Spirit Lake Internment Centre Continues to Amaze Visitors

    La Ferme, Quebec: Spirit Lake Internment Interpretive Centre was visited by fifty members of the Neighbours Regional Association of Rouyn-Noranda, having arranged for a bus tour to the internment display at La Ferme. Neighbours represents a cross section of the larger English-speaking community of Rouyn-Noranda, made up of various age groups from twelve to ninety-five and of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds such as Italian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Germans, Irish and British who settled in Rouyn-Noranda. All share a common bond in their retention of the English language, while living in a majority Francophone region.

    Having heard so much about the newly opened Spirit Lake Centre, Neighbors organized the one-hour trip from Rouyn-Noranda to see the museum and its displays first-hand. Members of Neighbours Board of Directors mentioned they still remembered the news when Mary Manko Haskett, one of the last known survivors of Sprit Lake internment camp died in 2007. They were inspired when she stated before her passing that she clearly did not want an apology, she didn’t want compensation. What bothered her most was that everyone had forgotten about the internment camp. The opening of Spirit Lake Internment Centre to the public, the first of its kind in Canada, realized her dream of informing others about this aspect of Canada’s history.

As the visitors of Neighbours moved through the display area, they were touched by the various stories documented, representing the 1,200 mainly Ukrainian prisoners, men women and children, unjustly interned. Only the Kapuskasing internment site (called the Macpherson Station) had 100 more internees incarcerated, thus making Spirit Lake the second largest in all of Canada. Unlike Kapuskasing, Spirit Lake also had women and children. The visitors were especially touched by the story of the tragic death of Ivan Hryhoryschuk, shot by a local farmer while trying to escape from his internment at Spirit Lake.

After answering various questions by the tour guides, James Slobodian and Mary Kureluk, the group of visitors was served a hot-lunch buffet by the volunteers working on the SLCC Board of Directors.

Many of the visitors vowed to return to see the exhibits again, as they wanted more time to view, read and learn more, as they departed from the formerly St. Viateur Church with its two feet thick walls, built-in 1940, now redesigned into this modern educational, cultural museum. With the opening of Spirit Lake interment in 1915, more people were imprisoned at the camp than there were living in the City of Amos, at that time. The internment camp gave Amos an economic boom at that time.

Over 2,300 visitors have now passed through the Spirit Lake Internment Centre. This includes a recent group-visit over the September Labour Day Weekend by 40 medical specialists from all over Quebec attending a medical convention in the area. They too wish to return, describing the Centre as “fantastic”, “amazing” and “good presentations”.

To increase public awareness about Spirit Lake internment, a talk was given by James Slobodian on the history of Spirit Lake internment. He was invited to take part in a series of talks during the Annual Quebec Senior’s Day declared by the Quebec government throughout the Province. Held at Rouyn-Noranda, the day-long programme was attended by over 150 seniors. The seniors were fascinated by the presentation, extending the allotted time for this topic by one extra hour. During the question period, many of the seniors remarkably recalled stories connected with Spirit Lake. One senior mentioned how he worked at “Devil Lake” in 1917, which they in the Canadian Army called it, and not as “Spirit Lake”. One was born in 1911 in Amos, in a long cabin, and recalls how people talked about the internees years later. Such information is invaluable to the fuller understanding of Spirit Lake.

Spirit Lake Centre is open all year round. School children from the surrounding area are beginning to visit on October 18, with many more tours already booked.

The Spirit Lake Internment Interpretive Centre with its impressive displays of documents and artefacts, educational film Freedom Had A Price and guided tours is having a tremendous awareness impact throughout Quebec and beyond. All this was accomplished by the dedication of a group of committed volunteers establishing this unique Centre.

For further information, or to book a guided tour, please contact the Centre at campspiritlake@cableamos.com or call 819 727 2267.

PHOTOS

1 – Members of Neighbours Regional Association of Rouyn-Noranda arrive at Spirit Lake Internment Interpretive Centre

2 - Chairperson of Neighbours, James Slobodian, explains the internment exhibit to visitors