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Internees at the Kapuskasing camp, circa 1917, (Photo courtesy of the Ron Morel Museum) |
Although the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) has yet to receive a decision on the question of redress from the Canadian government, it has decided to disband the commission that spearheaded work on how Canada should make up for the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I.
Three weeks after the triennial 17th congress in Winnipeg, newly elected UCC President Oleh Romaniw ordered the dissolution of the Civil Liberties Commission (CLC).
This comes on the heels of the October meeting, where Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who was expected to speak on the redress issue, chose instead to focus on the importance of national unity prior to the ill-fated October 26 national referendum on the proposed Canadian constitutional package. (The proposal was defeated by a national vote of 53.7 percent to 45.3 percent.)
Prime Minister Mulroney, addressing the UCC conclave, offered only that his government "remains committed" to negotiating a settlement with the 1 million-member Ukrainian community in Canada.
A 1991 Price Waterhouse study concludes that between 1914 and 1920, 6,000 Ukrainian Canadians were imprisoned and another 80,000 declared "enemy aliens." They were stripped of their rights to property and to vote. Property estimated to be worth as much as $30 million has never been returned.
Mr. Romaniw said the decision to disband the CLC was motivated by a document published without the "consultation and advice" of the UCC.
Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, the CLC's director of research, insists that Mr. Romaniw's predecessor, Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk, was given a copy when the two men met in Kyyiv last August 24. However, Dr. Cipywnyk fails to recall the encounter.
"I have photographs I took of him there," says Dr. Luciuk.
A booklet titled "War Crimes: A Submission to the Government of Ukraine on Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes," printed in English, French, Ukrainian and Russian for distribution in Ukraine, created a maelstrom of controversy at last fall's triennial meeting.
Ihor Broda, a UCC vice-president from Edmonton, criticized the Russian language version of the document as an affront to the community.
Yet, Dr. Luciuk explained, linguistic realities in Ukraine pointed to the need to publish the submission in Russian.
Point-by-point, the brochure suggests a course of action for which Ukraine should follow on the issue of bringing war criminals to justice. It traces the CLC's experience in Canada since the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, headed by Justice Jules Deschênes, was established in February 1985.
The Deschênes Commission's final report in 1987, the submission contends, "essentially accepted" recommendations made by the CLC that "all alleged war criminals, regardless of their ethnic, religious, racial or cultural origin, or where or when they committed their crimes should be brought to trial in Canada under Canadian criminal law."
Since counterparts to the CLC were not formed in the United States, Great Britain or Australia, government agencies were formed "whose mandate and means of operation are unjust," the booklet notes. The document suggests the Ukrainian government avoid a similar situation and form its own commission based on the model of the Deschênes Commission in Canada.
Noting that the CLC was "not fulfilling its role," Mr. Romaniw rendered the group null and void. In a three-paragraph letter informing CLC Chairman John Gregorovich of the decision, UCC Executive Director Bill Werbeniuk ordered the immediate return of "all funds and inventory," along with a full account of all finances.
The issue of redress will now be handled by the UCC's Redress Committee chaired by vice-president Ihor Bardyn. Ironically it was Mr. Gregorovich who had appointed Mr. Bardyn to chair the CLC's Redress Committee in 1990.
Refusing to acknowledge the UCC's decision, Dr. Luciuk says his group has reorganized itself to form the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA). It will not be affiliated with the UCC.
"I'm a Canadian, I can speak on any bloody issue I want," Dr. Luciuk stated.
At the same time, Mr. Gregorovich, a Toronto-based lawyer, has refused to accept the UCC executive's decision. In a November 26, 1992, response to Mr. Werbeniuk's letter, Mr. Gregorovich argued that the commission was not established by the executive, but by the general congress and, therefore, it cannot be dissolved by the executive. He maintained that it can only be "disestablished by a general meeting of members."
Mr. Gregorovich added that the commission's mandate and membership were struck at the 1986 triennial congress and can only be "modified or withdrawn" by such an assembly.
He wrote: "The link between the Civil Liberties Commission and the executive is through the special and general meetings of members' triennial congresses. The (CLC) is not subordinate to the executive, it is an independent commission of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress."
Mr. Gregorovich added that the UCC cannot disband the CLC under the Corporation Act of Canada. "You need a general meeting of all the members, who are considered officers in an organization, and get their approval. That's common-sensical."
But Dr. Stella Hryniuk, a Ukrainian-Canadian historian at the University of Manitoba, said that the CLC is "not an essential part" of the UCC which, as a "private organization" can decide on its future at any time. Yet she thinks the move may have been motivated by what she characterized as a "vendetta."
"I suspect they may have wanted to wash their hands and disassociate themselves from people like John Gregorovich," she said. Mr. Gregorovich was the only other candidate seeking the presidency at this year's congress.
However, Mr. Romaniw denied any notions of revenge and said that two other commissions - one dealing with last year's centennial, whose work has been completed, and another which was supposed to monitor the media - also were dissolved. He said that the UCC executive, which has the right to create or disband its commissions following the election of a new administration had added a strategic planning commission to its roster.
