Redress Agreement

Canadian Government Signs on Internment


REGINA– The Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada and the Honourable Raymond Chan, Minister of State (Multiculturalism) on August 24 announced an historic agreement-in-principle with the Ukrainian Canadian community.   The agreement is a first step in articulating a shared vision for the acknowledgement, commemoration, and education of Canadians on the experiences of Ukrainians, who were affected by the War Measures Act in Canada during the First World War, and in highlighting the contributions that Ukrainian Canadians have made to building Canada.
This agreement-in-principle is part of the Acknowledgement, Commemoration, and Education (ACE) Program, a three-year, $25 million program first announced in the February 2005 budget. The agreement provides an initial amount of $2.5 million to the Shevchenko Foundation.
The agreement outlines that, over the next three years, there will be coordination by the Shevchenko Foundation, in consultation with the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association, in the implementation of commemorative projects on behalf of the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
Mr. Paul M. Grod, Vice-President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Mr. Andrew Hladyshevsky, President of the Shevchenko Foundation, and Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, Director of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, signed the agreement-in-principle on behalf of the Ukrainian- Canadian community.  
The representatives of the three Ukrainian organizations issued a joint statement in which they said: “This represents a goodwill gesture and a very welcome first 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.”
“Although we cannot rewrite history,” said Prime Minister Martin commenting on the agreement-in-principle, “we can learn from the past and make sure that such incidents never happen again.”
Minister of State Chan said that the  agreement-in-principle is “only the beginning, and the Government of Canada will continue to work with the Ukrainian Canadians and other affected communities to help them identify and bring forward proposals that educate Canadians about their historical experiences and promote cross-cultural understanding.”
The Government of Canada and the Ukrainian Canadian community have agreed to continue to work together toward a formal agreement to help build better understanding among all Canadians of the strength of Canada’s diversity