Senate
and Parliament Pass Bill on Internment
Bill C-331, which was
brought before the House as a Private Member’s bill by Inky Mark, Conservative
MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, recognizes Canada’s first national
internment operations when thousands of Ukrainian-Canadians were interned and
disenfranchised during the First World War. The bill also calls on the
government to provide funding to commemorate the internment and to develop
educational materials dealing with this period of
“This represents a very
important step in securing recognition and reconciliation for the wrongs done
to Ukrainians and other Europeans during this country’s first national
internment operations of 1914-1920, when thousands of men, women and children
were needlessly imprisoned as “enemy aliens,” had their wealth confiscated,
were forced to do heavy labour, disenfranchised and subjected to other
State-sanctioned censures,” said Paul Grod, UCC Vice President and negotiator
for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on the internment issue.
“We look forward to the
next step in the fall where we anticipate concluding a final agreement that
will provide a proper acknowledgement and a series of commemorative,
educational and community building initiatives,” said Andrew Hladyshevsky,
Q.C., President and lead negotiator for the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of
Taras Shevchenko.
The
Ukrainian Canadian Congress officially acknowledged the following individuals
for their contributions in bringing about the recognition: Prime Minister Paul
Martin; MP Inky Mark; The Speaker of the House Peter Miliken; MP Walt Lastewka;
MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj; the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Raymond
Chan; Minister of Heritage Lisa Frulla; Senator Raynell Andreychuk; Andrew
Hladyshevsky, Paul Grod, and Lubomyr Luciuk, the Director Ukrainian Canadian
Civil Liberties Association.