For Immediate Release – Calgary, June 4, 2026, UCCLA RCMP are investigating after the UCCLA discovered that two trilingual bronze plaques commemorating Ukrainians and other Europeans interned in Banff National Park during the First World War were gone. The bronze plaques – one affixed to the First World War internment statue entitled Why and the second to a rock nearby - were gone and presumed stolen when UCCLA officials arrived for a visit in late May. In addition, the statue of the internee sustained significant damage to its leg and foot. Both the statue and its bronze interpretive plaques were unveiled in August 1995 by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA). They were installed to commemorate the thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans affected by Canada’s first national internment operations, which took place from 1914 to 1920. Commenting on the theft and vandalism, UCCLA President Kyle Hoyda stated: “These monuments serve to commemorate and educate Canadians about this little-known chapter of our country’s history. Acts of theft and vandalism directed at these historical monuments are both cowardly and deeply distressing.” Castle Mountain Internment Camp Statue and Bronze Interpretive Plaque. Both the interpretive plaque and statue plaque have been stolen. Castle Mountain Internment Camp Statue and Bronze Interpretive Plaque Before Vandalism, photo taken August 2025 Castle Mountain Internment Camp Statue Vandalized Foot Castle Mountain Internment Camp Statue, Vandalized Leg Castle Mountain Internment Camp missing bronze interpretive plaque Castle Mountain Internment statue base with missing plaque

by Lubomyr Luciuk, The Whig Standard, July 6, 2018 http://www.thewhig.com/2018/07/06/heritage-ministers-snub-wont-be-forgotten The National Holocaust Monument As I write these words, it's been 957 days since I sent the Honourable Melanie Joly, minister of Canadian Heritage, a letter. I'm still waiting for an answer. That's a long time. A fit hiker could carry her reply from Ottawa to Kingston along the 327 kilometres of the Rideau Trail in nine to 16 days. Or, to put this in another Canadian timeline, there are 479 days before the next federal election. I know Joly is a busy lady, but she does use Twitter a lot. Since I don't, I posted letters to her again in October and November 2017. No response. Yet Minister Joly has briskly reacted to others. After she was scolded in the House of Commons over the wording of the plaque she unveiled on Sept. 27, 2017, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the National Holocaust Monument, she quickly ordered a new one. The original text read: "The National Holocaust Monument commemorates the millions of men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust and honours the survivors who persevered and were able to make their way to Canada after one of the darkest chapters in history." I thought that inscription was fine. Apparently, others did not. On Oct. 4, 2017, the BBC boomed: "Canada forgets to mention Jewish people at Holocaust memorial." Within six days, Joly announced a rewording to emphasize Jewish losses. In truth, they were never discounted, minimized or ignored. On Nov. 15, 2015, I reminded Joly how the monument's architect, Daniel Libeskind, shaped it as a Star of David -- surely there can be no more iconic Judaic symbol? And wall plaques inside refer specifically and repeatedly to Jewish victims, resistance and survival, as they should. What I asked Joly, well before the monument was built, was to make sure all victims of Nazi tyranny were hallowed there. I explained I knew people, like the late Stefan Petelycky (Auschwitz tattoo No. 154922), who were Holocaust survivors, even if they happened to be Ukrainian Catholic by faith and nationalist by political affiliation. A post-war refugee who immigrated to Canada, Petelycky recalled his circumstances on May 8, 1945, the day the Second World War ended: "I lay in the cold embrace of other men who had been brought to this place and worked to death, men whom I had never known and never will, not in this world. I lay there and would have been shoved into the oven that had already consumed so many others if it had not been for my OUN comrades from the Melk camp [who] had come over "¦ to look for me and other survivors. They had just about given up and were leaving when they saw me twitching on a pile of corpses, atop my own Golgotha, near the crematorium building, ready to be burned alive. They pulled me down from the pile, saved me from those all-consuming flames. And that is how I came back to the world of the living, on the very day when Ukrainians celebrate the Resurrection of Christ." On Jan. 15, 2018, Minister Joly pledged this Holocaust monument would acknowledge "other groups" victimized by the Nazis. When I visited, however, the only "other groups" included were homosexuals, Communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma and Sinti, the disabled, and Afro-Germans. Certainly, the United States Holocaust Museum confirms these were targeted communities. An estimated 25 per cent of Europe's Gypsies perished. Dozens of Afro-Germans suffered, 200,000 disabled people were euthanized and about 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses killed. Including them is appropriate. But what about the two to three million Poles put to death? Or the millions of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians branded untermenschen (subhumans) and enslaved or murdered by the Nazis? My late mother was press-ganged into the service of the Third Reich. Why are people like her and all those other millions of victims not mentioned at our National Holocaust Monument? Worse, there's something abhorrent inside this memorial. Etched into its massive concrete walls are evocative photographs of Nazi death camps, gas chambers and ovens. And right there the builders installed an emergency gas shut-off (for an "eternal flame" not actually working when I was there), a rather unconscionable juxtaposition. Not wanting embarrassing public attention about this, I spoke with several well-placed friends in Ottawa who alerted the responsible Heritage bureaucrats, our assumption being they would quickly and quietly fix this faux pas. A gas shut-off valve near an image of gas ovens used to incinerate humans? Who cares? Since I can't be bothered with the twits on Twitter, south or north of the border, Minister Joly will get nothing more from me other than a postcard I just dropped into my local mailbox. It asks why Ukrainian victims of the Holocaust were deliberately excluded from a Canadian monument all taxpayers helped pay for. And I will be sure to remember her discourtesy when I vote in just 479 days. I can wait. I've already proven I'm a patient sort of fellow. Lubomyr Luciuk is a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association ( www.uccla.ca ). He lives in Kingston.