Dr. Luciuk, considering legal action over what he said is a "libelous" letter he received from Mr. Romaniw, a Winnipeg lawyer, charged that the UCC executive has been motivated by "personal spite and jealousy."
He explained that the commission has been representing the Ukrainian-Canadian community's interests since the Deschênes Commission's investigations.
"Not a single member of the UCC executive has ever appeared on any opinion-editorial pages of any daily newspaper or even quoted. We are professionals... Mr. Romaniw is probably the nicest guy since Adam, but he has been nowhere to be seen," Dr. Luciuk said.
Dr. Luciuk also accused the UCC executive of advising the prime minister against speaking on the redress issue in Winnipeg. Although he did not return any phone calls, Mr. Bardyn had said during the fall congress that no one on the executive had been consulted by the prime minister's office on the nature of his speech.
Mr. Mulroney's press secretary, Mark Entwistle, said that Gerry Weiner, minister of multiculturalism and citizenship, is exclusively handling the redress issue. In 1988, Mr. Weiner told the UCC that the government would respond "expeditiously" to their proposed compensation package. Two years later, he told the community that a settlement could be negotiated if the proposal was "forward-looking and visionary."
The House of Commons has unanimously supported the concept of compensation for wrongs perpetrated against Ukrainian Canadians.
However, Nancy White, press secretary to Mr. Weiner, explained that the UCC presented a formal proposal only last spring. This has been brought before the federal Cabinet for a final decision, but no date has been set for any announcement.
In a November 15, 1992, "News and Views" article in The Ukrainian Weekly, Dr. Luciuk wrote that the federal government must only negotiate with the UCC on individual claims, and "any omnibus apology was and remains unacceptable." However, in 1991, Mr. Bardyn told The Weekly that since there were only three known survivors, the UCC would be seeking a lump-sum community award, the placement of historical plaques and markers at internment sites, and an apology.
But Ms. White says that as early as 1990, Prime Minister Mulroney "apologized" to the Ukrainian community in Canada. In a November 4, 1990, speech to the National Congress of Italian Canadians, and the Canadian Italian Business Professionals Association he apologized for mistreatment of Italian Canadians during the second world war and directed those sentiments to "other Canadians who have suffered similar grievances."
Dr. Luciuk said that the UCCLA will continue to press the government to establish historical markers at each of the 26 internment camp sites across Canada, and to construct and maintain an "interpretive display" at the Castle Mountain site in Banff National Park, Alberta.
Dr. Luciuk suggested that for the next 25 years, every visitor to the park should be charged a 25 cent "admission" to help sustain the memorial and facilities, with a "small percentage" returned to the Department of Multiculturalism to be used exclusively by Canadian academics.
He added that he wants the Canadian government to follow the "moral and legal precedent" it took in 1988 with the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC). That year, Prime Minister Mulroney announced a $12 million community development fund for the NAJC, along with $21,000 for every survivor of World War II internment camps.
Chinese Canadians, who claim they were subjected to discrimination in the form of unfair entry taxes to Canada, also want $23 million.
In a December 6, 1992, letter to The Weekly written in response to Dr. Luciuk's statements, Mr. Bardyn noted that a first meeting was scheduled with Parks Canada in early December to discuss the inscription and placement of plaques in Banff. Ms. White said that Parks Canada officials are "open to the possibility" of extending the program to the other 25 sites.
Yet, Dr. Luciuk said he remains frustrated with the UCC's inaction. He said recent remarks made by Christopher Amersinghe, senior government counsel, regarding Ottawa's increased war crimes initiative, illustrate his point.
Mr. Amersinghe was quoted by the news media in late December as suggesting that Ukraine was a haven for the Nazis during the second world war. Dr. Luciuk, who responded with a letter to the editor of The Toronto Star, said the remarks were insulting to Canada's Ukrainian community and should lead to Mr. Amersinghe's dismissal. "We would have to wait until February before the UCC responded, meanwhile the house is burning."
He said the UCC's Winnipeg headquarters has already informed the federal government about the dissolution of the CLC. Ms. White confirms that Minister Weiner will maintain contact only with the UCC.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gregorovich said he expects to meet with Mr. Romaniw and members of the UCC executive later this month in Winnipeg. He hopes to discuss the situation and reach a mutually acceptable resolution.
Although the CLC has less than 15 members, Dr. Luciuk insisted that it, and not the UCC, is a more effective voice for Ukrainian Canadians.
"I don't think that the UCC represents anyone. Out of 1 million Ukrainian Canadians, 300,000 have probably never heard of the UCC. Ukrainian dance troupes in the West have more members than some of their member organizations," Dr. Luciuk said.
Dr. Hryniuk, who assesses the situation as a battle involving people "with egos the size of houses," expressed worry about the outcome of this dispute. "I don't think any civil liberties organization ever finishes its work."
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Copyright © 1994 Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Copyright © 1994 Lubomyr Luciuk
We acknowledge the help in the preparation of this document by Amanda Anderson
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Originally Composed: Tuesday December 3rd 1996.
Date last modified: Thursday October 30th 1997.