WWI Internee Plaque Unveiled at Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church in Sydney, NS

(UCCLA) - On Friday, 28 September 2012, a trilingual plaque recalling Canada’s first national internment operations was unveiled, and blessed, at Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, in the Whitney Pier district of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Established in 1912, this parish was grievously affected by the internment operations, with many of its men folk - coalminers and iron workers - branded as “enemy aliens,” some of whom were then interned in camps at Amherst, Halifax, and elsewhere across Canada.

Placed by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, in collaboration with Cape Breton’s Ukrainian community, and with the financial support of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, the plaque is now permanently installed inside this historic church.

During the unveiling ceremony, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, Director of Research for the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said “It is fitting that we now have a plaque in a church that was here during the First World War, which rang its bell for the first time in 1917, even as some of its parishioners were languishing in the internment camps. We remember all of the men, women and children needlessly imprisoned during Canada’s first national internment operations.”

After consecrating the plaque, Father Roman Dusanowskyj symbolically blessed Dr. Luciuk and all of UCCLA’s volunteers, reminding his parishioners of the remarkable work done by them over many years, praying that “they will continue to keep up the good fight and do what needs to be done in defence of the human rights and civil liberties of the entire Ukrainian Canadian community.”

For more information on UCCLA go to www.uccla.ca
For more on the CFWWIRF go to www.internmentcanada.ca

PHOTO

Father Roman Dusanowskyj symbolically blessing Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk and all of UCCLA’s volunteers