For immediate release (Vegreville, Calgary, June 25, 2024) Canada’s newest educational and commemorative monument to the Internment operations of 1914-1920 was unveiled Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Pysanka Park in Vegreville, Alta. About 120 people helped the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) unveil a commemorative statue and educational plaque in the Alberta town, located 100 km east of Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway. Commemorating the first use of the War Measures Act in Canada, it recalled a dark chapter in Canadian history, paving the way for the Internment operations which ensnared 8,000 Ukrainians and other eastern Europeans in a network of 24 camps coast to coast between 1914 and 1920, and forced another 80,000 to check in semi-regularly with police. The internees, who had previously been invited to settle the land and make it agriculturally productive, had their rights stripped. They were forbidden to leave, labeled “enemy aliens,” arrested, and made to work on government and corporate projects – such as road or golf course construction. Those affected arrived to Canada, or were born of those, bearing Austro-Hungarian passports – Canada’s enemy at the time. The interned suffered not because of any crime committed, but because of from where they had emigrated. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” for decades following parole. “Until 1989, I didn’t know there were Internment camps in our national parks,” said Borys Sydoruk, chairman of the UCCLF, at the unveiling. “I suspect that many of you growing up in Alberta did not know that there were five camps in Alberta alone, as that numerous infrastructure projects in our parks were built with internee labour.” Titled Endurance, the monument was designed and sculpted by St. Paul, Alta., artist Herman Poulin. “Endurance will help educate Pysanka Park’s approximately 80,000 visitors per year about what happened to minorities like the Ukrainians,” said Sydoruk. “It will also remind us what happens when civil liberties are forgotten, when irrational fear of the unknown is whipped up into populist hysteria.” Guest speakers included: Boris Balan, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko; Orysia Boychuk, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council; Jerry Bayrak, a descendant of internees; Hon. Jackie Armstong-Homeniuk, Alberta MLA and Parliamentary Secretary for Settlement Services and Ukrainian Evacuees; and Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee. Consecrating the interpretive panels were The Rt. Rev. Mitred Archpriest Slawomir Lomaszkiewicz, St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and Fr. Iryney Valyavka, OSBM, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, both from Vegreville. Borys Sydoruk, UCCLF Chairman, speaking at the unveiling of the Pysanka Park Internment Monument, June 23, 2024 Pysanka Park Internment Monument Participants at the unveiling of the Pysanka Park Internment Monument, June 23, 2024 Consecration of Internment monument by Rev. Fr. Iryney Valyavka, OSBM (left), Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church, Vegreville, AB, and Rt Rev. Mitred Archpriest Slawomir Lomaszkiewicz, (right) St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Vegreville, AB.

