UCCLA approves Parks Canada plans for interpretive museum at Banff

For Immediate Release (Canmore, Alta.) Oct. 5, 2008 The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) recently concluded its annual conclave for 2008 in Canmore, Alta. For three days at the end of September, members of the non-profit group from across Canada gathered in the Rocky Mountains to spent a few hours touring Banff’s Cave and Basin, the site of an internment camp for Ukrainians and other east Europeans during Canada’s First National Internment Operations during and after the First World War. While there, the group received a short presentation by Rob Harding of Park's Canada. He detailed his department’s plans to spend the $2.5 million it received from the federal government in 2008 to commemorate the details of the internment operations, including the building of an interpretive centre near the site of the actual camp. The UCCLA was pleased to learn that Parks Canada's work towards the development of an interpretive centre and museum at the Cave and Basin in Banff is proceeding well. The UCCLA further discussed the nature of the endowment that was received by the Ukrainian community from the Government of Canada during a briefing from the Shevchenko Foundation, and was brought up to speed on developments with the Spirit Lake Corporation's plans for a separate internment interpretive centre in the Abitibi, Que. The UCCLA also discussed the presence of alleged Soviet War Criminals in Canada, and laid down plans for the further pursuit of justice regarding Soviet war crimes. The UCCLA also made preliminary plans to install memorial plaques at the four Canadian internment sites that have not yet been commemorated: Edgewood, B.C., Lethbridge, Alta., Montreal, and Halifax. Plans were laid preliminarily for holding next year's UCCLA conclave at Vernon, B.C.