children were branded as ‘enemy aliens’ not because of where they had come from, who they were. We have gathered here today to remember the victims of this injustice while learning from our history.”
Balan talked about the establishment of a $10 million endowment from the Federal Government in 2008. Since that time, Balan said, close to $6 million dollars in grants have been awarded in support of a wide range of projects, including this monument in Vegreville.
Orysia Boychuk, Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Alberta Provincial Council President, stated, “As we stand here on this solemn day, it is essential to acknowledge the profound suffering and injustice inflicted upon thousands of Ukrainian Canadians during World War 1.
These individuals, who had come to Canada in search of a better life, found themselves subjected to discrimination, suspicion and ultimately internment. They were torn from their homes, separated from their families and endured conditions that can only be described as inhumane. This chapter of our history is a painful reminder of the discrimination and fear that can take root during times of conflict.”
Boychuk said that despite the hardships internees faced, the Ukrainian Canadians did not lose hope and continued to persevere and later contribute to their communities and build a better future for their families.
Internee descendant Jerry Bayrak stated, “I’m what is known as the first generation descendant. They call us internee descendants. What a nice word, intern. Doesn’t that just make you feel warm and fuzzy? Try it. Concentration camp.
My family, our family came to Canada, my great grandmother as a widow with her son Nicolai. My grandmother Felicia came to Canada with her sister. She apparently was under age but nothing a few coins didn’t resolve to get on the boat.
They were all in the Spirit Lake Concentration camp. They arrived there, unfortunately, in the midst of a tuberculosis epidemic. And you think well, tough it out, but the result was my great grandmother Anna Hatcher died of tuberculosis, my grandmother Felicia Hatcher died of tuberculosis. She was 32…. My mother she ended up going into Edmonton in the hospital with tuberculosis. She was in hospital 1941 and 1942. I was born at the end of 1938. You might as well say, 1939. So, I was a year old when she was sent into Edmonton. We lived about 13 miles out of town where the nearest town of St. Paul. My dad was left with three children five, four and two and a half. That’s how we got our start in life.”
While Jerry, and other family members faced other hardships in life, they continued to work hard and build a life. They went on to become mechanics, grocers, farmers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, politicians and the like. He pointed out, “These people who were in the camps, it’s nice to say internee, descendant or whatever; but every one of them was a father, a brother, a grandfather, a mother a sister. They were individuals. They were not internees or internee descendants, they were people who came invited to Canada by the people who had gone there to recruit them. They expected a good life. They got a surprise, but now look at us. Over a hundred years later, we’re still here, and 100 years from now we’ll still be here.”
Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee stated, “This monument stands as a symbol of remembrance, a beacon of hope and a testament to the strength of the human spirit. May it serve as a reminder of our shared humanity, our shared responsibility, and our shared resolve to create a world where diversity is celebrated, where equality is upheld and where justice prevails.”