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) invites you to attend the official unveiling of a monument marking Canada’s First World War internment operations of 1914 to 1920. WHEN: Sunday, June 23rd, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. (MT) WHERE: Pysanka Park, 4500 Pysanka Avenue, Vegreville, Alberta

For immediate release (Edmonton, October 2, 2023) Canada’s newest educational and commemorative monument to the internment operations of 1914-1920 was unveiled Sunday, October 1, 2023, marking the country’s first use of the War Measures Act, at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Some 250 people marked the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation event, marking the occasion when the Act was first used, from 1914-1920. A darker chapter in Canadian history, the Act paved the way for operations which ensnared 8,000 Ukrainians and other eastern Europeans in a network of 24 camps coast to coast, and forced a further 80,000 to check in semi-regularly with police. WWI Internment Monument "Endurance", Alberta Legislature Grounds, Edmonton The internees, who had previously been invited to settle in Canada, had their rights stripped. They were forbidden to leave, labeled “enemy aliens,” arrested, and made to work on government and corporate construction projects. Those affected arrived to Canada or were born of those bearing Austro-Hungarian passports – Canada’s enemy at the time. The interned suffered not because of any crime committed, but because of where they had come from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” for decades following parole. “Alberta was the site of one fifth of Canada’s 24 camps – at Castle Mountain, Cave and Basin, Jasper, Lethbridge and Munson,” said UCCLF chairman Borys Sydoruk. “No region of Canada was without camps. But Alberta, after Manitoba, has become the second provincial capital to remember its internment scars with a memorial on legislature grounds,” (after Winnipeg). Titled Endurance, the monument was designed and sculpted by St. Paul, Alta. artist Herman Poulin. “Today, in 2023, more than ever, statues like the one unveiled today reverberate,” continued Sydoruk. “Not only will the memorial help visitors to and residents of Edmonton and Alberta learn about what happened during the First World War to minorities like the Ukrainians, it will also remind us what happens when civil liberties are forgotten, when irrational fear of the unknown is whipped up into populist hysteria. When that happens, we all lose.” The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others. Most were civilians. Guest speakers included: Oryssia Lennie, First Vice-President of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko; Liliya Sokha, Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council Director; former Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, Hon. Tyler Shandro; and Hon. Jackie Armstong-Homeniuk, Alberta MLA and Parliamentary Secretary for Settlement Services and Ukrainian Evacuees. “This memorial on these grounds is further testimony to the willingness of Canadians to recognize and learn from history while building a stronger Canada, forever committed to the fundamental rights and freedoms that we all hold dear,” said Lennie. Despite the hardships they faced, the Ukrainian Canadians who were interned didn’t lose hope, said Sokha. “They continued to persevere, to contribute to their communities, and to build a better future for their families. Their resilience is a source of inspiration for all of us. “Even today, while fighting against Russia, Ukrainians give the world a chance to see what Ukrainian bravery is,” she continued. “Ukrainians have become the bravest nation in the world. And in Canada, we commit ourselves to building a more inclusive and tolerant society that values diversity and embraces the contribution of all of its members.” Shandro recounted the time it took to secure permissions required for Endurance to go up on the legislature grounds. “For many years, monuments have been erected at the sites of the internment operations – which means a lot,” said Shandro who, when in government, helped move the project along. “But, I think, the Foundation realized that there’s so few Canadians who actually make their way to those locations. It was (therefore) also important for us to have a monument on the legislative grounds.” “As a descendant myself of one of the first Ukrainian settlers to Alberta, it is particularly meaningful to me to be able to participate in today’s commemoration and to salute those who lost so much,” added Armstrong-Homeniuk. “Let us not forget Canadians of all backgrounds who sacrificed and allowed us to live freely as we do today. Vichnaya pamyat.” Consecrating the interpretive panels were Rev. Julian Bilyj, Vicar General, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton and Rector, Ukrainian Catholic Seminary, Rev. Slavko Dumec, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton, and Very Rev. Cornell Zubritsky, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, also in Edmonton. Borys Sydoruk, Chairman, Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation speaking at the unveiling of the WWI Internment Monument "Endurance" at the Alberta Legislature Grounds, Edmonton, Alberta

