Reactions to the Internment-Reconciliation
Announcement
At the end of
August, representatives of the Ukrainian-Canadian community applauded the
signing of the historic agreement-in-principle, in which the Canadian Federal
Government acknowledged the injustices suffered by Ukrainian-Canadians under
the War Measures Act. But not all Canadians were pleased by the
internment-reconciliation announcement.
Soon
after the announcement, Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson, in an article
published on September 17, argued against all “formal, state-sponsored
recognition of past wrongs” perpetrated against specific groups. He
referred to the recent agreement pertaining to Ukrainian-Canadians, which
outlined that $2.5 million of federal money would go to the Shevchenko
Foundation to be used towards commemorating the internment and educating
Canadians about this epoch in history.
During
the First World War thousands of men, women and children with Ukrainian roots
were imprisoned as “enemy aliens.” They had their wealth confiscated, were
forced to do heavy labour, were disinfranchised and subjected to
state-sanctioned censures.
In
his column, Mr. Simpson writes: “Too many groups, in this increasingly diverse
country, descended from history’s losers with a pervasive culture of
victimization. They have too great a stake in feeling either that they
were aggrieved, and therefore deserve government recognition of their
grievance, or that their ancestors had been, to stop demanding apologies,
restitution and commemoration.”
Though
Mr. Simpson does argue that it is important to study history and learn from
it, he writes, “studying history,
however, is quite different from the government of
In
closing, Mr. Simpson expresses concern that the payment to the Ukrainians,
which he says “has gone to Ukrainian-Canadians to apologize for the internment”
will lead to a never-ending demand “for apologies, commemorations, redress,
restitution and general admissions of national shame.”
According
to Lubomyr Luciuk, the Director of the Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association,
who was one of the signatories of the agreement-in-principle on behalf of the
Ukrainian-Canadian community, Mr. Simpson’s argument contains a factual error
regarding the Ukrainian-Canadian community’s position.
“Over
the past few years, says Dr. Luciuk, “Mr. Simpson has, on several occasions,
written about how the Ukrainian Canadian community has, or so he claims, called
for an apology from the Government of Canada for what happened during Canada’s
first national internment operations. He is in error, for we have never asked
for any apology, only an acknowledgment of what those innocent Ukrainians and
other Europeans endured.
“We
have also requested a restitution of the contemporary value of that portion of
their confiscated wealth never returned, such funds to be used for
commemorative and educational projects of benefit to all Canadians. I have,
whenever I have seen Mr. Simpson allege that we want an apology, written to
alert him to his mistake. Regrettably, he persists in repeating it.
“I
do not care to speculate about why he cannot get his facts right. I do assume,
however, that he has sufficient knowledge of the English language to
distinguish between the words recognize and apologize.”
Similarly,
Andrew Hladeshwesky, President of the Shevchenko Foundation, and another
signatory to the agreement-in-principle, also stresses that the
Ukrainian-Canadian community has never asked for an apology. “What we did ask,
which we have received so far,” says Hladeshewsky, “and we’re still in negotiations…with
the Federal Government is recognition of the event first of all. Nobody
here asked for the current government in 2005 to apologize for what the
government may have done between 1914-1920 and after that.
“He
[Simpson] and I are at polar opposites to this,” says Hladeshevsky. “I,
as a Canadian, believe that Canadians should not deny their history. I as
a Canadian believe that the evolution of a great country [necessitates] dealing
with its abuses of the past, exposing them to the light of day, commemorating
them, providing educational initiatives, allowing people to study it and to
evolve from it.
“The
Charter of Rights and Freedoms means nothing if you do not understand the
Ukrainian-Canadian experience of the first half of the 20th century,”
Hladeshevsky asserts. “The Charter fades into meaningless drivel. It was
bought and paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of people who suffered
extreme human-rights abuses under a British parliamentary system that needed to
change.
“We
need the government to atone for what happened and to understand that it’s time
that the mythology of Canadian history be written with fact.
“It
is fundamental to the development of a great nation state to understand your
history, to understand where you’ve abused, to commemorate and hallow the dead,
to commemorate those people who suffered those abuses, to ensure that
educational measures are put in place so that they are always remembered and to
ensure that that enters into the fabric of your society.”