Members of the "Galicia Division" were interned after the end of the Second World War near Rimini, Italy. There, they were screened by the British, Americans, Canadians, and even the Soviets, with no evidence of wartime criminality uncovered. Later relocated to the United Kingdom, they were kept working for several more years before being “civilianized,” following which a number emigrated to other countries. Concerns expressed when veterans of this Division were finally granted permission to come to Canada, in 1950, were investigated by the High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom. He dismissed these accusations as nothing more than “Communist propaganda.” Starting in the late 1970s, the KGB successfully orchestrated a disinformation campaign, Operation Payback, deliberately stoking tensions between the Jewish and Ukrainian diasporas over the alleged presence of “thousands” of “Nazi war criminals” in Canada and the United States. These charges were thoroughly examined from 1984 to 1987 by the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, headed by Mr. Justice Jules Deschênes. He concluded that reports about “thousands of Nazi war criminals in Canada” were “grossly exaggerated,” and noted how there was no evidence of wartime wrongdoing on the part of the veterans of the “Galicia Division.” Want more information? Read the official report at https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/bcp-pco/CP32-52-1986-1-eng.pdf

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) invite you to attend the official unveiling of a monument marking Canada’s First World War internment operations of 1914 to 1920. WHEN: Sunday, October 1st at 2:30 p.m. (MT) WHERE: East Lawn, South Amphitheatre, Alberta Legislature Grounds, Between 106 St & 107 St, North of 96 Ave, Edmonton, Alberta.

For immediate release (Calgary, AB, June 12, 2023) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) on Saturday, June 10th, officially unveiled in Calgary Canada’s newest educational and commemorative panel marking the country’s first use of the War Measures Act. A darker chapter in Canadian history, the act paved the way for internment operations during and after the First World War which ensnared 8,000 Ukrainians and others in a network of 24 camps, and forced a further 80,000 to check in semi-regularly with police. More than 100 people from the Calgary area attended the unveiling at Ukrainian Pioneers Park (600 block of 7th Avenue NE). Under the War Measures Act, thousands Ukrainians and other eastern Europeans invited to settle in Canada had their rights stripped. They were forbidden to leave, labeled “enemy aliens,” arrested, and made to work on government and corporate constructions projects. Those affected arrived to Canada or were born of those arriving bearing Austro-Hungarian passports – Canada’s enemy at the time. The interned suffered not because of any crime committed, but because of where they had come from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” for decades following parole. “The panel unveiled today, in Calgary’s Ukrainian Pioneers Park, will help visitors to the park and others learn about what happened in Calgary and across Canada more than a century ago to minorities like the Ukrainians, when the government implemented laws based on fear,” said UCCLF chairman Borys Sydoruk.”No region of Canada was spared the federal government’s internment operations – not least of which Alberta, home to five camps at Castle Mountain and Cave & Basin in Banff National Park, Jasper, Lethbridge and Munson.” The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others. Most were civilians. Guest speakers included Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner, and Dr. Danylo Moussienko, President of Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Calgary Branch). "It is a shameful point in history, and yet Ukrainian Canadians persevered” said Gondek. “You faced down discrimination, and you stood yourself back up. “Today's panel unveiling also reminds us that we must know our history to ensure it is never repeated,” said the mayor. “To do that, we need to know the truth, and call out the atrocities that have been committed on our own land […] If we do not highlight the wrongs of the past, we stand to repeat them.” Rempel Garner, who could not attend the unveiling due to travel interruptions, send a letter to the UCCLF. “Alberta is home to many Ukrainians – both those who claim Ukrainian ancestry and those who have recently come to our province,” said Rempel Garner, via the letter. “We remember a horrific time in our collective history when thousands of people of Ukrainian descent were labelled ‘enemy aliens’ and unjustly arrested and interned because of their national heritage. “This panel will help educate and spread awareness among residents of our community about this dark time in our history." Consecrating the interpretive panels were Rev. Fr. Patrick Yamniuk and Fr. Vasyl Hnativ of St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor, and Rev. Fr. Roman Planchak of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church. The UCCLF worked collaboratively and with the support of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Calgary Branch and others. The UCCLF thanks them all for their support. Internment interpretive panel, Ukrainian Pioneers Park, Calgary, Alberta, June 10, 2023, Photo Credit Borys Sydoruk Mayor Jyoti Gondek speaking at the Internment interpretive panel unveiling, Ukrainian Pioneers Park, Calgary, Alberta, June 10, 2023, Photo Credit Alexander Iwasyk Borys Sydoruk, UCCLF Chairman, speaking at the Internment interpretive panel unveiling, Ukrainian Pioneers Park, Calgary, Alberta, June 10, 2023, Photo Credit Alexander Iwasyk

Media Advisory: (Calgary, AB, June 8, 2023) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) invite you to attend the official unveiling of an educational and commemorative exhibit marking Canada’s First World War internment operations of 1914 to 1920. WHEN: Saturday, June 10 at 11 a.m. (MT) WHERE: Ukrainian Pioneers Park, 600 block of 7th Avenue NE, (across from the Assumption of the BVM Ukrainian Catholic Church), Calgary, Alberta. In 24 camps across Canada, more than 8,000 men, women, and children (primarily Ukrainians), invited by the Dominion government to settle the West, were unjustly interned as enemy aliens under the War Measures Act, their possessions taken, and not all returned. Another 80,000 others were forced to register semi-regularly with authorities. They suffered, not because of anything they had done, but because of where they came from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” long after their release. The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrian, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others, of which most were civilians. For further information, please e-mail info@ucclf.ca or Borys Sydoruk @ 403.903.5013

For immediate release (Ottawa, March 29, 2023) UCCLA is calling on Canada’s government to officially designate the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Thousands of postcards are being mailed to Members of Parliament, Canadian Senators, various Ambassadors and others calling for the Government of Canada to act. The front of the postcard features a graphic of Oleksandr Matsievskyi. He was a Ukrainian POW executed in cold blood by the Russian invaders (for more on this war crime). The International Criminal Court at The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian Federation's president, Vladimir Putin (17 March 2023) on charges of war crimes. And the United Nations and other humanitarian groups have documented thousands of cases of torture, sexual abuse and arbitrary executions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago. On March 24 the UN released its findings basing those on interviews with hundreds of eye witnesses. Commenting, UCCLA's chairman Roman Zakaluzny said: “Thirteen months is more than enough to confirm the obvious: from thousands of attacks on civilian targets, to the destruction of civilian infrastructure, to the withholding of grain exports to the world, to nuclear blackmail – all of this behaviour is nothing but terroristic. We call upon the Government of Canada to step forward and become a world leader by officially labelling the Russian Federation for what it is - a terrorist state headed by a wanted war criminal.” The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (L'Association ukrainienne-canadienne des droits civils) is a non-partisan, voluntary, non-profit research and educational organization committed to the articulation and promotion of the Ukrainian Canadian community's interests and to the defence of the civil liberties and human rights of Ukrainians in Canada and elsewhere. For decades, UCCLA has been at the forefront in Canada warning of the dangers Soviet and Russian acts of hatred and propaganda in this country and around the world. UCCLA is steadfast in locating and exposing a number of “former” KGB agents living and working in Canada and calling for their removal, as per Canadian law. View the postcard For more on UCCLA: www.uccla.ca www.twitter.com/uccla www.facebook.com/TheUCCLA

For Immediate Release - March 20, 2023 (Edmonton) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) hosted a commemorative event titled Heroes of their Day in Edmonton March 15, honouring the thousands of Ukrainian Canadians who served Canada during the Second World War. UCCLF’s Andriy Harasymiw explained the Heroes of Their Day project, while keynote speaker Lt.-Gen. (Ret’d) Paul Wynnyk spoke of his family’s history in Canada. He told of how some family were required to register as “enemy aliens” during the 1914-1920 national internment operations, while others, like his father and uncle, served with the Canadian Armed Forces in WWII. His uncle Bill Wynnyk served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was killed in battle. “I was very pleased to attend and speak at this event,” said Wynnyk. “Projects like Heroes of Their Day represent the best elements of our community: faith, honour, sacrifice and beauty. I commend the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation for its initiative to commemorate the valour of Ukrainian Canadian servicemen and servicewomen, as well as their subsequent efforts to repatriate displaced persons and refugees after the Second World War ended.” Taking place at the Royal Canadian Legion (Norwood Branch), Rev. Fr. Don Bodnar of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Rev. Fr. Cornell Zubritsky of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada conducted a Panachyda, praying for the Ukrainian Canadians who served in WWII as well as for the Ukrainians fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine. A screening of director John Paskevich’s film Canadian War Story followed. Combining archival photographs and film with firsthand oral accounts, it paid dramatic tribute to the Ukrainian Canadian military personnel who contributed to the Allies’ victory. Ukrainian Canadians enlisted in great numbers to fight for Canada – their enlistment percentage the highest of any ethnic group outside other British Canadians. The evening’s event was part of UCCLF’s multiphase Heroes of Their Day project. The first phase was the unveiling of a memorial stained-glass window at St. James’s Parish in London, England, in the church used by the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen’s Association (UCSA) during the Second World War. A postcard campaign reaching some 3,500 surviving veterans and their descendants on May 8, 2020 – Victory in Europe Day – called attention to the importance of this date and the contributions of Ukrainian Canadians in uniform. The project’s second phase commemorated veterans in a more unique and evocative way, taking the form of an icon of the Mother of God watching over servicemen and servicewomen. Kyiv iconographers Oleksandr Klymenko and Sofia Atlantova were selected to create the icons intended for hanging in participating churches across Canada to honour the generations of Ukrainian Canadian and Ukrainian servicemen and servicewomen. As has become their style, Klymenko and Atlantova wrote the icon unveiled Wednesday on ammunition boxes sourced from the battlefields in Ukraine. The icon’s Покрова image is especially appropriate since The Protection of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos, has historically been venerated by those praying for the safety of those serving in the defence of country. The commissioned icon will be installed in the cathedrals of both the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Canada. To date, the Heroes of Their Day Pokrova icon has been received by the cathedrals in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Toronto. The project is funded in part by Veterans Affairs Canada’s Commemorative Partnership Program. Distinguished Guest Speaker, Lieutenant General ( Ret’d ) Paul Wynnyk

For immediate release (Toronto, ON, November 22, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) on Saturday officially unveiled Canada’s latest educational and commemorative plaque marking a darker chapter in Canadian history – the internment operations during and after the First World War which ensnared 8,000 Ukrainians and others in a network of 24 camps, and forced a further 80,000 to check in semi-regularly with the police. Dozens of people from the GTA attended the unveiling of the plaque, which was affixed to the Bloor Street-facing exterior wall of the Ukrainian Credit Union, located at the heart of the annual Bloor Street West Toronto Ukrainian Festival. The UCCLF was thankful for the support of the Ukrainian Credit Union as well as the Ukrainian National Federation. Under the War Measures Act, thousands Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans invited to settle in Canada had their rights stripped. They were forbidden to leave, labeled “enemy aliens,” arrested, and made to work on government and corporate constructions projects. Those affected were unfortunate enough to have arrived in Canada bearing Austro-Hungarian passports – Canada’s enemy at the time, and also the colonialist occupier of part of Ukraine and much of Europe. Those interned suffered not because of anything they had done, but because of from where they had arrived. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” for decades following their parole. “It’s difficult for me, like most born-and-raised Canadians, to comprehend this episode in Canada’s history,” said UCCLF chairman Borys Sydoruk. “Until quite recently, we had no knowledge of it. It shows that there cannot be reconciliation without education. No region of Canada was free of the federal government’s internment operations – the province of Ontario alone was home to six camps – at Kapuskasing, Sault Ste. Marie, Petawawa, Kingston, Niagara Falls, and right here in the City of Toronto. “The plaque unveiled today, in this busy and popular neighbourhood of Toronto, will help educate residents and visitors alike to what happened in Canada a century ago to minorities like the Ukrainians, when the government implemented laws based on fear.” The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others. Most were civilians. Guest speakers included Ihor Bardyn of the Ukrainian National Federation, Taras Pidzamecky of the Ukrainian Credit Union, Maxim Bozhilov of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, Jurij Klufas, representing of Bloor West Village Business Improvement Area, as well as Arif Virani, Member of Parliament for Parkdale – High Park. “As a student of history who then studied law and entered politics, I find myself humbled by what I learn about my riding and about my country – on a daily basis,” said Virani. “This is yet another aspect of that education. “It’s something that absolutely cannot be forgotten, in terms of what it represents for the Ukrainian community and for so many other Eastern Europeans that were housed in these camps that were right here in our province and literally around the country…the notion of someone fleeing the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then to be interned upon arrival in Halifax, is troubling, because you’re seeking freedom, not internment. That is something we need to learn from, to understand, to move forward from.” Consecrating the panels were Rev. Fr. Vasyl Fediv of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Andrew the Apostle, and Rt. Rev. Fr. Volodomyr Yanishevsky of St. Josaphat’s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. The UCCLF worked collaboratively and with the support of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, the local Ukrainian community, Ukrainian Credit Union Ltd., The Ukrainian National Federation and others. The UCCLF thanks them all for their support.